Policy Press
Fifteen Shopping for happiness: corporate happwash and consumption ethics
Abstract
As is well known, Adam Smith argued in Wealth of nations that the ‘hidden hand’ of the market allowed people to promote social happiness by pursuing their own self-interest as consumers and producers. In The theory of moral sentiments, by contrast, he emphasised humanity’s natural interest in other people’s happiness, which we promote for no other reason than the joy of considering it. Any serious debate about the ethics of business and consumption turns on these two quite different mechanisms for happiness promotion – the mechanical synergies between self-interest and virtue achieved through the market, and the enlightened self-interest of deliberately promoting other people’s happiness. This latter theme, the ‘heart’ which motivates us to cherish other people’s happiness, is all but entirely hidden in discourses on ethics of consumption and business.
We’ve all heard of ‘corporate greenwash’ – the accusation of implausible or tokenistic claims to environmental responsibility. Other variants like ‘bluewash’ (use of the UN flag to gain respectability) and ‘sweatwash’ (claiming to avoid the use of sweatshop labour) similarly echo the well-known Tom Sawyer vignette in which he persuades other children to pay for the privilege of doing his punishment exercise of whitewashing a fence. In that example, everyone’s a winner: the fence painters, genuinely persuaded that whitewashing is an enviable task, are as happy as Tom. We might also consider the concept of ‘corporate happwash’ – marketing or seeking reputational gains by using implausible promises of happiness. Examples include the classic ‘Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet’, more recent insidious efforts to promote smoking in Africa by linking it to music and happiness (Patel et al, 2009), or the labelling of the sugary drink 7Up as ‘Seven Happinesses [qu xi]’ in China, echoing Coca-Cola’s efforts to link its products with happiness in China and elsewhere since the 1920s, but also recalling 7Up’s own promotion in the 19th century as a lithium-based mood-booster in health spas (Healy, 2002, p 47).
Abstract
As is well known, Adam Smith argued in Wealth of nations that the ‘hidden hand’ of the market allowed people to promote social happiness by pursuing their own self-interest as consumers and producers. In The theory of moral sentiments, by contrast, he emphasised humanity’s natural interest in other people’s happiness, which we promote for no other reason than the joy of considering it. Any serious debate about the ethics of business and consumption turns on these two quite different mechanisms for happiness promotion – the mechanical synergies between self-interest and virtue achieved through the market, and the enlightened self-interest of deliberately promoting other people’s happiness. This latter theme, the ‘heart’ which motivates us to cherish other people’s happiness, is all but entirely hidden in discourses on ethics of consumption and business.
We’ve all heard of ‘corporate greenwash’ – the accusation of implausible or tokenistic claims to environmental responsibility. Other variants like ‘bluewash’ (use of the UN flag to gain respectability) and ‘sweatwash’ (claiming to avoid the use of sweatshop labour) similarly echo the well-known Tom Sawyer vignette in which he persuades other children to pay for the privilege of doing his punishment exercise of whitewashing a fence. In that example, everyone’s a winner: the fence painters, genuinely persuaded that whitewashing is an enviable task, are as happy as Tom. We might also consider the concept of ‘corporate happwash’ – marketing or seeking reputational gains by using implausible promises of happiness. Examples include the classic ‘Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet’, more recent insidious efforts to promote smoking in Africa by linking it to music and happiness (Patel et al, 2009), or the labelling of the sugary drink 7Up as ‘Seven Happinesses [qu xi]’ in China, echoing Coca-Cola’s efforts to link its products with happiness in China and elsewhere since the 1920s, but also recalling 7Up’s own promotion in the 19th century as a lithium-based mood-booster in health spas (Healy, 2002, p 47).
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of tables and boxes vi
- About the author vii
- Acknowledgements viii
- Preface: on happiness, rationality and empathy in scholarship and policy ix
-
Happiness in policy discourse and research
- Introduction: prosperity debates and the happiness lens 3
- What really matters: concepts, evaluations and objections 33
- Effects of happiness (and unhappiness) 49
- Thinking ourselves happy: on the policy relevance of both subjectivity and objectivity 59
- Who makes happiness happen? On emotion work and psychosocial contagion 69
- Governance and responsibility: towards the eudaimonic state? 81
- Assessing happiness: measurement and beyond 91
- Correlations and causal theories 107
-
Social happiness in policy and practice
- Love: fighting philophobia around the world 119
- The shape of good hope: cultivating reasonable aspirations 135
- Positive parenting and cheerful childlessness 149
- Schooling for joy 165
- New gender agendas: feel-good feminism for fun and fulfilment 183
- Working for happiness, happily working, and work–life harmony 195
- Shopping for happiness: corporate happwash and consumption ethics 211
- Geronto-eudaimonics: late-life thriving for all 223
- Conclusions: review and prospects 235
- References 247
- Index 293
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of tables and boxes vi
- About the author vii
- Acknowledgements viii
- Preface: on happiness, rationality and empathy in scholarship and policy ix
-
Happiness in policy discourse and research
- Introduction: prosperity debates and the happiness lens 3
- What really matters: concepts, evaluations and objections 33
- Effects of happiness (and unhappiness) 49
- Thinking ourselves happy: on the policy relevance of both subjectivity and objectivity 59
- Who makes happiness happen? On emotion work and psychosocial contagion 69
- Governance and responsibility: towards the eudaimonic state? 81
- Assessing happiness: measurement and beyond 91
- Correlations and causal theories 107
-
Social happiness in policy and practice
- Love: fighting philophobia around the world 119
- The shape of good hope: cultivating reasonable aspirations 135
- Positive parenting and cheerful childlessness 149
- Schooling for joy 165
- New gender agendas: feel-good feminism for fun and fulfilment 183
- Working for happiness, happily working, and work–life harmony 195
- Shopping for happiness: corporate happwash and consumption ethics 211
- Geronto-eudaimonics: late-life thriving for all 223
- Conclusions: review and prospects 235
- References 247
- Index 293
