Rebel without a brand

Consumerism is the new politics, so we are told. But how do you go about being a political consumer?

I turned to two of America’s bestselling anti-consumerist books to find out.

The McDonaldization of Society (1), by George Ritzer, advised me:

• ‘Avoid living in apartments or tract houses. Try to live in an atypical environment, preferably one you have built yourself or have had built for you.’
• ‘Never buy artificial products.’
• ‘Seek out restaurants that use real china utensils; avoid those that use materials such as styrofoam that adversely affect the environment.’
• ‘Go to no movies that have roman numerals after their names.’

My bank didn’t take too kindly to this, especially when I asked for a loan to subsidise my new custom-built house and china diner regime. The ban on artificial products ruled out my favourite chocolate bars – along with deodorant, washing powder and soap (my friends weren’t too happy about this, either). And I was prevented from watching The Godfather Part II.

More frugal advice was given by Juliet B Schor, in her sternly titled The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don’t Need (2). She said:

• ‘Stay away from malls and upscale shops, knowing that such exposure inevitably creates desire.’
• ‘Consciously do less socializing with… shopaholic friends.’
• ‘At Christmas time, consider ‘limiting the number of gifts’, ‘making rather than buying tree ornaments’ and ‘devoting your annual Christmas letter to issues of “stabilizing” consumption.’
• ‘Participate in Buy Nothing Day, the annual day-after-Thanksgiving ritual of zero shopping that is fast becoming an international movement.’

My bank was far happier with these proposals, but I wasn’t. And my family were nonplussed by my homemade Christmas baubles and incoherent letters about stabilising consumption.

I’ve decided that I will never make a good consumer activist. I am too poor for the ethical products, and too fond of fun for the ethical abstention, to storm the barricades with a shopping trolley.

Read on:

Why consumer activists should pack their bags by Frank Furedi

spiked-issue: Anti-capitalism

(1) George Ritzer, The McDonaldization of Society, California: Pine Forge Press, 2000

(2) Juliet B Schor, The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don’t Need, New York: HarperPerennial, 1999