Am I a Good Consumer?

A consumer: one who purchases goods for personal use. In essence, everyone is a consumer. But what is a good consumer? This question has grown more pertinent in light of our increasingly intertwined global economy. A plethora of factors contribute to the production and marketing of goods and services. Every purchase has its implications, whether it is on the environment, society or one’s health.

Consumers should be aware of the origin of the products they purchase. We hold a significant amount of power— the power of choice. Every product purchased counts towards the profits of the company. This is why consumers should use their purchasing power wisely, we are all voting with our dollars. Fast fashion stores like Cotton On, H&M and Forever 21, often employ sweatshops to produce their clothing. Sweatshops allow big companies to cut costs and are often sub-contracted to relinquish their responsibility over the low-wage workers. Even familiar footwear brands like Nike employ such means. There were mass boycotts of Nike products during the 1990s, which were sparked by abusive labour practices. Allegations of abuse include a Vietnamese sub-contractor running women outside till they collapse as punishment for not wearing regulation shoes! Fortunately, Nike responded well to the public outrage, they did a complete relook of their practices and ensured that their subcontractors were humane. This is a great example of how our collective informed decisions actually makes a resounding impact against shady business practices.

As much as we would like to view ourselves as social justice warriors, realistically we should begin by reflecting on the direct effect of our choices on ourselves, the consumer. Products can be marketed with intention to misinform consumers for profit. In other words, some companies lie about nutritional benefits to increase revenue. A prominent example would be the myth that fats are the main cause for one’s bad health. This deep-seated conspiracy is truly a marvel of social engineering. This story goes back decades— sugar lobbyists in America relentlessly campaigned for biased research in 1960s, which downplayed the connection between sugar and heart disease, instead diverting the public attention towards fats. In actual fact, between low-fat yogurt and full-fat yogurt, full-fat yogurt is healthier, according to nutritionist. This is because the loss of flavour in low-fat foods is compensated by even more added sugar. Excess consumption of sugar can lead to weight gain, increased risk of heart disease and possibly diabetes. Likewise, we should not disregard the health risks that come with excess consumption of “bad fats”: trans fats and saturated fats. However, the deception within the sugar lies is unmistakable. Therefore, we should be more careful regarding nutritional claims and dubious “research”.

Our purchases impact the environment strongly, through carbon emissions and water usage. Take a stroll along the supermarket aisle and pick up a product. Chances are that the product was “made in China”, which produces the bulk of the consumer goods and carbon emissions in the world. China is not at fault albeit the staggering amounts of carbon it produces. China’s per capita environmental footprint is actually considerably smaller than other nations. Instead, consumers are responsible for 60% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Everyday decisions such as eating beef or buying excessive amounts of clothing can greatly increase our carbon footprint. For example, the carbon emission of eating one kilogram of beef is equivalent to driving 101 kilometres in a car! However, this can be circumvented by buying products from companies that are transparent about their environmental footprint. For example, household cleaning products company, Method, publishes environmental sustainability reports. Hence, we should do our part to be environmentally-conscious consumers.

All things considered, mindful consuming is no simple task. It is easy to ignore the repercussions of daily purchases. I suggest that we all make a conscious effort to know who made our products, what they were made from and how they will affect us.