Anticapitalism, sponsored by capitalism
from STUDIO WORROM's Thoughts on Things
#anticapitalism has 231.3M views on TikTok.
It’s not a huge surprise that young people who are facing the brunt of institutional failings on every societal level are frustrated with the system that’s fucking them over.
I read an article the other day that talked about ways brands have responded to this rising anticapitalist sentiment. The first tactic they list as a successful way brands have navigated it was: “have a self aware POV” .
But in this context, having a self aware POV about anticapitalism as a brand was not simply…not using anticapitalist posturing to sell your shit.
Reading the article genuinely made me wonder how we got here. I think part of it is the marketing industry’s obsession with brand purpose, which too often prioritizes people’s good intentions over meaningful results, especially in areas like sustainability, and has the tendency to make people who are at least trying to do the right thing feel like they’re not participating in the same system as the “bad guys”.
As a result brands, in their mad scramble to appeal to the current cultural zeitgeist, seem to have all been struck by a bout of collective amnesia that their existence is quite literally #capitalism.
Take the brand MSCHF, who created the Lil Nas X’s Satan Sneakers, and describe themselves as an art collective (more on that in a bit).
Over the summer they released an ironic “Eat the Rich” popsicle drop featuring the faces of Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. The popsicles are priced at $10 a piece, a move that purportedly nods to the co-opting of socialism by pro-capitalist Democrats and so-called progressives.
Meanwhile MSCHF itself is valued at over $200 million. They have been able to scale to this magnitude in part because of an $11.5 million cash injection from venture capital group Founders Fund, which also funds Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Each time they win with these types of “Eat the Rich”, trolling product drops, Founders Fund gets a return on their investment.
As such, no matter how clever MSCHF might be poking fun at the hypocrisy of modern capitalism, MSCHF is not an art collective. At least not in the way that language would suggest.
MSCHF can better be understood as an ad agency who’s made a business out of anticapitalist posturing, funded by the jet fuel of venture capital.
On the other side of the world, Alessandro Michele of Gucci and Demna of Balenciaga have launched their “Hacker Project”, graffitiing their respective brand names on each other’s expensive storefronts and bags.
Both Alessandro and Demna have pure conceptual intentions with this project - which they dive into on their podcast - a part of which is to play with the reasons we value “real” luxury items, as well as ideas of authenticity and appropriation in fashion.
While this commentary is interesting, this project is only possible because Balenciaga and Gucci are owned by the same holding company, Kering. Not to mention, the act of counterfeiting at its core is a direct reaction to classism: counterfeits exist to give people the feeling of access to echelons of society that have purposefully excluded them.
In sharp contrast, the Gucci x Balenciaga “Hacker Project” collection, with a product range that retails from $260-$4550, exists to sell luxury products for the luxury companies that have literally designed the uniforms of elitism. This isn’t challenging authenticity or ownership. It's clever marketing posing as cultural commentary, but as always, the only real beneficiaries are the people who’ve held the power all along.
I’m fairly convinced that this “anticapitalism, sponsored by capitalism” brand behavior is the next wave of greenwashing, and I’m betting it’s about to crop up in all sorts of subtle and sneaky ways.
So here’s my two cents if you’re working at a brand or an agency.
Instead of partnering with MSCHF, look at your business model and figure out where there are areas to create systemic improvements that extract fewer resources and contribute to fairer wealth distribution.
Instead of asking your social media team how you can appeal to audiences on platforms like Discord and BeReal when they don’t offer ad space, hire people who meaningfully challenge your thinking about how you’re serving an audience that is asking for more than you currently offer.
There’s no anticapitalist way of being a brand.
There’s just being honest about what you’re selling, and if you do want to do better for the world with your business, explore system changes in your business model, invest energy in building initiatives that genuinely give back, and hire staff with the vision to enable it.
As always, feel free to hit me up if you agree or mildly disagree :)
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Here are three things I liked on the internet this month:
Anne Helen Peterson’s much passed around, but still very good piece on the way Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s divorce reflects society’s misogyny back at us
Rachel Tashjian’s Harper’s Bazaar piece on the meme-ification of fashion, and what, exactly, the point of it all is.
Not one single piece of press about Ye who shall not be named. Any media that man receives is both a deep disservice to his mental health, and a megaphone for anti-semitism. We are literally still dealing with a pandemic can we please NOT round out 2022 with a Neo-Nazi uprising?
As always, thanks for reading and subscribing!
‘Til next month,
Steph