for happier, healthier cities
It may seem inescapable, but many are choosing to resist Black Friday’s desperate appeals to buy stuff you never needed. Adfree Cities looks at the origins, the chaos, the backlash and the boycotts – and the fun you can have when you choose to opt out….Continue reading Reuse, reduce, resist! Have we had enough of Black Friday?
In this guest blog, part of the Bad Publicity series, Dr Simon Mair from the university of York examines the role advertising plays in normalising and reproducing the cycle of capitalist Growth that drives ecological destruction. He ends with a call to reimagine advertising as something more than a tool of consumerism. …Continue reading The commodification of life itself: how advertising promotes endless growth, and how it could be otherwise
Whilst bagging household goods at discount prices is welcome – especially in a cost of living crisis – Black Friday turns the dial up to 11, warping our need into excess. The consequences for our health, workers rights, and the environment have been well documented, even back in the 1950s….Continue reading Behind the Black Friday Ads
This guest blog is part of the Bad Publicity series, in which academics in fields from public health to surveillance, degrowth and behaviour change explore the ways in which advertising intersects with pressing contemporary social and political issues….Continue reading Advertising and the power of consumer activism
In this blog, part of the Bad Publicity series, Dr Amy Isham from Swansea University, examines the ways in which advertising moulds our values towards materialism and the consequences this has for us, our children and the planet. …Continue reading When ads get into our psyche: Materialism and its consequences for people and planet
Every year, Black Friday, the highpoint of the consumerist calendar, brings us scenes of shoppers falling over each other in a scramble for cheap deals. But does it have to be like this? How ads drive consumerism Black Friday, and its companion Cyber Monday, encourages us to buy more stuff, particularly clothes and electronics. But…Continue reading Black Friday Bargains? The True cost of Consumerism