Do you know anyone who doesn’t want the world to be a better place? Have you ever heard someone say that they like to buy things that pollute the world? Are there really people out there who feel good about buying things that are knowingly produced using child labor? I know I don’t, yet so many people I know still do this, myself included. Why do we keep acting in opposition to our speech?
Seth Godin makes some excellent observations-
“We say we want local merchants to offer great service, deep selection and community values, but we cross the street to the big box store to save $3.
We say we want companies to honor their promises and act transparently, but one new product or big discount from a business that has deceived us in the past and we come right back for more.
We say we’re disgusted with Congress, but almost all of us vote to re-elect the dufus we sent there in the first place.
We say we hate spam, but we send it. And sometimes buy from it.
We say we’d like people to think first and act later, but we get cut off in traffic and all bets are off.
We say we love art, the brave work that touches us, but we listen to oldies and rarely head out to hear live music or visit a cutting edge gallery.”
Enough is enough. We say we want these things, but apparently not enough to actually do something about it. Talk is cheap, let’s act on what we want. We live in a world full of great options and we have access to the information we need to educate ourselves better about what we buy. It’s about time we match up our desires and our values with our actions and start buying positively.