A Year Of Exhaustion Has Weakened Consumers’ Resolve To Make Ethical Buying Choices
Researchers have long asserted that Americans’ identities are closely linked to how and what they consume. Boycotts, buyins, public condemnations—consumerism is increasingly being used as a lens for socio-economic critique and a way for us to situate ourselves in society. “Consumption is not just a way for us to feed ourselves and sustain ourselves, but also a way to kind of symbolically signal a particular type of identity,” says Markus Giesler, associate professor of marketing at Toronto’s York University and editor at the Journal of Consumer Research. Before the pandemic, people re-examined their consumer values on their own time, depending on what they could afford. Since the start of 2020, the pendulum swing has become much more erratic as we’ve faced COVID-19, a hostile election, major social unrest, and so much uncertainty and exhaustion. Read more at Fortune.
