Bad Tastes

Consumers’ environmental or ethical concerns do not always translate into their purchasing behaviour… The attitude-behaviour gap has not been totally understood. Consumers’ purchasing decisions are irrational and not always well connected with their values.

Vehmas et al. (2018)

I was flummoxed earlier this week on hearing a couple of friends jokingly but seriously say that Chick Fil A’s food is worthwhile enough to ignore the company’s politics. They didn’t say it so directly — instead more offhandedly, sarcastically, humor in “I’m so weak for fried chicken” and subversion in not just compromising values but in being a queer couple doing so.

They’re younger, my brother’s cohort, on the older end of Gen Z, in that same range embracing Shein and to a lesser degree, Temu, but I often see this same mindset amongst Millenials. Aponte et al. (2024) confirm this dissonance: “Forever 21, Zara, and H&M… [target] consumers from Generation Y… and Generation Z… The high consumption of fast fashion by these two demographic cohorts has triggered extensive resource use, resulting in significant environmental costs and substantial impacts on the climate.”

These individual friends are less entrenched in disposability and consumerism, but reflect a similar nihilism for which organizers lack a playbook.

I talk with others about how we can politically motivate younger crowds while feeling a similar if less-acted-upon nihilism ourselves. In a second Trump term, the opposition has categorically failed and our elected officials are criminally ineffective. What’s the point?

I feel the nihilism creep in when considering the impact of personal choice. I shouldn’t shop at Amazon, but the impact of my individual choice is nil. Why not when it doesn’t matter?^[1]

I’ve seen limited success with BDS in combatting nihilism. Scale and visible impact justifies individual action where otherwise individual action is a pebble in a sea.

Today in discussing Chick Fil A, I realized that the impact of my individual action has little to do with my behavior, and maybe that’s a way to sidestep the “what does it matter?” In my case, as a self-respecting bi man, why the fuck would I give them a dime?

I’d like to see Chick Fil A not survive the next recession and I sure would love to see my peers and the youth live in ideological consistency. I sure would love to see my queer and queer-supporting friends decide that shitty fast food really isn’t worth the insult. In the meantime, my self-respect is enough of a reason to abstain.

I’m unsure how this scales, but I’m workshopping ideas. My individual impact by avoiding Amazon is nil, but regardless, Amazon isn’t entitled to my patronage. My community deserves better than the death of local business, and more than employment only via an Amazon distribution center.[^2‘] We’re entitled to more than this grim path of least resistance.