November 26, 2021
Oppositions are as systematic as they are ideological ! Why do we no longer manage to shed a
minimum of nuance, a precious glimmer of common sense, on the smallest of our social issues ?
Black Friday is a great imported (from the U.S.A.) consumerist event that we could not have copied. But if some markdowns border on the indecent, it's mostly because of the usual margins they reveal for the occasion. Perhaps this « Black Friday » should be regulated in the same way as our good old sales ?
However, should we stigmatize our fellow citizens who take advantage of it ?
Of course, the fight against planned obsolescence is indeed legitimate and reuse is virtuous. But who can guarantee that a reconditioned old object is as easy to use, as reliable and as energy efficient as a new product ?
Only the truth of a product entire life cycle should matter, including outsourced carbon emissions and social responsibility for their production conditions. Is it really rational and virtuous today to scrap a relatively new internal combustion vehicle in order to benefit from a conversion premium on a hybrid SUV ?
Europe and the world are entering a period of ecological and economic transition that should last at least thirty years. This term « transition » has a meaning, but it also carries a major social acceptance challenge. How urgent the climate situation may be, transition must not mean immediate de growth, nor a frantic race to technological substitutions that are too radical or expensive.
Most French households are constrained in their spending, and, as a result, their purchasing decisions are often well thought out. It is therefore time for the most infantilizing elements, those of guilt and constraint, to give way to more pedagogy and behavioral confidence.
This is a paradigm that certainly deserves to be extended from households to all socio-economic actors and activities.
Vetted's conviction is that everyone, in his own place, on his territory, with his level of commitment, has a role to play to accelerate the progressive transformation of our consumption models. These evolutions will not fail to raise questions and contradictions. It is collectively and not by confrontation that we will find the best answers.
The Vetted Marketplace is part of these new models that enable sustainable and responsible consumption.