#081 ✰ An outsider view on "LE NEW CONSUMER"
thought-provoking ideas, reframings and perspective shifts by the 'rabbit holes digger'
Have you heard about
work? A little while ago, I stumbled upon his ‘visualising consumerism’ piece, a visual exploration of our consumerist culture [highly recommended]. Later on he published the Art of Repair visual exploration and I was definitely hooked.Since then, I happily digged into every one of his rabbit holes. So when he offered last week a new initiative, I jumped in right away.
You tell me about your project! And I’ll send you a selection of thought-provoking ideas, reframings, and perspective shifts! Simply fill out this form, and I’ll mail you a few interesting bits that relate to your project, for free. 😉
The only thing I sent him was: “a loyalty and rewards program for people who care about objects” [if this rings any bell, yeah, that makes total sense]. And I received yesterday Thomas’ ‘interesting bits’.
Saying that I was really pleasantly surprised would be an understatement. Thomas nailed it down so much that we decided to re-share here the whole thing [wihout any editing]. Enjoy 🫶
👇 below is the raw email I received from Thomas 👇
Hi Kev,
Thanks so much for reaching out and submitting your topic. Also thanks for being subscribed to my Substack! :)
Your topic: A loyalty & rewards program for people who care about objects.
A few thought-provoking ideas and thoughts:
The implications of throwaway living and the link between consumption and personal relationships:
"This lifestyle of “throwaway living” is only a few generations old, but the consequences go far beyond pollution. Research from the University of Kansas “found a correlation between the way you look at objects and perceive your relationships.” The author of the study said: “Even in romantic relationships, when I ask my students what would they do when things get difficult, most of them say they would move on rather than try to work things out, or God forbid, turn to a counselor.”
In other words, the prevalence of disposable objects in our lives is causing our interpersonal relationships to suffer even more than they already were. […]
The real problem is that there is no away [in terms of throwing something away]. […] Away is relative, never absolute. Away is always some other being’s here. We live on an interconnected planet—“away” doesn’t actually exist.”
👉 https://humansandnature.org/its-time-to-practice-no-away-living/
This one relates to number 1. I think it’s very important to make „away“ more visible or conscious for consumers.
"Magical thinking pervades our understanding of waste. In the Global North, we take for granted that we can throw things away, where ‘away’ is a mythical place so distant, so beyond the borders of our moral imaginations, as to require no further thought.
Of course, there is no ‘away.’ There are just places and peoples who are deemed to matter less than others. Following flows of waste reveals quieter forms of colonialism. Extraction is not limited to the theft and accumulation of valuable goods; it’s also characterised by the expulsion of pollution and harmful waste. Mining minerals is an extraction of value; so is dumping toxic refuse. Both enrich certain world regions at the cost of others.“
👉 https://itsfreezinginla.com/articles/recycling-delusion
I like how
, who has this super interesting beauty Substack [oh yeah The Unpublishable we love Jessica here too], talks here about the de-humanization behind our consumer culture. She focuses specifically on beauty and how the beauty industry de-humanizes people with their products, but I think this can also relate to other industries or consumption in general. It’s an interesting point, i.e. to focus on the de-humanizing tendencies behind consumption.
"What would happen if we decided not to buy products that dehumanize us — as in, products that promise to defy the realities of the human body — but instead focused on products that support the inherent functions of our skin, hair, and bodies? We'd buy 99% fewer products."
I once shared this very interesting reframing:
“Perhaps maintenance, rather than sustainability, is the more useful framework for a green transition, because it can account for how human infrastructure is now deeply entangled with the environment in the age of the Anthropocene.”“Sustainability is a state; maintenance is a process. It requires work, and work of a certain type. Whatever its ultimate goal — safety, material efficiency, reducing carbon emissions — practical know-how and repetitive labor come first. This kind of pragmatism is sorely needed in the climate debate, which is so often preoccupied with end-states that it has no earthly or humanly way of achieving.”
“The personal dimension of maintenance and repair — how it’s also a form of knowledge that can give you power over the objects in your life — is not often emphasized by progressive environmentalists. That language is left to DIY Youtubers and entrepreneurs […], not to mention the farmers and fishermen and musicians and truckers and others whose livelihoods depend on certain machines operating at a certain level.“
👉 https://www.noemamag.com/the-disappearing-art-of-maintenance/
And the concept of Mottainai is quite inspiring:
"“Ubiquitous in daily life, [the concept of] mottainai has been the go-to admonishment for waste in Japan for centuries, representing a meaningful connection between item and owner that’s deeply rooted in Buddhist culture. Focussing on the essence of objects, it encourages people to look beyond our throwaway culture and value each item independently, adding the fourth ‘R’ of ‘respect’ to the well-known mantra of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’.”
“As sustainability becomes a global focus, the nuance of mottainai offers an alternative frame for our link to the world and the items we bring into it. While many sustainable efforts focus on the future of the planet as a motivator, mottainai looks closely at the items themselves, believing that if you value an item in the first place, there is no cause for waste at all.”
“The bond between owner and object is a fundamental element of Japanese culture, reflected in everything from the traditional repairing art of kintsugi to the sparking of joy sought by famous organiser Marie Kondo. Visitors may glimpse a delicately repaired bowl during a tea ceremony or stumble upon one of the annual festivals held to give thanks to used items.
“When things can no longer be used, we always say ‘otsukaresama-deshita!’ to them; it means ‘thank you for your hard work’,” Nanai said.“
👉 https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20200308-japans-ancient-way-to-save-the-planet
Focusing more on the loyalty aspect, I do think it might be interesting to explore Web3 business like Mirror and their business models (lots of articles can be found on this page that dive deeper into this topic).
And linked to that this article by
exploring Love vs. Fame framework for social applications might come in handy:
And again linked to that maybe this might be interesting (not sure…):
I hope these open up some new ideas and thoughts! Would love to hear back from you!
All the best,
Thomas
Wait, who are you again?
If you’re new here, welcome 👋 We are Max, Kev and Mat. We’re building a loyalty and rewards program for people who care about objects.
We call these people “LE NEW CONSUMER” and here’s our manifesto.
Objet is the french word for 'object' and should be pronounced 'ob-jeh‘. In this journal, we explore the intersection of desire, taste, joy, meaning and culture. If you’d like to embark on a journey with us, sign the manifesto 🚀
Bisous. kev.
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