“ ‘Ethical consumerism’ is posited as the (only) means by which people can ‘make a difference’, but of course consumers cannot make one jot of difference to the systemic causes of misery (in humans or chickens), they can only make a ‘choice’, where ‘choice’ - divested of any existentialist charge - carries the meaning assigned none to it by neo-liberalism. Choice, in this rendition, is, (second) naturally, a choice between commodities. Like neo-liberalism itself, ethical consumerism presupposes the Smithian invisible hand even as it accepts that it occasionally needs jogging in the right direction by enlightened ‘good sorts’.
— k-punk
