Rule 1: Sell More
This term refers to designing products with intentionally short lifespans to push consumers to replace them sooner.
Planned obsolescence
The term for producing more goods than people can use, which often leads to massive waste
Overproduction
When companies pretend to be environmentally friendly without real action, it’s called this.
Greenwashing (e.g when companies advertise misleading claims about a product or company's environmental impact)
When production is moved overseas to lower-cost countries, it is called this.
Outsourcing
Using Tiktok, Instagram, or advertising to make us believe we need the newest item is this tactic.
Consumer manipulation/advertising pressure/marketing manipulation
What is the term for when companies use advertising and influencers to convince people they need the latest version of a product?
Marketing/product pressure
What is the term for the industry that is notorious for making cheap clothing that are worn a few times before being thrown away?
Fast fashion
What is a term for when companies hide the environmental or human cost of production, allowing them to sell more?
Lying to consumers/concealment/false advertising
Dangerous/unfair working arrangements, often hidden in supply chains, are called this.
Poor labour conditions/poor working conditions
The idea that buying a product makes you cooler, richer, or more successful is done so by this term.
Branding/advertising influence
“Phones are designed to become outdated within just a few years” is an example of this strategy.
Planned obsolescence
When consumers choose to repair, reuse, or donate instead of throwing things away, they are reducing this.
Waste/overconsumption
Example: A label stating “100% eco-friendly” or "100% recyclable" on a product that actually causes harm is an example of this.
Misleading advertising/false advertising
Factories polluting rivers with dyes and chemicals is an example of this hidden impact.
Environmental damage
When big brands dominate shelves and prevent smaller competitors from selling, they are exercising this.
Market control/monopolisation (+2 extra points for this advanced term!)
What is the term for buying more than we actually need, encouraged by companies? (e.g if Miss gave in to buying air purifier filters and a Stanley drink bottle anti-lead lid)
Overconsumption
Items like single-use plastics or takeaway coffee cups are examples of this type of product.
Disposable products
Companies might choose to hide the real environmental and cultural impacts of their products to protect this.
Company reputation/sales and profits
Companies hide where their products are made so consumers don’t ask these difficult questions. What kinds of difficult questions are these referring to?
Ethical questions/questions about exploitation
Becoming aware of manipulative tactics helps consumers become this.
Sustainable consumers/educated consumers/smarter consumers
(buyers or consumers are acceptable terms, but they need "sustainable", "educated" or "smarter" as first key word)
“Sell More” leads to increased extraction of this from the environment (this term relates to the extraction of something that includes resources such as timber, metals, etc.)
Natural resources
Shipping millions of unwanted clothes to countries like Ghana or Thailand is an example of this global problem.
Textile waste/clothing waste/apparel waste
Who said this quote: “The trick is not to give shoppers the time to feel guilty, there is no place for that if money is to be made.”
Sasha/voice of rules
Who said this quote: “Of course they (customers or buyers) consume. But why do they consume? Because they’re encouraged to, to a great extent.”
Paul Polman/the former CEO of Unilever
Who said this quote: “We can’t recycle our way out of all this stuff that they want us to buy.”
Eric Liedtke the ex-CEO of Adidas