This is an extract from the draft John Grant’s new book Co-opportunity, contracted for publication with John Wiley & Sons Limited, January 2010. This extract section 3 of the book – Information and Ethical Consumerism.

Back in July we came across the results of a study on consumer behavior as it related to “going green”. The research concluded that people are more motivated to make eco-friendly purchases based on perceptions about status – i.e. installing these solar panels are sure to make my neighbors envious – than they are by other factors, like cost-savings or more surprisingly perhaps, actually benefitting the environment.

A vampire rendition of Barbie will be used to market an already popular movie adaptation of the Twilight series. The launch of the two doll set will coincide with the opening of its second film this November. This isn’t the first blockbuster that Barbie is sporting, she most recently suited up for Star Trek.
Barbie has come a long way since its creation half a century ago. It has tread murky waters during controversial eras in American socio-cultural history, becoming an object of commentary on three big isms: racism, sexism, and consumerism.
Several versions of Barbie have stirred up debate around their [...]

In the first part of my article on Post Consumerism, I touched on the drivers of the “Citizen Renaissance,” as Jules Peck coins it. My hypothesis is that there are emerging citizen values, and a shift away from consumerism towards citizens who are actively engaged in behaviors of business, the decisions of government and of involved in communities of interest. In this second part, I attempt to outline the market need and opportunity, and some examples that attempt to address post consumerism. The insight, indicators and market needs of the post consumer era are outlined:

The challenge for markets, and marketing, [...]

It was recently suggested by Barack Obama that we should borrow and spend less and save more, not rebuilding the economy on the same sand but instead lay a new foundation for prosperity. It’s not the message consumers, this country, or the rest of the world is used to, particularly in a recession.  For instance, after World War II, amidst the depression, retailing analyst Victor Lebow suggested that “Our enormously productive economy … demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our [...]

Salon recently spent a day with authors Anneli Lawson and Kristan Rufus who have taken the spirit of DIY culture and combined it with their unique perspective on consumerism in their book The Scavengers’ Manifesto, a guide for all those intrigued by notions of reduce, reuse and recycle, but don’t necessarily want to lose out on the best that life has to offer. For the two authors, this book represents a way of life and an opportunity to take their point of view into the mainstream. This guide isn’t just about extreme activities like dumpster diving either, instead it presents a [...]

Anthropologist and author Grant McCracken looks at the state of our economy and asks the question “What will the current downturn mean to consumers?” He then offers up various models to explain the possible lasting impacts this trip through the recession looking glass might have on our spending habits. While the prevailing theory seems to be that once the economy bounces back, we’ll all return to our previous patterns of purchasing, what if we don’t, what will things look like then?
As we’ve written about before, the brain’s response to the decision of whether or not to buy already functions much like [...]

Artist Simon Evans has created this stunning meditation on consumerism and his own personal consumption as part of his current exhibition “Island Time,” on display at the James Cohan Gallery in NYC now through April 4th. An excerpt from the show’s press release explains the scope of Evans’ work:
Simon Evans’ delicate text-based works are collaged and assembled from prosaic materials including found paper, scotch tape, pencil shavings, colored pencil and white out. They describe a world poised between two poles of earnestness and irony. With his anxieties laid bare and his wry brand of melancholy, Evans presents us with a [...]

As an update to our post from last week on Gary Hustwit’s newest documentary Objectified, the folks at Dwell Magazine directed us to an interview they conducted with the filmmaker for their latest issue. We thought the most telling exchanges centered around Hustwit’s relationship to thoughtful design and consumerism.
How has making this film changed the way you look at everyday objects?
I really think about what I buy now: (A) Do I really need this? (B) What if this is the last of this object that I ever buy? I don’t want to buy chairs I’ll be sick of in five [...]

Known for his experiment in phenomenology, and more recently for his Obama poster, artist Shepard Fairey recently partnered with Saks Fifth Avenue to apply his iconic style to their Spring marketing campaign.
Inspired by the graphic designs and propaganda spirit of Constructivist art, the new catalog covers and shopping bags from the department store will feature the slogan “Want It!” in Fairey’s typical color scheme: red, white and black.  The lettering is also quite reminiscent of graphic designs by Rodchenko, the Russian graphic designer who was one of the founders of Constructivism.
It’s been interesting to watch how Fairey’s work and philosophy [...]