Guilt-Free Consumption

Guilt-free consumption (GFC) is a pattern of consumption based on the minimization of the sense of guilt which consumers incur when purchasing products or commercial services.

The spread of ethical consumerism, and the following availability of information about the ethicality of products, can be understood as the driving force of guilt free consumption. In this sense, the feeling of guilt experienced by consumers is fostered by their knowledge of the potential consequences of their choices. The tension between consumers' values and the awareness that their actions may run counter to those same values, manifests itself as a potent, nagging guilt.

Consumers are therefore induced to prefer those companies which are able to offer sustainable practices and products in order to minimize their sense of guiltiness.

GFC is concerned with three main dimensions in which the sense of guilt arises:

However, there is a fourth dimension that mainly affect newly minted urban consumers: the so-called "cultural-guilt"; the feeling of culpability caused by the split between global and traditional consumption, e.g. people worrying about the abandoning of their identity in favor of globalization (globalized culture of consumerism).

A totally guilt free consumption is almost impossible to achieve, since products or servicing reducing guilt on one dimension, might foster the same negative feeling on an other; as a consequence GFC aims at the minimization of guilt rather than striving for a complete deletion.

Guilt arises when individuals fail in meeting their own personal self-standards or when a conflict among what the theory of discrepancy calls "selves", emerges.

According to the self-discrepancy theory there are a number of "selves" guiding and shaping one's behavior:

Guilt can be associated with failure to meet social expectations, thus self-standards can be heavily influenced by social norms which lead to the juxtaposition between one's own judgement of one's behavior and others' judgements of one's behavior. However, individuals are eventually motivated to meet self-standards regardless to others's judgement since social norms become easily internalized through socialization.

The level of private self characterizing guilt leads to the definition of it as the negative emotional state associated with possible objection to one's actions, inaction, circumstances or intentions.

Consumers are therefore torn between the awareness of their potentially negative impact, and their willingness to enjoying the whole process of consumption. GFC can be understood as a minimization of the feeling of guilt without necessarily aiming at zero impact condition.

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Wikipedia