As we officially enter 2024’s festive season, we were struck by Netflix’s new documentary, Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy.

It’s a timely reminder that our collective choices can drive systemic change and hold corporations accountable for their environmental and social impact.

The film exposes the (at times, jaw-dropping) manipulative tactics of global corporations, and the lengths they go to to ensure consumer behaviour is systematically engineered to drive endless consumption. 

Through interviews with industry insiders and activists, the incisive documentary uncovers five critical corporate ‘rules’ global brands leverage to control and generate how we’re triggered to consume:

1.    Sell more: artificially create consumer demand by designing psychological triggers that compel unnecessary purchasing.

2.    Waste more: implement planned obsolescence, deliberately creating products with limited lifespans to force repeated purchases.

3.    Lie more: utilise greenwashing and misleading sustainability claims to obscure environmental damage.

4.    Hide more: conceal the true environmental and human costs of production by shipping waste to developing countries and destroying usable products.

5.    Control more: consolidate power by shaping public narratives and influencing policy to prioritise corporate profits.

What are some of its key take-aways for how we might consume more consciously this holiday season and beyond, and challenge our go-to buying habits? 

Let’s resist manufactured desire. Let’s prioritise durability over disposability. Support brands committed to genuine sustainability. Think of repairing instead of replacing. Buy second-hand. And make intentional purchases that truly add value – and spread a bit of authentic joy in an era of soulless hyper-consumerism.