Conspicuous abstention

“Overconsumption is no longer a signal of success…”;
“conspicuous abstention” is emerging.

…hungry for a connection between the things they buy and the lives they want to be leading — and recognizing that sometimes the best thing to buy is, simply, nothing.

FutureLabs says,
“Indeed, I think this hunger for more life rather than more stuff is at the very heart of a transition to a bright green future.

Many of us are already valuing experiences and relationships much more than toys and tools.

Recognizing that the stuff we buy can clutter our lives as easily as compliment them, many of us are looking for ways to engage with products and services that offer us the straightest line between ourselves and the people and experiences we value, and that same search is exposing many of the bedrock assumptions of marketing and advertising as pathetic ploys, making us more savvy about brands and the ways they manipulate us.”