#NoEthicalConsumption: Discourses on Consumer Capitalism, Environment, and Social Change on TikTok


Brody Trottier, University of Toronto

Alongside a growing consciousness of the social and environmental problems associated with consumer goods, there is an increasingly salient belief that individual consumers should make ethical and political considerations when purchasing to influence change (Johnston 2008; Johnston and Szabo 2011). Despite the prevalence of notions such as ‘voting with your dollar’, this individualized notion of political change is frequently challenged for shifting blame away from the world’s largest corporations and wealthiest individuals (Davies, Hernandez, and Wyatt 2019). Scholars of consumer society (Carrington, Zwick, and Neville 2016; Davies, Hernandez, and Wyatt 2019; Johnston and Szabo 2011) frequently argue that an inequitable and unsustainable economic system is to blame for social and environmental problems rather than individual consumers who are limited in their ability to influence change through their shopping habits. While these critiques of ethical consumerism are not new, the emergence of these critiques in popular discourse is a novel and (potentially) politically significant development. For example, the slogan, “ there is no ethical consumption under capitalism, ” (NECUC) has amassed popularity on social media platforms such as Tik Tok and Twitter (Lewis 2021; Pape 2018). This critical popular discourse suggests that ethical consumerism merely helps sustain the destructive system of consumer capitalism at the very root of social and environmental problems. Moreover, this discourse is potentially linked with a sense of fatalism, hopelessness, or political alienation in relation to climate change — particularly prevalent among youth and young adults (Brophy, Olson, and Paul 2023; Hickman et al. 2021; Ojala 2012). In light of this emerging discourse, this paper asks (1) How do people engage in a public social media debate about the potential of individuals to impact social and political change through consumption? To answer this question, this paper examines debates about ethical consumption on social media through a discourse analysis of 60 TikTok videos that employ the hashtag #noethicalconsumption. My preliminary analysis shows that this hashtag encompasses contention to the meaning of the NECUC slogan, as well as an array of distinct orientations to this debate including (1) an uncritical embrace of the NECUC slogan as a critique of consumer capitalism and a rejection that individual consumption habits can impact social or political change; (2) a full rejection the NECUC slogan, emphasizing the importance of individual consumption habits for impacting social or political change; and (3) a partial agreement with the NECUC slogan, with caveats and critical objections. Of these three orientations, the latter reveals a diverse array of understanding of who is responsible for the social and environmental harms associated with consumer capitalism and the moral responsibility of individual consumers to address and alleviate these harms. Notably, a cruelly optimistic (Berlant 2011; Ruti 2018) attitude towards ethical consumption appears which suggests that engaging in ethical consumerism is futile, but nevertheless advocates for ‘voting with your dollar’ as a moral imperative to those with the means of doing so. This analysis is particularly relevant to the theme of this year’s CSA, by analyzing the hopes and fears surrounding the possibility of a sustainable and equitable future.

This paper will be presented at the following session: