Not just Gen Z , Gen X too. There are stores I have boycotted for years now and that list growing by the minute. I am also boycotting red states. I truly believe this is our best leverage. Glad so many others feel the same way.
Spending money with democrats only, which will help small business weather these times. If democrats feed their own even 10-20% more those businesses will thrive and in times like these hold their own! That 10-20% shift has the potential to close conservative run small businesses and help us ultimately use the private sector to redistribute the winners.
This reminds me of the moral quandries addressed in The Good Place. In an increasingly complex, unjust, chaotic world, how do we know that our decisions are the right one? For example, let's say I choose to shop at a local market instead of a grocery chain. But what I may not know is that the market's owner is MAGA adjacent, anti-DEI, or the like. Or maybe they aren't, but the farmer who supplies their produce is and I already purchased it.
The answer? Trying to do better. Sometimes there is no black and white answer. Boycott Target or Walmart if you can. If you can't, be more mindful of how you shop with them and which brands you choose.
I hundred percent agree with this sentiment it’s all about shifting in a direction, not being focused on perfection. Perfection is the antithesis to change.
I’ve been writing about consumer sustainability for 13 years. If you survey people and ask them, “Will you change your shopping habits to fit with your moral values?” They will always say yes.
“I’ll pay more for sustainable fashion.”
“I think about sustainability when shopping.”
“I want brands to be ethical.”
These are the kind of surveys I see all the time. Especially of Gen z, who says they care deeply about the climate.
But if you ask any person who works in retail and sustainability, they will tell you that nobody is paying more for sustainability, and nobody is choosing where to shop based on ethics and values.
If they did, SHEIN and Temu wouldn’t be a thing. Amazon would have failed or at least shrunk five years ago. Hershey brands would have fallen under the weight of child labor accusations.
Small brands that make gorgeous, quality products would be thriving. They’re not - they’re closing because people would rather buy dupes made with forced labor.
So don’t believe the people you overhear posturing about how they’re going to change their shopping habits. They don’t want to feed the beast, but they will. Because it’s cheap and easy and cute and increasingly the only option available.
Political change won’t come from consumers buying this and that.
It’s a fair point, one we get from clients all the time. People are more aspirational than their behaviors reflect. However, it’s on a spectrum, it’s not all black and white, it’s not Shien or nothing, it’s Shien and thrift stores for younger generations who have little disposable income. The higher the disposable income rises among Gen Z, Millennials and Gen X, the more the morals are exercises at the checkout. It’s challenging if you make $40K a year to exercise your morals at check out, you might always have to go the cheapest route, but as people grow into spending power we are seeing behavioral changes — which is why luxury brands, travel, and everyday items are becoming more sustainable as it’s just part of consumers expectations at this point (esp if you compare to 10 years ago).
I've lived in poverty my whole life but have managed to shop to my morals. As soon as I find out a company is horrible, I don't shop there anymore. Been doing it this way for 30 years. It's absolutely possible without patronizing horrible retailers like Shein & Temu.
You have to get creative, be dedicated, & question whether or not you really need something. Doing without a new unnecessary tshirt, eyeliner, shoes, etc never killed anyone.
Otherwise, a person's morals lack integrity & don't mean squat.
As the daughter of a mother who grew up in the Great Depression, I have followed the frugality principles she taught me all my life. Re-use, wear clothing pieces for decades (buying on sale and looking for clothes that will last), and appreciate hand me downs. My current car is now nearly 20 years old and going strong. And I have boycotted business that go against my values.
I agree - it’s possible to at least some extent for many people. I’m curious though how much businesses (of all sizes) are floating the horrible companies. At a past job, the employees would spend hundreds of dollars a day at terrible online companies way more than the avg person would. I can only imagine how many other places do so.. and that many larger retailers only sell their products through the Zon.
I've thought about this a lot and I think something I'd love to see is some kind of membership-based startup incubator.
Imagine a place where regular citizens can pledge "yea i'd get a costco-style membership here if you build an ethical x near me". Replace x with walmart, starbucks, whatever else. Once you past some threshold of # local pledgers, you reach out to them asking for a month membership in advance. That money + incubator resources go towards starting the startup, and pledgers get a free month of membership once it's built. You leverage the incubator reputation to make sure the founders actually commit to building that startup once there are enough pledgers.
Could be even cooler if pledging translates into micro-investments, but idk if our economy is ready for that yet haha.
I’m not a Gen Z woman, but I’m in. Let’s stop shopping. I’m Gen X, and I'm just fucking tired of it all. Ethical shopping yes, but just buying things in general because it feels good to have a new thing. I'm so over it. My daughter is always talking about how "I thrifted this, Dad," and now I get it. I spent my whole life working hard (in jobs I've loved, mind you) to buy nice things, to have nice things, to have things I never had before, but now I'm just so done. I just want a tiny house and my wife and our two Yorkies and to write silly stories all day. Is that so much to ask?
It’s not just Gen Z. I have reduced all my spending to the absolute necessities and switched grocery shopping to support the local food co-op. I walked downtown yesterday on a warm California afternoon in a college town and it was nearly deserted. Stores were empty, even the Apple store which is always busy. I have been doing my best to convince everyone I know it’s one of our best ways to resist. The one thing they can’t deny is a tanking economy.
Gen-X here and I'm WITH YOU! I dropped everything all at once: Amazon, Target, Google, etc. I am committed to buying only consumables that I actually need, not for a day or a month or even until we take back our country. I've made a permanent change. My great hope is to watch billionaires and the wealthy 1% lose their fucking shirts. I'm investing the money I'm saving in local communities, independent journalists and writers, and families who in danger of being steam-rolled by christo-fascist tyranny.
A few actually have showers. The reason that malls - as well as empty office buildings, abandoned since 2020 - aren’t flipped to support the growing homeless population is the same reason we HAVE a growing homeless population.
“Why convert it? How do I get my money back? It’s a very expensive endeavor with very little ROI. Those people aren’t my main customer base anyway.”
Humanity ceases to exist when all you see are dollar signs.
I’m outside the US but boycotting travel there and boycotting companies from the US whose ethics don’t align with mine. I usually try to shop small and local and have an ethical consumer magazine subscription to help me with larger decisions.
Yes! I’ve been saying this.
Want an impactful protest that doesn’t require a lot of risk for participants?
Women stop shopping for beauty products and clothing and jewelry.
Sooooo much money is made off of us being insecure about the way we look cause they made us feel insecure about the way we look.
Just stop.
I do however disagree with the statement that our biggest power in a capitalist system is in our money.
It’s not, it’s in our labor.
Great point Kelly, including all are visible and invisible labor!
yes came here to say this - voting with dollars is impactful, but our biggest lever is our labor, no matter what tax bracket we’re in
Not just Gen Z , Gen X too. There are stores I have boycotted for years now and that list growing by the minute. I am also boycotting red states. I truly believe this is our best leverage. Glad so many others feel the same way.
Spending money with democrats only, which will help small business weather these times. If democrats feed their own even 10-20% more those businesses will thrive and in times like these hold their own! That 10-20% shift has the potential to close conservative run small businesses and help us ultimately use the private sector to redistribute the winners.
This reminds me of the moral quandries addressed in The Good Place. In an increasingly complex, unjust, chaotic world, how do we know that our decisions are the right one? For example, let's say I choose to shop at a local market instead of a grocery chain. But what I may not know is that the market's owner is MAGA adjacent, anti-DEI, or the like. Or maybe they aren't, but the farmer who supplies their produce is and I already purchased it.
The answer? Trying to do better. Sometimes there is no black and white answer. Boycott Target or Walmart if you can. If you can't, be more mindful of how you shop with them and which brands you choose.
I hundred percent agree with this sentiment it’s all about shifting in a direction, not being focused on perfection. Perfection is the antithesis to change.
I’ve been writing about consumer sustainability for 13 years. If you survey people and ask them, “Will you change your shopping habits to fit with your moral values?” They will always say yes.
“I’ll pay more for sustainable fashion.”
“I think about sustainability when shopping.”
“I want brands to be ethical.”
These are the kind of surveys I see all the time. Especially of Gen z, who says they care deeply about the climate.
But if you ask any person who works in retail and sustainability, they will tell you that nobody is paying more for sustainability, and nobody is choosing where to shop based on ethics and values.
If they did, SHEIN and Temu wouldn’t be a thing. Amazon would have failed or at least shrunk five years ago. Hershey brands would have fallen under the weight of child labor accusations.
Small brands that make gorgeous, quality products would be thriving. They’re not - they’re closing because people would rather buy dupes made with forced labor.
Here’s just one example: https://www.thecut.com/article/quince-legit-good-brand-dupes-shopping.html
So don’t believe the people you overhear posturing about how they’re going to change their shopping habits. They don’t want to feed the beast, but they will. Because it’s cheap and easy and cute and increasingly the only option available.
Political change won’t come from consumers buying this and that.
It’s a fair point, one we get from clients all the time. People are more aspirational than their behaviors reflect. However, it’s on a spectrum, it’s not all black and white, it’s not Shien or nothing, it’s Shien and thrift stores for younger generations who have little disposable income. The higher the disposable income rises among Gen Z, Millennials and Gen X, the more the morals are exercises at the checkout. It’s challenging if you make $40K a year to exercise your morals at check out, you might always have to go the cheapest route, but as people grow into spending power we are seeing behavioral changes — which is why luxury brands, travel, and everyday items are becoming more sustainable as it’s just part of consumers expectations at this point (esp if you compare to 10 years ago).
I've lived in poverty my whole life but have managed to shop to my morals. As soon as I find out a company is horrible, I don't shop there anymore. Been doing it this way for 30 years. It's absolutely possible without patronizing horrible retailers like Shein & Temu.
You have to get creative, be dedicated, & question whether or not you really need something. Doing without a new unnecessary tshirt, eyeliner, shoes, etc never killed anyone.
Otherwise, a person's morals lack integrity & don't mean squat.
As the daughter of a mother who grew up in the Great Depression, I have followed the frugality principles she taught me all my life. Re-use, wear clothing pieces for decades (buying on sale and looking for clothes that will last), and appreciate hand me downs. My current car is now nearly 20 years old and going strong. And I have boycotted business that go against my values.
I agree - it’s possible to at least some extent for many people. I’m curious though how much businesses (of all sizes) are floating the horrible companies. At a past job, the employees would spend hundreds of dollars a day at terrible online companies way more than the avg person would. I can only imagine how many other places do so.. and that many larger retailers only sell their products through the Zon.
I've thought about this a lot and I think something I'd love to see is some kind of membership-based startup incubator.
Imagine a place where regular citizens can pledge "yea i'd get a costco-style membership here if you build an ethical x near me". Replace x with walmart, starbucks, whatever else. Once you past some threshold of # local pledgers, you reach out to them asking for a month membership in advance. That money + incubator resources go towards starting the startup, and pledgers get a free month of membership once it's built. You leverage the incubator reputation to make sure the founders actually commit to building that startup once there are enough pledgers.
Could be even cooler if pledging translates into micro-investments, but idk if our economy is ready for that yet haha.
I spotted the irony of checking your apple watch to see if a purchase is ethical or not
Ha
I’m not a Gen Z woman, but I’m in. Let’s stop shopping. I’m Gen X, and I'm just fucking tired of it all. Ethical shopping yes, but just buying things in general because it feels good to have a new thing. I'm so over it. My daughter is always talking about how "I thrifted this, Dad," and now I get it. I spent my whole life working hard (in jobs I've loved, mind you) to buy nice things, to have nice things, to have things I never had before, but now I'm just so done. I just want a tiny house and my wife and our two Yorkies and to write silly stories all day. Is that so much to ask?
Silly stories are the best ones ;)
This sounds lovely!!
It’s not just Gen Z. I have reduced all my spending to the absolute necessities and switched grocery shopping to support the local food co-op. I walked downtown yesterday on a warm California afternoon in a college town and it was nearly deserted. Stores were empty, even the Apple store which is always busy. I have been doing my best to convince everyone I know it’s one of our best ways to resist. The one thing they can’t deny is a tanking economy.
Goods Unite Us is a decent app to show which political party the corporations donated.
Thank you @Melinda Tobey looking into this now ;)
Gen-X here and I'm WITH YOU! I dropped everything all at once: Amazon, Target, Google, etc. I am committed to buying only consumables that I actually need, not for a day or a month or even until we take back our country. I've made a permanent change. My great hope is to watch billionaires and the wealthy 1% lose their fucking shirts. I'm investing the money I'm saving in local communities, independent journalists and writers, and families who in danger of being steam-rolled by christo-fascist tyranny.
The boycott points are higher for GenZ women because 47% of GenZ men voted for Trump.
I've been boycotting most of these places since the election.
Your Boomer sister are in cheerful alliance with you.
Want our moolah? Pursue justice. Otherwise, buh-bye.
Do something … time for talk is past … maggots don’t care about democracts …. Let’s see how the economy does without half the country
Hi, I translated into Spanish part of it in the restack of this article:
https://substack.com/profile/172879528-salvador-lorca/note/c-98786650
Thank you Salvador - that’s amazing! Appreciate it and you.
Target is definitely hurting. Keep it up!
Kill the Malls, fast and faster.
These would be great homeless shelters. Just need showers
A few actually have showers. The reason that malls - as well as empty office buildings, abandoned since 2020 - aren’t flipped to support the growing homeless population is the same reason we HAVE a growing homeless population.
“Why convert it? How do I get my money back? It’s a very expensive endeavor with very little ROI. Those people aren’t my main customer base anyway.”
Humanity ceases to exist when all you see are dollar signs.
I’m outside the US but boycotting travel there and boycotting companies from the US whose ethics don’t align with mine. I usually try to shop small and local and have an ethical consumer magazine subscription to help me with larger decisions.