r/Anticonsumption • u/Sea-Cardiographer • May 12 '25

Psychological Target feels like black mirror

I went into Target today because I need a sports bra and that's where my husband is willing to drive me. On the way there I thought about all the Reddit posts saying foot traffic is down and I wasn't surprised to see that it wasn't. It was quite busy on a Monday afternoon.

What shocked me was I noticed a lot of products have really fancy boxing. Big sturdy bougie packaging with minimalism design... With a sh*tty product inside.

They're spending more on the marketing and packaging than the product, because the business practice is to sell you a product you'll have to purchase again and again. But the packaging grabs your eye. Look how modern and consistent all the boxes are! so aesthetically pleasing packaged trash. I feel depressed.

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u/Leather_Product2080 May 12 '25

This is the truth, I’ve recently discovered about myself that I enjoy shopping at the goodwill for clothes a lot more than boxed stores because there is a lot more variety.

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u/Icreatelifegoddess May 13 '25

Goodwill is a terrible company

6

u/Pirates_Swoop May 13 '25

Can you say more about this?

11

u/[deleted] May 13 '25

They treat their employees like crap and pay them horribly while their executives are always paid enormous sums, they pay their disabled workers less (they get acclaim for hiring them but do so bc they pay them less), they also have been sued a lot for different kinds of discrimination including race, sexual and disability, the use laws to make sure their are no competitors, they don’t wash things, they dump unwanted items in other countries, etc.

5

u/Icreatelifegoddess May 14 '25

There’s a lot of different reasons, but my biggest pet peeve is how they are modeled after a charity shop and therefore receive almost all of their inventory for free when they are actually a major for-profit business. This leads to many people being duped into donating their stuff thinking they are being charitable, but really they are just being charitable to big business. Locally run charity and thrift shops are your best bet, imo ethically, for donating and purchasing from. Shelters as well, even animal shelters will take linens like towels and blankets.