Now here’s a thing. This is an ad by Patagonia that was placed in the New York Times on Black Friday, that most doomy-sounding of days. It’s marketing itself (and has been well-received as) a non-ad, or reverse-ad – an advert that is essentially pleading with people to think of the planet and not buy things they don’t need. It explains the amount of resources required to make the jacket and talks about Patagonia’s pledge to recycle old clothing.

Not to be cynical, but it’s all a bit bollocks, right? There’s a yawning gulf between the virtues extolled in this ad – slow living, reflection, an end to consumerism – that are wholly incompatible with flogging clothes, and taking out ads in the NYT to do so.

This is a textbook example of how anti-corporate political and cultural are absorbed and reinterpreted by the corporate world, then ultimately used to sell more stuff. I don’t imagine that Patagonia, or anyone else who runs an ad like this, actually thinks that it’s really going to achieve any good for its stated purpose of making people stop and think. The purpose of ads like this is to develop the brand, not to promote a higher purpose – or if that cause does get some brief publicity it’s only important in as far as it rubs off onto the brand.

It’s two thirds of the way in that the lovely right-on copy about saving the environment and conserving resources cracks and little bit of traditional hard-sell slips in:

“And this is a 60% recycled polyester jacket, knit and
sewn to a high standard; it is exceptionally durable,
so you won’t have to replace it as often. And when
it comes to the end of its useful life we’ll take it back
to recycle into a product of equal value. But, as is
true of all the things we can make and you can buy,
this jacket comes with an environmental cost higher
than its price.”

Ah, sewn to a high standard, you say? Exceptionally durable? Great… I’ll take two!

It’s a clever ad that sells the product while positioning Patagonia as environmentally-aware (and thus positions you, the wearer of said jacket, as conscientious and A Good Person) by telling you not to buy their stuff. Essentially, it’s saying “Don’t buy our stuff. But seriously: buy our stuff!”

The infuriating thing is that although this ad is such a transparent token gesture there will be people who see it as a breakthrough – the first non-ad in a line of many; the first step to cracking consumerism. But it’s not. It’s just more wolfish consumerism, wrapped up in a thin layer of environmentally-aware sheepskin. An exceptionally durable, sewn-to-a-high-standard, 60% recycled polyester sheepskin.