"Ethical Consumption" & the History of "Selling Out"
Diabolical Lies
Limits of ethical shopping and the neoliberal emphasis on consumption
They examine critiques that consumer choice can't solve systemic exploitation and how neoliberal thought reframes change as individual consumption.
A “point, counterpoint”-style deep dive into the double-sided coin of “ethical consumption” and “ethical salesmanship” (or its alternative, “selling out”) under that little thing we call “capitalism,” sponsored by our treasured economic partners in the Saudi Royal Family.
“Is There REALLY No Ethical Consumption Under Capitalism?” from Clotheshorse with Amanda Lee McCarty (2024)
“This feminist t-shirt isn’t actually made in a sweatshop” by Zing Tsjeng from Dazed (2014)
Karl Marx in America by Andrew Hartman (2025)
“Marxism Unmasked: From Delusion to Destruction,” a lecture series from 1952 by all-time neoliberal juggernaut Ludwig von Mises
“The Litter Myth” from “Throughline” by NPR (2019)
“A Beautiful If Evil Strategy” by Chris Rose from Plastic Pollution Coalition (2017)
“Leaked Audio Reveals How Coca-Cola Undermines Plastic Recycling Efforts” by Sharon Lerner from The Intercept (2019)
“What is Amazon Web Services?” by Melissa Eddy from The New York Times (2025)
“People Think Amazon Is an E-Commerce Company, but 74% of Its Profit Comes from This Instead” by Anthony Di Pizio for The Motley Fool (2024)
This video from Grace Blakeley, author of Vulture Capitalism, about whether one’s identity as a consumer can ever be weaponized as an anti-capitalist tool
“Ethical Consumerism Isn’t Dead, It Just Needs Better Marketing” by Julie Irwin for Harvard Business Review (2015)
“The Case Against Corporate Social Responsibility” by Aneel Karmani for Wall Street Journal (2010)
“Nirvana: Inside the Heart and Mind of Kurt Cobain” by Michael Azerrad for Rolling Stone (1992)
“Lived Through This,” an interview with Chuck Klosterman, by David Wallace-Wells for Vulture
“The Rise and Decline of the ‘Sellout’” by Franz Nicolay for Slate (2017)
Shakespeare’s Sonnet 110, in which he bemoans the need to do spon con so he can make a living as a writer
“In the 90s, We Worried About Nirvana ‘Selling Out.’ I Wish That Concept Still Made Sense,” by Dan Brooks for The Guardian (2023)
“How We Stopped Caring About Selling Out” and “Comedy’s Favorite Truth-Tellers are Playing Jester for the Saudi Prince” by Emily Topping for Current Affairs (2025)
“The Age of the Double Sell-Out” by W. David Marx (2025)
“I didn’t listen to a single Taylor Swift song on Spotify last year. She still made money off me.” by Chris A. Williams for The Philadelphia Inquirer (2024)
“It’s Not the Crime, It’s the Coverup” by Freddie deBoer (2025)
“Ha ha! Ha ha!” an infamous review of Trick Mirror by Lauren Oyler for London Review of Books (2020)
“The Journalist as Influencer: How We Sell Ourselves on Social Media” by Allegra Hobbs for The Guardian (2019)
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