Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy
While driving home from a charity event last night a good friend told me I should watch Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy on Netflix as we were discussing minimalism and other topics. I started watching it this afternoon and wow it hit home. I highly recommend everyone watch it to see what big business is doing and driving our actions as consumers.
I had Gemini list some key highlights:
Manipulative Design: Reveals how website features, strategic colors, and "one-click" options exploit human impulses for constant buying.
Corporate Tactics: Exposes insider secrets from big tech and fashion, showing how companies design products to break or become outdated (planned obsolescence) and destroy unsold goods.
Environmental Impact: Focuses on the huge waste generated by overproduction, plastic pollution, and the sheer volume of discarded electronics and textiles.
Right to Repair: Addresses how manufacturers restrict access to parts and tools, forcing consumers to buy new devices instead of fixing old ones, increasing waste.
Influence on Identity: Explores how consumption is tied to self-worth and how narratives are constructed to justify endless purchasing.
Call to Action: Encourages viewers to become more aware, challenge corporate narratives, support the Right to Repair movement, and collectively demand change for a more sustainable relationship with products.
I try not to buy a many things but the show just reminded me how bombarded we are with consumption and how wasteful it actually is. I was in the corrugated industry for nearly 14 years and corrugated/cardboard is highly recycled, unlike plastics, but that industry continues to produce so much simply because all these other consumable products, mainly in plastic, have to be shipped all over the country/world.
I don’t know the answer to consumerism but it is refreshing to hear friends talk about consuming less, living in smaller sized houses and focusing on quality over quantity.
I am also in the medical supply repurposing world, sending excess (unused) supplies all over the world. It is great to have all the excess supplies available but why were they produced and shipped all over the USA, and never used? Just think how much money it is that someone, the consumer, ends up paying.
We all need to remember Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Reduce first, then reuse, and finally if those 2 options don’t work, recycle!
Please watch this documentary and make some small change to your behavior.
