Conscious capitalism

• #capitalism

From the half-baked meme:

In "The New Prophets of Capital," Nicole Aschoff outlines how "conscious capitalism," pioneered by John Mackey and companies like Whole Foods and Ben & Jerry's, abdicate corporations from real social responsibility by shifting the burden onto us as consumers at the point of consumption, and away from them at the point of production.

(Aside: in elementary school in the early 90s, I was told that buying Ben & Jerry's ice cream would help save the rainforest. Even as a 6 year old this seemed odd and indirect. That it is now, 30-some years later, seen as entirely commonplace to "buy ethically" speaks to how far capitalist realism has come.)

From Mark Fisher in Capitalist Realism:

Product Red's 'punk rock' or 'hip hop' character consisted in its 'realistic' acceptance that capitalism is the only game in town. No, the aim was only to ensure that some of the proceeds of particular transactions went to good causes. The fantasy being that western consumerism, far from being intrinsically implicated in systemic global inequalities, could itself solve them. All we have to do is buy the right products.