If a company has been proven to be a shitty company, for any one of a number of reasons-- blatant environmental degradation, paying their employees chronically low wages even if they're a wealthy company, terrible security at their sites, wasteful, etc.-- do you make sure to not spend money there? And tell others who may not know they're a bad company, that they're a bad company? Likewise, do you spend more money with companies who at least have the appearance of caring about their employees and the public at large?
At this point, I am a conscious consumer, but not exactly in the way you described. Basically, every company will usually have it's faults and hypocrisy somewhere. Additionally, companies you may "feel better" for supporting like some local business likely charges prices that are not worth it in comparison with others, just to "feel good" about it. If you want to "feel good," my suggestion is simply stick with companies that provide decent services for a good price and do not EVER pay extra just to "feel better" consciously. In my experience, the businesses meant to save people money often have some sort of good leadership at the top even with problems and imperfections.
Lastly, if you REALLY want to "feel good" about your purchases, then don't buy what is not needed, as at this point, 80% of stuff comes from awful wages and treatment somewhere in the supply chain nobody could "feel good" about. The remaining 20% usually charges an unreasonable amount to avoid this, often using the "good conscious" stuff as a scam to get people's money, not because they actually care.
Remember, businesses aren't governments. GOVERNMENTS are supposed to be the ones to take care of the people. BUSINESSES are there to make money. Since governments more often than not are AWFUL at making people happy themselves, the best thing they can do is stay the fuck out of capitalism and let the consumers directly decide which businesses live and die. If you are a billionaire and want to fund those goody two shoe businesses to feel better about yourself, go right ahead, and if these companies are that good, you will see that they will be competitive in price and service, not just in values and be a good competition. If you want to go see what happens when a business of some kind obsesses over "values" instead of money, go see what happened to Fyre Festival, Tumblr fest, WeWork, Quibi, etc. Hell, go look at the local mall and see how "successful" its "nuclear family values" formula turned out.
That's the beauty of REAL capitalism m8. :) True free market capitalism is just that, where it specifically is done for the sake of the consumer. Not to say employees should be slaves but the opposite, as they should be encouraged to be full fledged proud advocates of their workplace complete with good stock options and training to easily move up if desired. On a wide scale, we don't have that anywhere in the world, so therefore, the world economy is bound to collapse because it then doesn't work.
Oh I understand that completely. If it were up to me, many corporate executive would need to start feeling for their lives, because as I see it, not just their greed but sheer innovative laziness has lead to plenty of homelessness and death, therefore, I'd consider putting them on trial for murder and executed if needed. Having such enormous bonuses for literal terrible jobs they've done is ridiculous and like many, I'd like it stopped, as that is not real capitalism at all.
Almost all my clothes is 2nd hand from thrift stores or clothes my friends donated to me. I only buy underwear and socks new and I only buy shoes once a year. I think we need to dampen our consumer mindset
We have wayyyy too much clothes. There is a company in New Jersey which collects all the rags in the city and sells it in africa. They make millions off our excess. Not only that but it damages the textile industry in africa. It's had a negative impact on the African countries which still need to industrialize
I try but, it’s pretty much futile. Most companies are subsidiaries of much larger companies. Sometimes competing brands are owned and sourced by the same brand and just packaged and marketed differently. For example, Gain, Tide, Downy, Bounce, and Cheer are all competing laundry detergent brands owned by the same company. Parent companies also typically own a very diverse variety of subsidiaries. Here’s a scenario: You recently decide to stop purchasing Ben & Jerry’s Ice cream because the cows that produce their cream are treated cruelly (I am just making this up for an example). While you’re in the grocery store you decide to buy some Axe body spray. But Axe and Ben & Jerry’s are both owned by the same company, Unilever. So in the end your money still goes to the same place.
It's not futile. I know it seems hopeless sometimes but what you just wrote is not the way companies think-- if one of a bigger company's smaller subsidiaries isn't making money, or isn't making enough for them to keep them, they will sell them off or close them down. Chipping away at the smaller ones still hurts the bigger ones, just not as much as it should. But it's still something.
I do try. I'm not saying I'm 100% there, I'm sure some products I own are from wasteful companies, but I try to be conscious. I buy recyclable products when I can instead of something resulting in pollution. If there is an option for fair trade, I opt for that and so on... how about you?
not at all. Lululemon got bashed because the owner said not all people can/should be wearing leggings (fat people complained that the leggings were see through on them after they tried to squeeze themselves in. like that's not the owner's fault/doesn't mean he made crappy leggings). People will bash a company for absolutely anything so I don't really care anymore, if I really think they're bad I'll choose somewhere else, but I'm not switching brands because one uses plastic bags.
Um... isn't there a difference between people bashing a company for something that they SHOULD be bashed for, as opposed to people bashing a company for something that they SHOULDN'T be bashing them for? Why are you pretending like all bashing is magically created equal?
because I'm tired of people's negativity and cancel culture. bashing is bashing, saying "I wouldn't recommend this company because they underpay their workers" is different.
I am conscious of how staff employed at the company behave. Not so much the company itself. The staff chose that job, if they dont like it they can find another job or do something about it. They shouldn't be misbehaving around consumers and if a supervisor is acting bullish around their staff, that will involve a serious complaint. It benefits the staff to have customers around.
Uh... no, I would prefer a high-quality product or service, with happy customers, by a company that isn't moral or economic dog shit. You've created a false dichotomy by suggesting that we can't have both.
it's what we want them to be but when the moneys dry and youve got a funnel effect on growth, vacancies, promotions, innovation.. it becomes desperate. Even my career has this issue and they are services that save peoples lives.
... What? What's "desperate?" Amazon and Wal-Mart and Jimmy Johns and Hobby Lobby and whoever else-- multinational billion dollar companies-- are "desperate," to you?
Anonymous
4 mo
No. I'm a capitalist pig who rents flats with higher standards than average for average money. I came once on the stupid idea to promote my small one man real estate business in social media. Replies were hilarious. " His flat was okay, nice district, tiled floors, modern bath and kitchen but he kicked me out as I paid the rent just 6 weeks too late... what a monster..." I guess comments of ex employees about big corporations are written in similar manner like my ex tenant wrote about me. Hence I wouldn't think twice before I start to boycott some company.
Or to put it more succinctly "Do you like living like the amish?"
No company is 100% honest or "consumer friendly". The whole point of business is to make money, and avoid/cut down taxes and costs.
Saying that about mine as well, I don't go out my way to be dishonest or rip people off. But business is business and you are there to make a profit, not be a prophet.
It's a bit hard where I live because there's so many chain or franchise stores whose supply chain is unfamiliar to me.
I do my best to buy local, but Covid has made that a bit harder. I haven't gone to a Farmer's market in forever.
When money is less of a worry for me, I'll probably increase my spending a bit to allow for more conscious consumerism.
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wankiam | 162 opinions shared on Shopping & Gifts topic.
Master
4 mo
well i reduce reuse and recycle more than most but i do also have many companies on my boycott list from nestle to mucky muck donalds, uber to starbucks and many more that dont give a shit about people, taxes or the enviroment
they just revoked their commitment to ''fair trade'' meaning the farmers that grow your coffee will be sent into povery once more but dont worry, they promised to plant a few trees instead. plus they have been shown to use third party contractors in africa that employ child labour and i now learn they have been training monkies by beating them and keeping them in horrible conditions in the east so that they will climb trees to get coconuts
im sugar free so dont eat candy at all but check labels in future and you will see that they produce everything from dog food to tinned beans... not just coffee and chocolate
amazon is a good call byt the way... not only do they evade taxes and treat workers like shit, all this talk of going green is nonesence. last year the carbon footprint of amazon was greater than that of norway
I try. It’s the reason I gave up fast fashion. I couldn’t bear the thought of all those children breaking their backs so I could enjoy cute items for cheap. Like overall I try to keep those things in mind because I care about my environment and I care about the people around me.
I do. The core value of Capitalism is the power that's vested in the consumer- would that more people realized that and did something with it. I try not to proselytize, but I'm not above saying "I've got some problems with that company", and going into detail if asked.
I also try to limit it to particularly abusive and anti-competitive practices; if I only did business with companies that shared my politics, I wouldn't be doing business.
The only way to avoid all the retailers of which you speak is to die. If someone has something I want at a price I'm willing to pay, I'll buy. No further thought necessary. As long as we have a capitalistic society someone gets the shitty end of the deal.
I try, it's hard to comb through all of them and go about your day. I do research on companies if I have questions or concerns. When I do find out things, I stop buying anything associated with them.
I try my best, but sometimes there is no alternative or the alternative is way more expensive...
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Anonymous
4 mo
That's all interesting on the margins, but the reality is that a quality product/service and good price matter most. But yeah--if two products had the same quality and price, then things like this would matter.
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I try but, it’s pretty much futile. Most companies are subsidiaries of much larger companies. Sometimes competing brands are owned and sourced by the same brand and just packaged and marketed differently. For example, Gain, Tide, Downy, Bounce, and Cheer are all competing laundry detergent brands owned by the same company. Parent companies also typically own a very diverse variety of subsidiaries. Here’s a scenario: You recently decide to stop purchasing Ben & Jerry’s Ice cream because the cows that produce their cream are treated cruelly (I am just making this up for an example). While you’re in the grocery store you decide to buy some Axe body spray. But Axe and Ben & Jerry’s are both owned by the same company, Unilever. So in the end your money still goes to the same place. 
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