The Story of Stuff - Annie Leonard [121]
WHO’S REALLY DRIVING?
Is consumer demand really the key force that causes Stuff to be made and sold? A lot of people believe that, and I guess it makes them feel good about themselves, thinking they’re holding all that power. But I’ve got to beg to differ. As just one example...
I mentioned above how right after giving birth to my baby daughter, a nurse gave me a packet of “educational” materials, which turned out to be credit card applications, coupons, and advertisements. That wasn’t all they gave me. The other “welcome new mommy” goodies included a one-pound can of Enfamil-brand baby formula, disposable diapers, and a diaper bag. Guess what the diaper bag was made of? Easy-to-clean, entirely-toxic PVC. I flipped out. The hospital was allowing corporations to distribute hazardous schlock to new mothers and their precious infants?
I wrote a letter to the editor of the local paper about what a moral outrage this was, how corporations overstepped all ethical boundaries. The story promptly got picked up and became front-page news. As a result, I received a bunch of letters from mothers, some of whom were grateful and others of whom objected to what I’d said.
I still have one of the letters I received, along with my response, which I’m excerpting here:
Dear Ms. Leonard,
Congratulations on the birth of your baby! Now stop spoiling it for the rest of us. I am referring, of course, to the article... concerning your displeasure at receiving a free diaper bag with samples, etc., from your maternity hospital... You voiced the notion that “rampant commercialism... has affected the hospital-patient relationship.” Good Lord, woman, of course it has! We do, after all, live in a consumer-driven society, or weren’t you aware... We, the consumer, control the manufacturers. It is never them controlling us, and it never has been. Don’t like the free coupons? Toss ‘em! Ha ha, that’s money that they’ve spent to no avail!... Get it now? Most of us in this world are not the stupid, biddable sheep you seem to think we are... Everyone has a mind of their own. I certainly hope you weren’t being so patronizing to the “poorer mothers” on purpose—I can assure you that most of them aren’t likely to run out and buy formula just because they now have a coupon for it! The vast majority of women giving birth in today’s maternity hospitals are simply not as gullible as you think.
And that includes me. Little Toby is now four months old, and I use his free Enfamil diaper bag every day. To date, I have received innumerable coupons and freebies from manufacturers and formula companies, and it’s been a blast getting free stuff.
Yours sincerely,
(it was signed but I’m withholding the name in this book)
Dear Ms. ———,
Thank you for your recent letter with congratulations on the birth of my baby. I, too, congratulate you on the recent birth of your son Toby and I wish him a healthy future...
I do, however, disagree... with the claim that “We, the consumer, control the manufacturers. It is never them controlling us, and it never has been.” Corporations around the world make decisions based on a number of factors. Profit, not consumer demand, is the primary driving force. Every day corporations take actions that are not only not demanded by consumers, but which are against consumers’ best interests... For example, let’s consider the diaper bag produced by the Enfamil infant formula company and given to you by the hospital. Your letter states that you use this bag every day. If it is the same Enfamil bag that I received (a green one