On Mar 17, 2010, at 3:00 PM, James Heartfield wrote:
> In my book Green Capitalism, I wrote that
>
> 'green purchasing is status affirmation. Buying green marks out
> consumers not just as ethically minded, but more ethically minded
> than others. Even more than most consumer trends, green consumer
> power is about social demarcation. Green goods are directly
> contrasted to mass consumer goods. Their identity is asserted
> against less ethical, mass produced goods.' ...
But the results of this experiment are even more pointed: the act of buying green, at least in its laboratory simulation, makes you meaner precisely because it's seems so high-minded, thus giving people license to be mean. I love the phrase "moral credentialing."