consumerism

Fortnite Settlement Means You Can Now Get a Refund for Your Unwanted Purchases

Dear parents: Epic Games is paying users for using deceptive tactics to "dupe millions of players."

Gadgets Nikki Main Sep 20

The Fashion Industry May Finally Face Accountability for Its Huge Toxic Footprint

New York is considering a first-of-its-kind law that could impose standards on a little-regulated industry.

Conservation Molly Taft Jan 11

Image: Cornell School of Industrial and Labour Relations

The Fast Fashion Industry Could Drown Itself

Apparel factories in some of the industry’s biggest hubs are at serious risk for flooding and heatwaves.

Climate Change Molly Taft Nov 9

The Idiotic Reason That Egg Companies Are Turning to Plastic Packaging

Choosing which eggs to buy at the grocery store can be an overwhelming process. Single A, Double A, jumbo, organic, free range, cage free, pasture-raised, vegetarian-fed, hormone-free, certified humane, local, and antibiotic-free are among the befuddling labels facing shoppers on American store shelves. But it’s not just the type of eggs that can be confusing,…

Conservation Peter Deneen Aug 31

Turns Out, Meal Kits Might Not Suck for the Planet

For the past few years, I’ve watched the rising popularity of meal kits from companies like Blue Apron and HelloFresh with deepening skepticism. Stuffed with refrigerator packs and individually wrapped ingredients, festooned with farm-to-table marketing and recycling symbols, these conveniently packaged dinners seemed to epitomize corporate greenwashing. That can’t possibly be good for the planet,…

Climate Change Maddie Stone Apr 22

A Crowdfunded Idea to Clean the Great Pacific Garbage Patch Is Now a $35-Million Nonprofit. Scientists Still Don’t Think It’ll Work

A skinny young man with a mop of dark hair takes the stage at a 2012 TEDx event. His name is Boyan Slat and he’s on a mission to rid the ocean of plastic. The audience listens in rapt silence as 18 year-old Slat lays out his concept for a device that captures plastic garbage…

Conservation Vincent Gabrielle Feb 8

Behind the Hype of Walmart’s Sustainability Efforts

In 2005, Lee Scott, CEO of Walmart, was troubled. Activists had recently illuminated Walmart’s connections to human rights abuses, and his company’s stock was in worse shape than California’s water supply. Then, a storm arrived. As hurricane Katrina drowned the Gulf Coast coast, it provided Walmart its salvation. The company gave district and store managers…

Conservation Ian Graber-Stiehl Oct 23

Are Reusable Bags Really Better For the Planet?

Earlier this week, a pilot whale died after being found with 17 pounds of plastic bags in its stomach. The horrific incident was our latest reminder that plastic bags contribute to the scourge of marine litter. By sheer coincidence, it came on the heels of a major U.N. report pointing to plastic bag levies or…

Conservation Ian Graber-Stiehl Jun 6

Apple’s E-Waste Problem Will Take More Than Robots to Solve

There’s a fancy new iPhone recycling robot on the block, just in time to help Apple score some brownie points with the greens on Earth Day. Its name is Daisy, and it’s being covered with the same breathless enthusiasm the tech blogosphere served up for its predecessor, Liam. The bot can apparently turn 200 iPhones…

Conservation Maddie Stone Apr 20

America’s Holiest Holiday Nearly Upon Us

Bust out your black and gold wreaths and streamers because Prime Day is nearly upon us! What. You don’t know what Prime Day is? What kind of heathen are you? Were you born in a barn? Did your sister dunk your head in the outhouse slop one too many times? How can you, an American,…

Commerce Alex Cranz Jun 30

Board Games Have Always Been Great at Teaching Americans To Buy More Stuff

Here in the wake of Thanksgiving, there’s a tremendous marketing push by retailers who implore us to buy more things. Frankly, our entire economy depends upon people buying stuff they don’t need. But Americans have a tendency to romanticize the Before Times™ — an era when consumerism wasn’t so rampant. This longing for the days…

Tech News Matt Novak Nov 27

Amazon Dash Button: The Ultimate Convenience or the End of Civilization?

Amazon’s latest experimental product is the Dash button, a programmable key that makes reordering essentials like laundry detergent as easy as pushing Start on the microwave. Is this the best thing that ever happened to busy America? Or a sign that we’ve become the docile servants of our Amazon Prime accounts? When the Gizmodo staff…

Commerce Mario Aguilar Mar 31

Everything Wrong with Consumerism in 46 Seconds

Worried that you aren’t good, smart, or attractive enough to find success and happiness and that you’ll die pathetically alone, a washed-out neverwas from the middle of nowhere? That’s because you aren’t and you will—unless you buy these fantastic products!

Tech News Andrew Tarantola May 13

Apple Is Now a More Valuable Brand Than Coca-Cola

In what could be seen as a defining moment for tech, Apple has surpassed Coca-Cola to become the most valuable brand on the planet. An annual report published by Interbrand has listed the biggest global brands each year, since 2000. Coca-Cola has consistently taken the top spot since the survey’s inception—but this year sees Cook…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Sep 30

How Apple Stores work consumers to buy and be happy

Along with retail masters Mickey Drexler—then Gap’s CEO—and Ron Johnson, Steve Jobs created the Apple Stores in 2001. They wanted consumer heavens in which everything, from the space to the body language of the salespeople, is carefully designed to work people into buying a brand, its products and “happiness.” The Cupertino corporation used the stores…

Sploid Jesus Diaz Sep 26

When Apple Care Is Worth It (And When It’s Not)

If you’re making an investment in an Apple product, whether it’s a new machine or a permanently on-sale refurb, you want to protect it. At the same time, spending a few hundred more on AppleCare hurts when you’re already dropping a couple grand on a computer. You get a year of AppleCare as part of…

Tech News Kyle Wagner Dec 26

As if mannequins weren’t creepy enough already, now some spy on you as you shop

Online retailers are able to collect massive amounts of data on consumers and their shopping habits. Now brick and mortar retailers want to enjoy the benefits of sweet, sweet data gathering, and they’re employing spying mannequins to do it. According to Businessweek, five luxury retailers are employing a few dozen mannequins from the Italian company…

io9 Lauren Davis Nov 25

How Do You Sell Apple Stuff in China? Luxury, Luxury, Luxury.

China is, on paper, a communist society. China is, in practice, a society of aspirational consumption, conspicuous consumerism, and a gaudy upper class. So how does Apple, with hippy roots, take control? By conforming, FP reports. iPhones are golden crowns. Whereas the tech colossus is adored in the west for its innovation and design daring,…

Tech News Sam Biddle Aug 2

Futuristic Products, After the War (1945)

American companies during World War II often stressed sacrifice in their print advertising. If we can all just be patient, they promised, we’ll have more televisions and personal helicopters and push-button kitchens than you can shake a rocket car at. After the war, the sun will power our homes. After the war, we’ll have plastic…

Tech News Matt Novak May 13

First Shop, Then Drop…Into This Shopping Cart Lounger

After a hard, hard day of buying things, why not drown in your first world problems by coming home and sinking into a shopping cart? Mike Bouchet’s Sun Lounger was made by cutting open an actual shopping cart, then re-appropriating it into something more suitable for domestic leisure. The Sun Lounger, which will be on…

Tech News Adrian Covert May 4

consumerism

Fortnite Settlement Means You Can Now Get a Refund for Your Unwanted Purchases

The Fashion Industry May Finally Face Accountability for Its Huge Toxic Footprint

The Fast Fashion Industry Could Drown Itself

The Idiotic Reason That Egg Companies Are Turning to Plastic Packaging

Turns Out, Meal Kits Might Not Suck for the Planet

A Crowdfunded Idea to Clean the Great Pacific Garbage Patch Is Now a $35-Million Nonprofit. Scientists Still Don’t Think It’ll Work

Behind the Hype of Walmart’s Sustainability Efforts

Are Reusable Bags Really Better For the Planet?

Apple’s E-Waste Problem Will Take More Than Robots to Solve

America’s Holiest Holiday Nearly Upon Us

Board Games Have Always Been Great at Teaching Americans To Buy More Stuff

Amazon Dash Button: The Ultimate Convenience or the End of Civilization?

Everything Wrong with Consumerism in 46 Seconds

Apple Is Now a More Valuable Brand Than Coca-Cola

How Apple Stores work consumers to buy and be happy

When Apple Care Is Worth It (And When It’s Not)

As if mannequins weren’t creepy enough already, now some spy on you as you shop

How Do You Sell Apple Stuff in China? Luxury, Luxury, Luxury.

Futuristic Products, After the War (1945)

First Shop, Then Drop…Into This Shopping Cart Lounger

Southwest Is About to Limit Power Banks on Flights

Damn, the ‘Power Rangers’ Reboot Could’ve Had Four Movies

The Live-Action ‘One Piece’ Team Wants to Go the Distance

‘Lee Cronin’s The Mummy’ Will Please Gross Horror Fans

Somehow Paramount’s ‘Avatar’ Movie Has Leaked, Too

The World Is Basically Begging for Another iPod

Anker’s EufyMake E1 Finally Brings Printers Out of the Dark Ages

OpenAI Says Elon Musk Is ‘Injecting Chaos’ with Recent Legal Maneuver

This Loud-Ass Party Speaker Almost Got Me High AF

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

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