Welcome to The Marketer Who Went Off Consumption! Subscribe to my RSS feed in a feed reader or by e-mail and you'll never miss any chapters from my year-long blog-as-a-book experiment on why we choose to consume, or not.
For those who came in late: I have gone off consumption, not because of the absence of money or an overdose of ideology, but because I’m tired of buying things; and if my year-long experiment results in a multi-million dollar book deal, what a bonus that would be!
But, as I said, that’s only part of the story.
For a while now, I have been trying to deal with a dichotomy in my life (tweet).
As an individual, I don’t read the newspaper, watch TV, or listen to the radio, I haven’t “shopped” for six months, and I try not to travel beyond a 10 km radius (tweet).
As a marketer, however, I love the art and science of marketing, I adore brands, and I’m hardwired into the idea of capitalist free markets driven by consumerism.
So, when I observe people wanting to spend less, swap instead of spend, go local, go organic, stop buying things, or generally say no to brands, I’m torn into two halves.
One part of me (me-as-a-person) knows exactly what they are talking about, because I feel equally overwhelmed by the brands + media + retail triumvirate.
The other part of me (me-as-a-marketer) wonders what will happen to our economies when more people go “off consumption” because they are tired of consuming, tired of things (tweet).
But, I’m a marketer first, then a human being.
Therefore, even more than I want to go off-consumption myself, I want to find out what makes people want to go off-consumption.
My quest (as an individual) to find the formula to turn consumerism-caused ennui into happiness, is also my quest (as a marketer) to learn how to apply that formula to convert our collective ennui from consumption into a yelp of enthusiasm for consuming even more.
Therefore, at its core, my year-long book-as-a-blog experiment is first-hand consumer research, an inquiry into why we choose to consume, or not.
Comments (6)
As long as people believe power is something outside of themselves,they will consume more than they need, and leave a bigger carbon footprint:-(.
@Manoj: Honestly, I still don’t understand the granularities of the carbon footprint concept. Over the next year, I’ll probably dig deep into it, but at it’s core, my experiment isn’t really about the environment.
How can one be a marketer first, before even being human?
The very conception of being, and the ability to reflect on your conscious being is an innately human trait.
Besides, (non sequitur, this) if one doesn’t have empathy, then there might be trouble.
Jolly good show on the blog (and am on twitter for exploratory reasons). Loved the write-up in HT
@Harshal: Well, it was a hyperbole. What I meant was that I’m both the object and the observer in the experiment.
Thanks for your kind words, by the way.
Not at all.
Was intrigued by the newspaper article. That vague sense of recognising someone in the news, coupled with surprise that you are attempting this experiment in such heady times in this country.
Yes, it’s an exciting experiment alright, and oddly, relevant.
You might want to check out Thorsten Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class (it’s an oldie, but a goody)
@Harshal: Thanks. I think the slightly subversive nature of my experiment is part of what excites me. I have put Thorsten Veblen’s ‘Theory of the Leisure Class’ on my reading list.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks (3)
[…] my quest as an individual to find the formula to turn consumerism-caused ennui into happiness, and my quest as a marketer to learn how to apply that formula to convert our collective ennui from consumption into a yelp of […]
[…] problems? Gaurav: (laughs) No, no, I’m not broke! It’s a year long experiment to understand why we choose to consume, or not. I’m even writing a book about it. It’s online; you should check it out sometime. […]
[…] of David Report: I Shop Therefore I Am (via TreeHugger and Santosh Maharshi) identifies some of the trends that led me towards my off consumption […]