“Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy” is a Netflix documentary directed by Nic Stacey.
“Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy” is an original documentary that brings to light the dangers of relentless consumerism and how it is leading to the downfall of consumers themselves. Narrated by a unique entity—a sophisticated AI—the documentary takes us through five fundamental lessons on achieving business success. These lessons, however, are pursued with utter disregard for the planet, the ecosystem, or even human life. As you may expect, the AI has one objective: to expand our business endeavors.
About the Documentary
“Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy” exposes the strategies of major brands in creating an incessant need to purchase more, thereby boosting sales and profits. While the concept seems straightforward, it is grounded in science and taps into basic human brain behavior. This insatiable need to generate new products has led, for instance, a fashion brand to launch over a million new items each year and produce more than a hundred billion garments annually.
All that production has to be sold, doesn’t it? This is where the science comes into play, exploiting the human brain to make us believe we need more clothes, effectively turning us all into shopping addicts. Do we truly need all that clothing? As you might guess, this massive scale of selling disrupts the ecosystem considerably.
Our AI guide will lead us through the recent history of prominent online retail brands, sneaker companies, fashion houses, and more, interviewing the masterminds behind these systems who explain how they function: by creating a perpetual need for consumption and maximizing sales. The five principles laid out by the AI for business success include basic business rules, narrated with a touch of irony. Through interviews with employees from these giant companies, we uncover the secrets of these enterprises on how they keep selling without bearing any responsibility for their products.
Some of these employees, who have now come forward, were dismissed after fifteen years of service. They now disclose the secrets, deceit, tricks, and falsehoods of some well-known brands. This documentary aims to make viewers aware of what they are buying and question whether they truly need these products.
A thought-provoking piece, it encourages us to reflect on our buying habits and the broader impact they have on our world. This documentary does not just inform; it challenges us to reconsider the true cost of our relentless consumption.
Where to Watch “Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy”
