Shameless Shopportunity and Caring Consumerism
If you live in the states, you’ve likely seen a commercial from the recent campaign launched by Marshals in which the catch phrase is “It pays to be shamelessly shopportunistic.” The general layout of the commercials (I have now seen two of them, but doubtless there are or will be more) is basically: A Manufacturer or Shop owner has an issue with the merchandise quantity, that owner or manufacturer is then forced to figure out what to do with the excess merch that they cannot unload. At this point Marshals comes in and scores a “deal” which they then pass onto the customer. In other words, you are to relish over the fact that you scored a great deal, a deal that likely caused someone along the lines to lose a fair amount of money.
Shameless shopportunism or shamelessly taking advantage of someone? We decry the business that take advantage of consumers, yet applaud heartily when a consumer takes advantage of a business. I realize that this ideal comes from the desire to “stick it to the man,” and in many cases the man needs to be stuck in order to gain attention to an issue. The real issue here comes from our desire for cheaper goods hurting individuals.
This is the same sort of problem we encounter when shopping at Walmart. (Documented here, albeit with a large amount of bias) We have the American desire for a deal causing cutbacks in business that supply Walmart, enabling practices like sweatshops and so forth. I’m not isolating Walmart here, lets remember the Immokolee tomato pickers and the issues that plagued them (poor working conditions, low pay, etc) from Fast Food companies such as McDonalds and Taco Bell trying to cut costs in order to win consumers.
So what, then, does the “Caring Consumer” do? Well… change our buying habits would be the obvious answer, but my honest answer is “I don’t know.” The only way to get attention from these companies is by “voting with our dollars” but the problem is that then hurts the little guys in the company long before it hurts the big guys. Sure, simply buying fair trade only would send a message, but the cost (not fiscal cost, but cost in terms of other peoples livelihoods) would be tremendous.
The “Caring Consumer,” should carefully consider then implications of the purchases they’re making. Questioning the reason behind the purchase, and if this purchase will cause harm to others, would do us all some good. Take some time to think about if we are scoring a deal, or if we are taking advantage of a situation to the detriment of others.
One other note: I realize that I’m able to make this sort of post because of my affluence. I have “purchasing power” beyond that of, say, a minimum wage earner. I realize that not everyone has the ability to change their purchasing behaviors due to financial constraints.
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