This time last year, the Fairmined mark was launched by the Fairtrade Foundation, and Fairtrade gold took a step towards the mainstream. One year on, the idea is slowly gaining ground. And slowly is the only way it can gain ground, because ethical mining is not an easy thing to certify. To earn that Fairmined [...]
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The end of the road for carbon labeling?
This week supermarket chain Tesco announced that they have dropped their plans to introduce carbon footprint labeling across their range. It doesn’t come as much of a surprise. The project was announced in January 2007, and 15 months later the first 20 products hit the shelves. Crisps, orange juice and light bulbs were among the [...]
New year sales, debt addiction
Every Christmas, a strange disconnection develops across the media. In a bizarre failure to see the bigger picture, the Business sections decry the reluctance of consumers to spend, while the consumer pages lament the cost of Christmas. I first noticed it in 2008, and it’s no different today. Here are some of this year’s stories: [...]
Ten implicit messages in advertising
Looking out the window this morning from the train, I found myself looking at the billboards. I don’t pay much attention to adverts, but I started making a mental note of the implicit messages of each ad. Then I started jotting them down: You want to be financially better off. You like to be noticed. [...]
The cultural impact of advertising
For the last few weeks I’ve been carrying around a report entitled The Advertising Effect, from the Compass think tank. I’ve been meaning to write about it and haven’t got round to it. I’ve been reminded of it this week the publication of a new report from WWF and the Public Interest Research Centre, Think [...]
Smile or die, by Barbara Ehrenreich
Here’s a counter-cultural book. In Smile or Die, How positive thinking fooled America and the world, Barbara Ehrenreich takes a bold and much needed swipe at the culture of positivity. It sounds instinctively like it ought to be grouchy and pessimistic, but it’s more of a call to reality. Ehrenreich rails against the oppressive culture [...]
How much food can one household buy?
I was in the library last week, and found myself browsing the periodicals. Out of curiosity I picked up The Grocer, Britain’s leading magazine for food retailers. Wow. What another world. I definitely recommend scanning a copy next time you’re in a library or a newsagent. Reading The Grocer brings home the desperate search for novelty in [...]
In search of the biodegradeable shoe
I have reached the end of the line with my footwear. I can see daylight through the heel of my trainers, and when I went to London in the rain last week, I realised my favourite work shoes are no longer waterproof. My wife will be quietly pleased to see them go, but they’re the [...]
Consumer Detox, by Mark Powley
Mark is a friend of mine, a co-conspirator in the Breathe Network. (We worked together on the Conspiracy of Freedom videos that I posted here last year) So I guess I’m predisposed to like and recommend his book, Consumer Detox: Less Stuff, More Life. Well, so be it. It’s a great book, full of insights [...]
How to really beat the VAT rise
Sigh no more – as VAT rises to 20% in the UK today, we can exclusively reveal fourteen top-secret ways to beat the taxman, from keeping chickens to choosing a less decorative biscuit. Yes, really.
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