Unveiling Stealthy Marketing Tactics in Netflix Documentary: Buy Now!

This summer, social media was abuzz with a new trend called “underconsumption core.” People were proudly showing off their repaired and repurposed items, encouraging others to use their existing belongings instead of buying new ones. Thrifty and environmentally conscious individuals were all for it. But with Black Friday sales rolling in, has the tide shifted away from underconsumption core?

Enter the new Netflix documentary, Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy. This eye-opening film digs into the sneaky tactics used by big brands like Adidas, Apple, and Amazon to keep us making endless purchases. Former insiders spill the beans on how companies manipulate us into buying more stuff. For example, Maren Costa, a former designer at Amazon, reveals how they use data to figure out which colors on buttons like “click to buy” and “free shipping” will make them the most money.

Amazon, one of the companies featured in the film, says they weren’t given a chance to fact-check the claims made in the documentary. They deny the allegations of encouraging or concealing product waste. The film also delves into the environmental impact of overconsumption, showcasing a beach in Ghana littered with discarded clothes and explaining how some products are intentionally designed to be unrepairable to keep us buying new.

The statistics are staggering. We produce around 400 million tonnes of plastic waste annually, 92 million tonnes of textile waste, and an estimated 62 million tonnes of e-waste globally each year. Nirav Patel, a former Apple software engineer in the film, highlights how the tech industry, and likely others, seldom consider the waste generated by their products. Waste management rarely enters the conversation during the design and manufacturing process.

Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy sheds light on the dark underbelly of consumerism and challenges viewers to think twice before hitting that “Buy Now” button. It’s a wake-up call to the reality of our throwaway culture and the urgent need for change.