Alberto Cardaci, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore - Catholic University of Milan
Under some circumstances, people may feel wealthier than they actually are and this makes them psychologically more prone to increase their spending, as well as their borrowing.
To survive the crisis, fashion companies are relying on new technologies. New players, new customer experience, big data – the whole sector is changing.
The new Queer Eye has viewers hooked on its emotional ride through men’s lives, aiming to embrace diversity and counter toxic masculinity. Yet its focus on consumerism threatens its lofty ideals.
From the oil that makes your petrol, to car parts, to the groceries and other things in your weekly shop, retail consumerism is driving a boom in the amount of noise in the world’s oceans.
Materialism has an ugly face but it is here to stay. Rather than focusing efforts to diminish it we should utilise materialism to benefit wider society.
On Black Friday, November 24, outdoor retailer REI will close its stores and urge customers to #OptOutside. But a historian calls this popular campaign light green environmentalism at best.
Firms like Apple are known to inspire cult-like devotion among consumers. But it’s often less about the quality of the product and more about the emotional connection they create with their customers.
David O'Connor, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS)
Amazon.com and others are eager to fill the skies with drones delivering packages at all hours. Convenient, yes, but it could transform – and not in a good way – our ability to make informed choices.
Each Mardi Gras, 25 million pounds of beads hit the streets of New Orleans. One researcher went to the Chinese factories that make them – and spoke to the workers who believe the beads will be given to royalty.