Starbucks / Ethos water ethical consumption
example ·
retold in 8 talks
Cites Starbucks and Ethos water as examples of 'cultural capitalism,' where buying a product is framed as a moral act (helping Guatemalan children or providing water to third world countries) to alleviate consumer guilt.
≤2000talks it is told in, per year2026
As told 6
“They tell you, you know, with each cup of coffee that you buy, you help a Guatemala child to become literate”
“After reading this passage I was tempted to—to—to be a terrorist and start to throw Molotov cocktails at Starbucks.”
“with every cup of cappuccino that you buy in our store you save another Guatemala children from blindness or something like that”
What it carries
one story, many jobs: the ideas this anecdote is deployed to argue, one tally mark per use (an idea page shows the same relation from the other end, as its shelf of stories)
contents · one story, 3 jobsuses
cultural capitalism
×3
charity as ideological function
×3
socially responsible eco-capitalism
×1
Its cast and sources
populated by
Robert Brasillach2Brothers Grimm1René Magritte1Creston Davis1Thomas Friedman1Walter Benn Michaels1Mark Epstein1Michelangelo1
alongside works
Every retelling 6
Cites Starbucks and Ethos water as examples of 'cultural capitalism,' where buying a product is framed as a moral act (helping Guatemalan children or providing water to third world countries) to alleviate consumer guilt., illustrating cultural capitalism
Starbucks charges more for 'Ethos Water,' donating five cents per bottle while pocketing an extra forty-five cents profit. Žižek uses this as the exemplary case of cultural capitalism: the consumer feels socially engaged while the humanitarian gesture is built into the commodity's price mark-up., illustrating cultural capitalism,socially responsible eco-capitalism
Starbucks sells 'Ethos Water' at a premium, donating five cents per bottle to clean water projects; Žižek reads this as ideology integrated into consumption, buying coffee becomes a form of activism that allows one to ignore real suffering while feeling good., illustrating experiential commodity logic,charity as ideology,the toxic neighbor made to disappear
Starbucks sells coffee by claiming to help Guatemalan families; Ethos water donates 5 cents from a $2.50 bottle to bring water to desert regions. Žižek argues this fuses consumption with ethical self-image, masking profit while making consumers feel good., illustrating Western Buddhism,postmodern capitalism,charity as depoliticization,ideology of happiness
Žižek uses Starbucks' claim that each coffee purchase funds a Guatemalan child's literacy, and the 'Ethos' brand of water (five cents per bottle to third-world drinking water), as emblematic of 'cultural capitalism': companies profit more while consumers buy a good conscience alongside the product., illustrating cultural capitalism,ethical self-image,ideology
Starbucks charges more per coffee but includes a percentage for Guatemalan children or desert water; the ideological trick is that anti-consumerist solidarity is included in the commodity price, so you never have to stop being a consumerist., illustrating charity capitalism,pseudo-activity,ideology