Smash and I went to see What Would Jesus Buy? yesterday, mostly because we have some friends who are in Reverend Billy's choir, and who are in the movie. The film does a good job of presenting the problem (as does Reverend Billy in his performances)... that we are, as a nation, addicted to shopping, and many Americans have dug ourselves into significant debt because of it. The Christmas season has become an orgy of shopping... buying things for our families, our kids, our friends, and ourselves.
In the day since seeing the film, I've had two thoughts about commerce. First, it has occurred to me that all of the advertising that we see is for products that we don't actually need, or that we don't automatically buy. Plumbers don't usually have to advertise, aside from making sure they have the biggest ad in the yellow pages (or online?). It's very telling that Starbucks has never run a television ad campaign before, and now that their market seems to be stagnant and their share price is falling, they've announced that they're going to run ads on television. They never had to do it before, because they were able to sell plenty of $4 cups of coffee. Now, people are buying a little less overpriced coffee, and the number of Starbucks stores is reaching the saturation point, so Starbucks is going to try to increase sales through ads. It's only necessary because sales are dipping... that is, our need for coffee is dipping. So they need to try to increase our need.
The other thought I had was that we are actually endorsing a shopkeeper's principles when we buy a product. That is, everything we buy comes with all of the principles that brought it into being and got it to the store in tact, and we are accepting those principles when we buy. So, if you don't endorse sweatshop labor, you shouldn't buy clothes that were made in sweatshops, and so forth. There's an opportunity for retailers that decide to educate their customers about the principles by which their products were manufactured and marketed. For example, what does "fair trade" actually mean, and why isn't every product a "fair trade" product? What's the alternative to "fair trade"? I believe that people, at heart, do care about where the things they buy come from, but retailers haven't known how to bring the story of the product into the marketing. I think we'll see much more of this as time goes on.
consumerism, capitalism, the weakening dollar and the sad state of poor people wanting things trumps all. period.
we are a consumer nation. if its made in a sweatshop and its really cheap, i can turn my head and pay with my debit card. sad? sure...but true.
i agree with you but principles are the hardest thing to change for people living in the real world.
Posted by: Kevin | November 27, 2007 at 11:17 AM