The Lie of Ethical Consumerism

BY SOFO ARCHON

Consumerism can’t be ethical.

Why? Watch this video to find out.

Transcript

Consumerism can never be ethical because it is inherently exploitative and destructive. However, many of us who care about people and the planet have been led to believe that so-called ethical consumerism is the best solution to our problems.

We are being made to believe that, by buying the right product—the more “ethical” one—we are going to positively affect the market. We are going to positively affect corporations. We are going to positively affect governments.

But that is all bullshit. And it is a bullshit that corporations want us to believe so that they can keep on exploiting us, or so that they can keep on destroying the world—selling their products without us doing anything about the systemic causes of labor exploitation and environmental destruction.

The problem is systemic at its root. Yes, we can make better consumer choices. We can buy the ethical, fair-trade coffee. We can buy the organic fruits. We can buy the sustainable cloth. But all those products involve exploitation. Yes, the people who worked to produce the fair-trade coffee might be paid a little bit better, or they might work in slightly better conditions—but they are still heavily exploited by the corporations that are selling the products at way higher prices than those products were made, in order to make profit.

And those products, although mostly produced in the Global South—where corporations heavily exploit workers—are being sold in the Global North, where people can afford them. Because, you see, “ethical consumerism” targets wealthy people. Wealthy people are the target demographic of corporations that are selling us ethical products. The poor cannot afford them. It is almost impossible for them to afford them. Which shows that the conditions we are living in—conditions produced by the socioeconomic system we are living in—are limiting our choices. In fact, they are limiting the choices of most people so heavily that me or you making the more ethical choice, when it comes to consumption, does not make a big difference.

Now, I’m not saying that we should not try to make the more ethical choice. We should. But to think that this is going to change the world is foolish. It is not going to. There is one exception that I want to quickly mention here, and that is buying plant-based foods. This is the only exception that everyone can do. If we don’t want to see a hundred or more billion land animals being slaughtered and treated tremendously cruelly each and every year, then we can switch to a plant-based diet—which is not more expensive than a meat-based diet.

But when it comes to most of our choices, so-called ethical consumption is just a way to distract us from the real roots of the problems. It’s a way to make us feel morally superior, or to remove our guilt—and thus continue maintaining a sick, violent, exploitative, and destructive system—while thinking that we can create a better system with how we are spending our money; that we can shop our way out of our problems; that we can vote with our wallet.

Another example of how our consumer choices do not really affect the systems that we’re living in is that of buying organic foods. Although it is better for the environment and better for our health, it does not address the policies that make conventional farming possible.

So, if we want to make big, lasting change, we need to address the systems that limit our choices—the systems that coerce most people to participate in exploitative, violent, and destructive practices. And we can do that by learning more about the systems; by understanding how our economy works, which is fundamentally based on endless growth and consumption.

In this system, people have to be constantly consuming. Products have to be constantly bought and sold in the markets. Money has to be circulating all the time. And the more it is, the better. Because this way, companies earn more money, and more people are employed. Therefore, more people can earn a living.

In this system, obviously, we cannot survive without making money. And we can make money only by selling stuff. And the best way to convince people to buy stuff is advertising—which is another thing that limits our choices. If people are, from the day they’re born, constantly being bombarded with advertisements that create artificial needs, how can this system of exploitation and destruction end? It’s impossible.

So we need to read, study, think, and understand how our socioeconomic system works. And then we need to try to change that system so that it does not depend on growth and consumption. We need to create a system wherein people do not take more than Earth can offer us. A system where products are designed to last. A system where people repair things instead of constantly buying new ones. Systems that see people with respect and dignity. Systems where people work together collaboratively, using technology and sharing resources—where one does not profit from the exploitation of someone else. Systems, in other words, that are not profit-driven.

And we can do that. We have the know-how. We have the technology. The Earth is abundant. Everyone could live in it happily and peacefully, in harmony with nature. We just need a change of mind and a change of heart—a change in how we relate to the world. But it is possible. It has been done in small-scale communities. It has been done in pockets of civilization.

So let’s not fall into the trap of “ethical consumerism.” It is bullshit. Yes, try to make better consumption choices as much as you can—but at the same time, try to focus on resolving the root causes of the problems that we are currently faced with.