Written by: gfesadmin on March 7, 2013

Rebel Sell opens with a salvo against the consumerist system and its twin brother, the anti-consumerist counter-culture. The authors argue there really is no difference between the two. Thus one can buy all the anti-capitalist t-shirts one desires. The quintessential example of this is a 2003 Adbusters (a magazine dedicated to anti-consumerism) advertisement offering its own brand of shoes. The consumerist system is happy to offer anything to anyone, even to its twin brother that would seek to supposedly undermine it.

After reading the opening chapter, I was excited about this book, thinking that it would offer a new critique and path forward for us as a society, as well as those of us looking to live out our faith in concrete ways. I enjoyed the author’s insistence that consumerism’s founding ethos isn’t conformity but differentiation. After all, who wants to be like everyone else? It feeds our worst individualistic tendencies. But as I got to the end of the book my enthusiasm had waned. What happened?

I didn’t realize this at first, but as I continued reading, the authors unapologetically demean smaller actions done by individuals, like buying fair trade products. They preferred larger institutional and political actions, like changing how tax deductions are done for advertising. While I do hope that political and institutional things do change, that’s not something that the average person has the ability to change. One look at the current political climate in Washington should confirm that. We as followers of Jesus should never put all our faith and hope in the government (that doesn’t mean government action is bad). We can’t wait for the government to act alone. The grass-roots level is something that we can do well.

Yes, I agree in theory that marketing fair-trade chocolate or non-sweat shop shoes or organic food does play into the consumerist system. But in practice the decision of making those purchases has real ramifications in the lives of actual people and the environment. Buying fair trade ensures that a chocolate farmer is able to produce his craft in a way that actually allows him to provide for his family. Buying sweatshop free clothing ensures that working conditions aren’t causing a 12 year old to work 12-hour shifts, six days a week. Buying organic food means that less chemicals and pesticides will come into contact with the Earth as well as the humans who have to handle and apply them.

We live in an imperfect world with systemic injustices that cause real hurt, pain and misery for many. Unfortunately, we can’t escape from that system and we all contribute to it. While I intellectually agree that the anti-consumerist crusaders ultimately feed the system, when taken to the extremes the effects of each approach look very different. What if all the rage was local food and sweatshop free clothing? What if we demanded that our electronics came from renewable sources?  Yes it would be consumerism, but at least it wouldn’t be consumerism that is so clearly bent towards destruction of our society. It would be easier to shift the current consumerist system to a consumerist system that champion’s fair trade and ethics than to expect a shift completely away from any consumerist actions. In my opinion, the authors critique the current system but don’t offer any real alternatives other then to mock from the sidelines. A much better alternative would be to engage the consumer culture at all levels. Without a base of those living practically and fighting within the system, their hope of political action is impotent.

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