Ethical Consumption - Jo Littler

This was a relatively interesting exert to read, I seem to have a morbid fascination in how companies cheat and trick their customers without actually breaking any laws (note the paintbrushes) and how this draws parallels to the media seen in the 1988 film They Live, where media and advertising is propaganda by aliens to subdue and control the humans, making them consume mindlessly.
But about the actual text..

In this text, 'what is wrong with ethical consumption?' by Jo Littler (2010), Littler argues that the idea of 'ethical consumption' is too large and easily corruptible to be of any good. Marketing companies will always invest in techniques which make you buy more stuff for more money, the well being of the planet is not a concern but a selling point. Littler showed this in the example of Home Depot's paintbrushes, the plastic handled ones were marketed as nature friendly as they were not made from wood, however the wooden handled paint brushes were promoted as better for the planet as they were not made from plastic. This is not an effort to help consumers make more ethical choices in their consumption, this is an exploitation of the fight for more ethical consumption and those who want to consume in a more ethical manner.

Unnecessary packaging for medicine, despite the fact that the number of pills is written on the box you still think you are getting more from how much packaging there is. They are wasting resources to make you buy the product. 

Consumption, in my understanding is the use of products whereas consumerism is the purchasing of said products.

Consumption - the action of using up a resource
Consumerism - 

1. a modern movement for the protection of the consumer against useless, inferior, or dangerous products, misleading advertising, unfair pricing, etc.

2. the concept that an ever-expanding consumption of goods is advantageous to the economy.

3. the fact or practice of an increasing consumption of goods

According to Littler, ethical consumption can be an impossibility to some people as they simply cannot afford it. Organic, free-range, fair trade products tend to be more expensive due to the costs at which they are produced, which means that if someone is struggling for money, they wouldn't be able to buy such products even if they wanted to. Leaving the choice of ethical vs cheap up to the middle classes and those who can afford to choose. 

Political consumerism, to me, seems to represent the ethical action or protest by boycotts or companies producing and marketing more ethical goods.

Political consumerism - the choice of producers and products with the aim of changing ethically or politically objectionable institutional or market practices.

Greenwashing is the rebranding of products or companies in order to create more profit, or the collaboration with charities or funding programmes such as research on AIDS in order to promote the company and as an excuse for raising prices. 

'Eco-friendly' compressed cans of spray deodorant, I hate these, if you want to make greener products, put more solution in the canisters instead of keeping the same volume of solution and making the canisters smaller, you are only increasing wasted packaging and your own sales figures. 

Greenwashing - the practice of making an unsubstantiated or misleading claim about the environmental benefits of a product, service, technology or company practice. It can make a company appear to be more environmentally friendly than it really is.

Coca-cola's living billboard in collaboration with WWF, which will absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, or was it just a greenwashing publicity stunt?  

Individuals have a choice to act in response to the ethics of production and resulting consumption, by boycotting certain products, buying from ethical brands or simply protesting. Subvertising is a form of protest by either altering existing adverts or mocking whole brands, I love this, its driving home the new message of 'wake up, don't accept the lies they are telling you' quite like the themes in the film They Live (1988) where advertising seems lovely and appealing but as soon as you put on the glasses, you can see the subliminal messages glaring out at you 'OBEY' 'BUY THIS'. They don't particularly care about your happiness for your sake, they just want you happy enough but ultimately dependent and weak so you just keep coming back for more, they don't care about your wellbeing, they care about sales figures and keeping you loyal and docile. 

Subvertising - (a portmanteau of subvert and advertising) is the practice of making spoofs or parodies of corporate and political advertisements.

Subvertising mocking Coca-Cola 

Littler has stated that ethical consumption has helped the separate the middle classes from the poor by way of privilege, the wealthy can afford ethical goods and so feel smug and morally superior about it even when the poor have no choice but to resort to the cheapest options. 

But anyway, I should probably end this post here before I summon the opportunity to write more about cult horror films and conspiracies.