There is No Ethical Consumption Under Capitalism

I've said before that enacting lasting change takes more than words. It takes action and it takes money. Money that the majority of us either don't have or need to allocate to something else e.g. rent, utilities or groceries. Mike Schur's "The Good Place" once said there is no ethical consumption under capitalism and that's very sexy of them.

In Season 3, Episode 10 of the show Michael notices that there have been no new entrants into the good place in over 500 years. In the past, good gestures were easy to assess; the giving of a gift accumulated positive points for the giver. In the present day, the accountants have to consider the gift's origin, who has been oppressed to make the gift and so on. Our grossly inequitable global economy has meant that no action, no matter how positive the intention can avoid causing some sort of secondary harm.

The majority of activism nowadays promotes individualized solutions to largely systematic problems. This means that the onus to right a wrong is often put on the 22-year-old university student instead of the people [or corporations] responsible for the said mess. I'm not saying that individual actions don't make a difference. My point is that in a society like ours, it's going to take much more than that to cause more than a metaphorical ripple.

Speaking of individualized actions - most of us at this point are aware of how sketchy the business practices of many large businesses tend to be. Things which range from child labour, underpaying staff, health and safety violations and in some cases actual slavery are found behind far too many closed boardroom doors. Shopping ethically is something that I and many around me try to do but it comes at rather hefty a cost. One dress from a sustainable or 'slow-fashion' business can run you as much money as multiple outfits from Pretty Little Thing, SHEIN or whichever fast-fashion retailer TikTok is currently obsessed with. I know that ethically sourcing your materials and making sure that your workers are paid enough increases the cost of production so I'm not trying to bully these businesses into reducing their retail costs. Whilst I can understand why ethically produced garments are so expensive, the fact remains that those price tags are out of reach for most people. We have to learn to be okay with that. Regularly sourcing clothing from fast-fashion brands doesn't make someone a bad person or mean that they don't care about social issues. If you are the type of person that regularly racks up hundreds of dollars on fast-fashion sites, however, this grace does not apply to you. Please do better.

There is an inherent level of wealth and first-world privilege that is associated with putting your money where your mouth is. This applies not only to where you buy clothing but also to making choices that will benefit our planet. The thing people forget when they shame people who use plastic straws is [among many things] the initial investment required to purchase reusable straws. The same goes for shopping bags, beeswax, those little mesh grocery bags and most other things that help reduce our negative impact on the planet. More than three years ago, Anne Hathaway posted something on Instagram that I constantly refer back to. As someone who promotes a low-waste/ zero-waste lifestyle for herself and her family, she is passionate about individuals making lifestyle changes for the collective good of society and the planet. Some of her caption on this post contained the words, "I am conflicted about blithely touting a zero-waste lifestyle here because I know so much of my ability to even attempt it rests on my privilege. I feel it's borderline obnoxious for me to promote this lifestyle like everyone has the same access to it that I have- I mean, reusable water bottles are great but not when you live in a community with unsafe drinking water. Buying bulk is not an option when you live in a food desert and have no time. Access is not the same for everyone, and yet I can't deny that committing to living this way is one of the best decisions I have ever made."

Let's sit with that for a little bit.

The caption was in response to a post by Bea Johnson (@zerowastehome ) discussing how consumerist the low-waste movement has become. Think about it, how many things are we being told to buy to reduce the waste we produce and our level of consumerism? Reducing our negative impact on the planet includes committing to consuming less so how can achieving that goal require overconsumption? The math ain't mathing. We live in a society where big corporations will try and profit from any set of ideals to reach an audience. Even if those ideals are essentially anti the corporations themselves.

The result is our money [in most cases] going to the very same big companies who keep perpetuating a lot of the problematic situations we are trying to rectify. Every company with a decent marketing department will at least acknowledge things like pride month, black history month, women's history month and environmental causes. But this is nothing more than virtue signalling.

Let's circle back to my original statement and the title of this post; there is no ethical consumption under capitalism. What is capitalism exactly? Capitalism can be defined as "an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state." Capitalism, contrary to popular belief [at least on these internets] does have positive attributes; it's a system where individuals have the freedom to accumulate wealth and use that wealth in ways they believe will have the best outcomes for them. Like it or not, money makes our world go around and capitalism gives people an incentive to work hard. On the flip side, capitalism simultaneously promotes unequal wealth-building opportunities and the 'bootstrap' narrative I'm sure we're all sick of hearing. In a capitalist society, workers and those in lower socioeconomic classes are more likely to get exploited for the end goal of increasing the net wealth of the already rich.

*the bootstrap narrative is the myth that someone who assumes personal responsibility, works hard, and has strong core values can accomplish anything and essentially pull themselves out of poverty 'by their bootstraps'

Nestlé is one of the most universally hated companies. They are criticized for things including but sadly not limited to child labour, unethical promotional methods, pollution, price-fixing, mislabelling, false advertising and taking advantage of uneducated mothers. Yikes. Now, you as a consumer conscious of all these things might decide to avoid buying anything from Nestlé or its companies. To give you an idea of just how difficult that would be, I'll list some of the companies that Nestlé owns. It shouldn't take too long. There are the usual suspects including Milo, Nesquik, Dolce Gusto, Nescafé, and Starbucks. But there's also San Pellegrino, Cerevita, Uncle Toby's, Aero, Quality Street, KitKat, Smarties, Lean Cuisine, Häagen-Dazs and Maxibon. Outside of the food industry, the company also owns 23.29% of L'Oréal. L'Oréal is a cosmetics umbrella company encompassing brands that include Maybelline, Lancôme and Urban Decay. They are also responsible for the production of almost every luxury perfume you can think of. Under capitalism, a company like Nestlé has been able to continue to accrue more and more wealth without a hint of an obligation to social responsibility and no real way of ensuring that it improves its practices. This company is now so big that any attempt to 'boycott' the brand would not only be futile, it wouldn't make a dent in their profit margins or sales projections. People at every stage from the factory workers to the consumers are trapped into supporting a system that wrongs many, themselves included. The same can be said for countless other organisations. Don't forget that the same 10 companies control everything you buy.

The user Gausgovy on Reddit made the point that "The only way a person can stop supporting forced labour is if they stop wearing clothes, eating fruits, drinking coffee, etc. The only way a person can stop contributing to overconsumption entirely is by becoming entirely self-sufficient, and then that becomes a negative because they are not contributing to society at all."

We now live in a world where it's almost unrealistic to exclusively make ethical decisions with your money. I [with some naivete] blame capitalism for a lot of that. It takes an incredible amount of capital, time and effort for anyone to be the kind of person that can spend according to their values every time. I don't mean this to be a "why try if you're just going to fail" message. I'm more going for an optimistically realistic approach. None of us can be perfect, so instead of aiming for perfection, we should just do what we realistically can. This understanding should also inspire us to give more grace to the people we see who still shop from fast fashion brands, don't use reusable straws or don't intend to cancel their amazon subscription [that last one is me; prime saves me a lot of money okay]. The only thing we should be asking of people is their best.

the receipts

Vulture | The Good Place Recap: 4 Oreos From Paradise

Environmental Conscience | Advantages and Disadvantages of Capitalism

Institute for Youth in Policy | Capitalism, the Greatest Economic System Ever

the New York Times | Pull Yourself Up By Bootstraps? Go Ahead, Try It

ZME Science | Why Nestle is one of the most hated companies in the world

Wikipedia | List of Nestlé brands