March 23rd, 2008
In Case You Are Wondering, I’m Not Communist Either
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I can almost see what you are thinking: if money is not the reason why I have gone off consumption, it must be ideology.
But I haven’t gone off consumption to correct the unequal distribution of wealth in the world. I have no left-of-center communist tendencies in matters related to money. I’m a liberal in every sense of the word; I’m left-of-center when it comes to religion and right-of-center when it comes to economics. In fact, if at all, my going off-consumption will increase the inequality of wealth; I can almost see my portfolio manager rubbing his hands in anticipation of my higher investment outlay.
I also have nothing against big multinational brands or the marketers who manage them. I work for a conglomerate that has a fast-growing global footprint and handle one of India’s biggest brands with revenues of $1bn plus. I know no other way of making money other than by selling things (products, services, ideas, whatever). In fact, I must tell you that I love brands and I’m proud to be a marketer. Someday, hopefully before I’m thirty, I’ll teach marketing at an IIM. Before I retire, I hope that I’ll write a dozen books on marketing, including this blog-as-a-book, my first one.
I admit that I worry about the environment sometimes, but I’m a rationalist at core. I believe that the free market mechanism will eventually factor in all the environmental externalities and figure out the path to sustainable development. I also believe that my going off consumption will have absolutely no impact on the environment. So, no, I’m not going off consumption to save the environment either.
So, if I’m not against brands, or marketers, or consumption, or capitalism, why have I gone off consumption?
