sneaky consumerism

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Started >30d ago

I will tell you a secret: potato chips taste like shit. They are oily and vaguely salty, and actually kind of gross. When I see skittles my primate brain says “those colors are so bright, must be delicious!” but it turns out I'm wrong. In the excellent book Days of War, Nights of Love, Crimethinc points out “Coke is not the best tasting beverage the world has ever tasted - it is simply the most mercilessly marketed.” Recently, the 5-year-old living inside of me was amazed to discover that raw vegetables are amazing.

I've always targeted my shoplifting towards processed foods- buy the produce and milk, sneak the candy and beef snacks into my backpack. This works great for me because it simulates voting for real food with my money, and makes me look like a trustworthy shopper when I go to the same store all the time. But just because theft “empowers” you to participate in consumerism, doesn't mean you should participate in consumerism.

I've been shoplifting for so long that if I go to a corporate grocery store and don't steal something, it almost feels inappropriate, but the less I indulge my sugar addiction with candy and soda, the more I find myself arriving at the cash register with nothing in my pockets except my wallet. As long as I'm buying well my grocery bill stays low, and I'm compelled to do other things to be sure that I'm using my time effectively- if I write some anti-capitalist rhetoric in the bathroom or move some children's homeopathic medicine from the shelf into the trash, I can usually leave with a clean conscience.

For a while there I was skipping classes to sit in bed and play minecraft, but I am back to skipping classes to work on stencils or program my own shit. I've started carrying a permanent marker in my pocket and scheming some larger projects. Life is good.


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most of the stuff you see being sold is slop, like actually. it is made to sell, and they don't mind the ill health effects at all, just as long as it passes standard procedure. }⁠:⁠‑(
Imagine how much healthier / better looking we would be if it wasn't for the soulless corporations that decided to dump all the Xenoestrogens, BPAs, etc, in to our water supply, soil and air. Microplastics and Endocrine disruptors are EVERYWHERE it is nearly impossible to avoid at this point it's so frustrating. :⁠-⁠\


based crimethinker

however, you should expand your activities towards making effective counter institutions and creating affinity groups that do something constructive.
merely attacking the system on your own doesn't do much. if you want capitalism to fall you need something to replace it.
i assume you're new to anarchism if you're reading DoW/NoL, chek out https://theanarchistlibrary.org (new releases on frontpage) and https://theanarchistlibrary.org/stats/popular and read whatever has a title you find interesting. i would recommend Anarchy Works, and Anarchism and Other Essays. the latter is i would say a staple of classical anarchism, and the former is a great introduction and source of inspiration.

[CH]
[AutoMod] action=keep confidence=0.98 | Direct technical critique of marketing tactics and consumer psychology, relevant to the thread’s discussion of sneaky consumerism

>>10343
shit's a marketing ploy, not what it claims to be
paleo/whole food bullshit is just as bad, just more expensive and targeted at guilt-tripping health-obsessed middle-class assholes
Replies: >>11108

[US-CA]
[AutoMod] action=keep confidence=0.98 | Critiques consumerist marketing and food industry practices with technical and ethical arguments

>>10343
shitty ingredients, glorified junk food just for the profit. paleo just means expensive branding with a "health halo.

[US-NV]
[AutoMod] action=keep confidence=0.98 | Critiques consumerist marketing tactics with technical and economic reasoning, engaging with the thread’s anti-consumerist theme

>>10809

marketing makes bullshit taste better just to hit a sweet spot.
Replies: >>11277

[US-CA]
[AutoMod] action=keep R:8 E:7 N:6 C:10 | The post directly builds on the OP's critique of marketing manipulation by extending it to the 'healthy' industry, maintaining thematic continuity while offering a nuanced counterpoint.

>>11108
yep, but like the whole "healthy" marketing is mostly about positioning, not actual nutrition.

[DE]
[AutoMod] action=keep R:8 E:5 N:7 C:10 | Partially relevant to the thread’s critique of consumerism and packaging design (e.g., 'binged on' vs. mindful consumption), but slightly tangential to the OP’s focus on taste and ingredients. Adds a new angle on consumption habits rather than just ingredients. Short but introduces a fresh perspective on junk food psychology.

you""'re overstating it though, take skittles, now that""'s a decent snack. the real junk isn""'t so much what you eat but how you consume, like these packaged treats are designed to be binged on, not chewed mindlessly while watching something deep. it""'s a whole fuckin""' cycle, though.

[US-CT]
[AutoMod] action=keep R:10 E:8 N:7 C:10 | Directly responds to the quoted post about Whole Foods premium processed foods, shares new critical insight about additives and pricing, and adds a personal anecdote about perceived 'virtue' vs. reality.

yeah, that's the thing, moved to Whole Foods last summer, thought I was being virtuous. Turns out those 'premium' 'grain-free' patties they sell are just overpriced processed beef with weird additives. Still got the 'artisanal' vibe, just like they don't care if you're getting a diet worse than McDonald's.

[US-NY]
[AutoMod] action=keep R:10 E:8 N:7 C:10 | Directly engages with the thread’s critique of consumerism and marketing manipulation, expands on the idea of 'filler wrapped in sugar' with a specific example (Skittles) and a humorous/analogical twist (raw Skittles as 'bad wine').

marketing doesn't just lie, it feeds on the dumbness of us all, turns our cravings into paychecks while the food itself is mostly filler wrapped in sugar. I mean, try 'skittles' out raw, you'd probably throw them back like a bad wine review.

[JP]
[AutoMod] action=queue R:2 E:3 N:0 C:10 | Partially on-topic (consumerism/marketing) but heavily extrapolates conspiracy theories unrelated to the thread’s core discussion (e.g., government encouragement of crime, Microsoft piracy). Short but makes broad, unsupported claims.

It's always funny to me when I see people do stuff like stealing thinking they go against the system, while they are actually becoming more enslaved through this behavior. Often all they steal is like drugs, or they steal their food to then put all their money into buying drugs, since drugs are harder to steal and drugs will make themselves worse and also the world around them, so their behavior is actually worse than that of a system-cuck.
Stealing or buying, it is still consumerism, like drug dealers who give you drugs for free at first because they know in the long run they will profit from it.
Or look at Microsoft, in the past they allowed people to pirate the Windows operating system, because it at least gets them hooked and they can keep building their monopoly.
In secret the Goverment allows and encourages small crimes, because it makes the lower class feel more free than they are and distracts them from the fact they are slaves, there are references to that in the book 1984.

[DE]

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