Prime Day is Good.

Consumption is not activism and it changes nothing. For the millionth damn time.

I am a Marxist. This gets me associated with the left, which I don’t like. All the annoying crap the left gets up to on Amazon Prime Day is part of why.

It’s common to see leftists misunderstanding the working class, focusing on performative acts of resistance rather than addressing the material realities many face. This disconnect often manifests in calls to boycott large corporations like Amazon without considering people’s economic constraints.

This is one of the places we actually see how the left serves to reinforce capitalism: by creating a demographic that loves overpriced, boutique shit from “small businesses” that drape themselves in the aesthetic of resistance, presenting themselves as moral alternatives to larger corporations.

It’s consumerism and these people aren’t resisting anything but the people they claim to represent.

Economic Realities and Access

For many people, especially those from working-class backgrounds, affordability is not a choice but a necessity. Large corporations like Amazon, with their competitive prices and vast selection, provide access to goods and services that many simply cannot afford elsewhere. In certain areas of the country, Amazon may also be the only way to get many of the things one can purchase there.

It is easy for some to call for a boycott of these corporations. There are a couple of groups who do this, too. First, there are who we might call the “champagne socialists,” people who grew up “privileged” and never faced the harsh economic realities of working-class life. They can afford to shop at boutique stores and support local businesses because they have the financial means to do so. For them, boycotting Amazon is a performative act of resistance that signals their virtue without costing them much. It is important to note that a comfortable background and a specific economic analysis don’t automatically make someone this; it’s more about having that background and endlessly committing oneself to a compatible leftism (see: Breadtube) due to it.

Second, there are those who didn’t necessarily come from a privileged background but came to “leftism” through counterculture (again, see Breadtube) and continually refused a material analysis due to some kind of fandom-driven loyalty to whichever ideology (or even a generalized “left”).

Either group can be genuinely committed to its beliefs, but it either doesn’t understand the economic constraints that people face or has been poisoned by idealism. Both advocate for boycotts of large corporations to challenge capitalist structures, but there is no real motivation or analysis beyond what is ultimately aesthetic preference.

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Commodification of Resistance and Privilege

Small businesses often champion the call to boycott large corporations like Amazon — this is simply a means to commodify them, though. This form of resistance is presented as a moral high ground. First, it automatically excludes those who cannot afford to participate. Second, it creates a moral expectation for certain consumer behaviors, which don’t ultimately change anything (in fact, they simply engage with capitalism normally).

The result is a sense of elitism that conforms to the logic that “rich means morally good.” Quantitatively speaking, the more money one has, the more one can afford to engage in these performative acts. This approach does little to address any material contradiction and instead fosters a superficial sense of resistance that is accessible only to the privileged. It also creates a consumer demographic willing to pay more for “the old ways.”

When leftists advocate for boycotts without considering these economic constraints (or signal boost and support small businesses doing so), they inadvertently alienate the very people they claim to support.

Moreover, there is an irony in the rhetoric of those who claim not to come from money yet advocate for boycotting affordable services. I can hear their arguments against me already (I hear them all the time). When I say, “It’s not actually evil to be a success, and it’s good to try to make your life better,” they say, “You don't understand, I don't come from money... you're a privileged, fake Marxist.” And when I say, “It’s okay to buy from Amazon; it doesn’t change anything not to,” they screech at me that I am supporting exploitation and that corporations are evil.

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Systemic Change

While individual actions can make a statement, who cares about statements? Statements are not in short supply! We have many social content platforms where everyone endlessly makes statements without evidence or backing. There’s a button you press if you like those statements, too. Does that button force you to research if a statement is grounded in reality? No.

The problem of capitalism lies in the primary contradiction: the socialized production of goods and services and their private appropriation. While this means that while many contribute to the creation of wealth through their labor and only a few reap the majority of the benefits, that is actually not the issue. It might be true that it isn’t “fair,” but more importantly, it creates a Value Crisis.

Furthermore, under capitalism, supply is often not driven by actual demand but by the pursuit of profit. Companies like Amazon don’t simply respond to consumer needs; they create new demands through marketing and advertising, tricking people into thinking they want and need things they otherwise wouldn’t. This can’t be solved by buying stuff at a different place! That’s legitimately nuts!

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Conclusion

Performative acts of resistance promoted by the left, such as boycotting Amazon, fail to address anything structural. Further, these things are alienating and irritating.

Prime Day is awesome! Things are cheaper! Yeah, those things were made through exploitation. But the alternative “buy local” or “buy physical” solution also is. And even if there was a non-exploitative option, it wouldn’t change the fact that most have to consume the exploitative option.

Someday I would like to be able to not have to remind people that consumerism isn’t activism.