The Woke Dollar: Recent Episodes
Sara Taaffe
Empowering consumer agency, one conversation at a time. The Woke Dollar is a podcast that explores the influences on and the influences of the consumer transaction, holding space for both the upstream and downstream effects. I’m Sara Taaffe and I believe that by exploring the ways we interact with the market, consumers can be empowered to bring more purpose and meaning to everyday purchases. Join me today as we learn how to become a little more woke with our dollars.
As consumers, we do not always see it, but regulation massively influences the competitiveness of the market, the protection for consumers, and the ability to nurture innovation. With electronic communications technology evolving daily - like TikTok, Instagram, and streaming services - regulators have a vital role to play in shaping the market to safeguard consumers. However, the digital revolution is also paving the path for more sustainable practices, offering up a win-win-win for all stakeholders.
Over this course of the show, we cover off questions like:
- how can technology and digitisation inhibit or accelerate a more sustainable path forward?
- how had covid influenced sustainability through increased digitisation?
- how are consumers protected in an ever-evolving landscape of digital communications?
Lara has a wealth of knowledge in this industry and is able to effectively express the complex intersection between communications, digitisation, regulation and sustainability which is no small feat indeed.
The episode I am sharing today - Episode 8 - is an absolutely brilliant conversation I had with Lola Estabet. Lola has been working in the fashion sector in Paris, France for the past 5-10 yearsin various roles including business analyst and purchasing manager. Her education background is in business and economics, and has a MSc from the Emlyon Business School in Management, with a focus on buying and e-commerce.
On this episode, Lola and I dive into the world of fashion and sustainability. Over the course of the show, we cover off questions like:
- How do you define sustainable fashion?
- Why do some cotton t-shirts cost $5 while others cost $50?
- What are solutions that companies can adopt to boost their sustainability?
- In a perfect world, what does the fashion industry look like?
- Who is leading the charge when it comes to sustainable fashion?
Lola has a wealth of knowledge in this industry and some really sage perspectives on the complex relationship between sustainability and fashion. Okay, here it is - Fashion & Sustainability with Lola Establet.
Show Notes:
- Good On You
- Fashion Green Hub - France
- Fashion for Good
This episode today is pretty special because it’s a chance for me to talk about my dissertation that I’ve recently completed at the London School of Economics, studying Psychology of Economic Life. Could marketing shape a more sustainable world? That was the question that I wanted to answer through my MSc dissertation. The question itself is pretty simple. But if we start to strip back the layers, it becomes much more complex. Join me as we unpack this question through this overview of my dissertation.
- 5:23 - Introducing Dissertation
- 9:00 - Literature Review / Context Setting
- 30:11 - Study 1: Quantitative Research
- 40:28 - Study 2: Qualitative Research
- 47:41 - General Discussion
- 52:55 - Limitations
- 55:56 - Conclusion
References available here.
Exploring the Structures & Successes of Social-Minded Businesses/Organizations with Gary Fawdrey, Innovation Manager, Humanitarian Innovation Fund.
On this episode we dive into the world of social innovation:
- exploring what it is and how it compares to social enterprise
- what it looks like when successfully operated
- the role consumers can play in supporting social enterprises and some of the opportunities and barriers in doing so
- and what the evolution of the space has looked like over the past 10 years.
Shownotes:
- Humanitarian Innovation Fund
- Migrateful Cookery Classes
- The Bike Project
- Dusty Knuckle
- Toast Ale
- The Ethical Consumer Magazine
- Social Supermarket
- How To Save The World by Katie Patrick
- Stir to Action Magazine (UK)
- Pioneers Post Magazine (UK)
- Adbusters (North America)
- Yes Magazine (North America)
Degrowth & the Role of Marketing in Sustainability with Dallas O’Dell, PhD Student in Psychology of Economics at the London School of Economics.
On this episode we cover some really interesting themes like -
- what degrowth is, how it compares to green growth and the environmental and social implications of both and what it looks like in practice from a policy angle and through everyday business operations
- the difference of degrowth towards the global north and global south and that it’s application looks different in various parts of the world
- whether individuals can truly turn the tides through consumer behaviour
- and lastly, the role of marketing/advertising in demarketing and whether it’s even possible, which gets to the heart of Dallas’s research
Jenelle is a co-founder and CEO at RIDDL, a tool that tracks, manages and measures ESGs, impact investments and quantifies returns. She is no stranger to this space with multiple degrees in political science and social innovation. She has received a number of awards for her work in scaling social impact through data and technology based solutions.
Over this episode, we cover off some really interesting themes including:
- what ESGs are and what they looks like from an individual investor perspective
- the trend of ESGs over the past 5 years and social innovation more broadly over the past 15 years
- how consumer demand is increasing the stickiness of ESG and the role that covid played in expediting the movement
- we wrap up the chat by discussing the morality with mixing business and social good.
Rebecca shows a different angle of consumer empowerment — consumer disempowerment to enable a safer marketplace. On this episode we cover off a few key themes including:
- what kind of person would be unable to open a bank account in the UK
- how technology is enabling more protection and how the digitisation of monetary transactions is making a bank more necessary than ever before
- and a bit of a cliff hanger for you, whether crime economics units have increased the amount of accounts denied access or being shut down.
Shownotes:
- Drive by Daniel Pink
On this episode, we discuss how consumer spending is impacted from an upstream point of view, exploring how different pieces of regulation impact what, where, and how a consumer can spend. In addition, we discuss:
- what financial regulation is and the role consumers play within the space
- the evolution of regulation with innovations in technology, like AfterPay and Cryptocurrencies
- what psychology is so important for successful financial regulations
- the challenges associated to making regulation more human
- and, on a good note, the evolutions that are benefitting consumers.
What is Psychology of Economic Life with Dr. Frederic Basso, Co-Director of the Masters in Psychology of Economic Life and Assistant Professor in Economic Psychology at the London School of Economics.
Over the conversation you’re about to tune into, we cover a wide range of questions and topics including:
- what is psychology of economic life?
- how does psychology influence consumerism?
- how capitalism impacts the way we consume and our lifestyles more broadly.
- green/ethical growth versus no growth.
- who is leading the charge when it comes to building a sustainable future.
- and systematically, what needs to happen to make things right.
Shownotes:
- The ideology of the ethical consumption gap - (Michal Jemma Carrington, Detlev Zwick, Benjamin Neville)
Empowering consumer agency, one conversation at a time.
A podcast that explores the influences on and the influences of the consumer transaction, holding space for both the upstream and downstream effects. I’m Sara Taaffe and I believe that by exploring the ways we interact with the market, consumers can be empowered to bring more purpose and meaning to everyday purchases. Join me today as we learn how to become a little more woke with our dollars.