{"id":26435,"date":"2025-07-16T16:00:32","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T16:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/?p=26435"},"modified":"2026-03-03T14:09:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T14:09:47","slug":"handbook-intention-pop-the-bubble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/?p=26435","title":{"rendered":"Handbook: intention page"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

RELATED INGREDIENTS<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

INTENTIONS<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Reach new audiences
Cross cultures
Teach economic geography
Show capitalist evils<\/a>
Show what’s possible<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TACTICS<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Choose the right thing
Target the right brand
Follow the thing
Join the dots
Find lost relations
Humanise things
Include emotion
Encourage empathy
Show the violence
Tell a story<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RESPONSES<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

I know how they feel
This is so sad
I feel sorry for them
Wow \ud83d\udca5 WTF?
Capitalism is sh*t
Who’s responsible?
Oh, I get it now
Thank you
What’s the point?
It could be worse
I won’t buy it<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IMPACTS<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Now I know
Now we’re talking
I get what it’s like
It made me want to shop<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

EXAMPLES<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

HANDBOOK PAGES<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Handprint
Ilha das Flores<\/a>
Jamelia – whose hair is it anyway?
Mangetout
Primark – on the rack
<more to be added><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FOLLOWTHETHINGS.COM PAGES<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\n
POP THE BUBBLE<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

Pop the bubble<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

IN BRIEF<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consumers’ experience of commodities can be personal. Providing comfort, escape, togetherness. This is the bubble of ‘commodity fetishism’ that trade justice activists like to pop. Workers of the world helped to create these experiences. Let’s, at least, acknowledge that!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s this page?<\/summary>\n

This is a placeholder intention<\/em> page that, once finished, will explain this intention, illustrate it with reference to comments taken from relevant followthethings.com example pages, and will give a clickable sense of the tactics, responses and impacts that go with this intention. <\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipiscing elit. Quisque faucibus ex sapien vitae pellentesque sem placerat. In id cursus mi pretium tellus duis convallis. Tempus leo eu aenean sed diam urna tempor. Pulvinar vivamus fringilla lacus nec metus bibendum egestas. Iaculis massa nisl malesuada lacinia integer nunc posuere. Ut hendrerit semper vel class aptent taciti sociosqu. Ad litora torquent per conubia nostra inceptos himenaeos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipiscing elit. Quisque faucibus ex sapien vitae pellentesque sem placerat. In id cursus mi pretium tellus duis convallis. Tempus leo eu aenean sed diam urna tempor. Pulvinar vivamus fringilla lacus nec metus bibendum egestas. Iaculis massa nisl malesuada lacinia integer nunc posuere. Ut hendrerit semper vel class aptent taciti sociosqu. Ad litora torquent per conubia nostra inceptos himenaeos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipiscing elit. Quisque faucibus ex sapien vitae pellentesque sem placerat. In id cursus mi pretium tellus duis convallis. Tempus leo eu aenean sed diam urna tempor. Pulvinar vivamus fringilla lacus nec metus bibendum egestas. Iaculis massa nisl malesuada lacinia integer nunc posuere. Ut hendrerit semper vel class aptent taciti sociosqu. Ad litora torquent per conubia nostra inceptos himenaeos.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipiscing elit. Quisque faucibus ex sapien vitae pellentesque sem placerat. In id cursus mi pretium tellus duis convallis. Tempus leo eu aenean sed diam urna tempor. Pulvinar vivamus fringilla lacus nec metus bibendum egestas. Iaculis massa nisl malesuada lacinia integer nunc posuere. Ut hendrerit semper vel class aptent taciti sociosqu. Ad litora torquent per conubia nostra inceptos himenaeos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED READINGS<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ian Cook et al<\/em> (2002) Commodities: the DNA of capitalism.<\/a><\/em> https:\/\/followtheblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/commodities_dna.pdf (last accessed 3 June 2024)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ian Cook, James Evans, Helen Griffiths, Rebecca Morris, Sarah Wrathmell et al (2007) \u2018It\u2019s more than just what it is\u2019: defetishising commodities, expanding fields, mobilising change\u2026.<\/a> Geoforum<\/em> 38(6), 1113-1126<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ian Cook & Tara Woodyer (2012) Lives of things.<\/a> in Eric Sheppard, Trevor Barnes & Jamie Peck (eds) The Wiley Blackwell companion to economic geography<\/em>. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 226-241<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Duncombe (2012) It stands on its head: commodity fetishism, consumer activism, and the strategic use of fantasy.<\/a> Culture & Organization<\/em> 18(5), 359-375<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Image credit<\/summary>\n

Icon: pop (https:\/\/thenounproject.com\/icon\/pop-4889095\/<\/a>) by Lars Meiertoberens from Noun Project (CC BY 3.0)<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

BACK TO HANDBOOK CONTENTS PAGE \ud83d\udc49<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SECTION: <\/strong>Intentions<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Ian Cook (July 2025)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>

<\/g><\/svg><\/i> \"Loading\"<\/p>

<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RELATED INGREDIENTS INTENTIONS Reach new audiencesCross culturesTeach economic geographyShow capitalist evilsShow what’s possible TACTICS Choose the right thingTarget the right brandFollow the thingJoin the dotsFind lost relationsHumanise thingsInclude emotionEncourage empathyShow the violenceTell a story RESPONSES I know how they feelThis is so sadI feel sorry for themWow \ud83d\udca5 WTF?Capitalism is sh*tWho’s responsible?Oh, I get it […]<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/g><\/svg><\/i> \"Loading\"<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1499],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-handbook"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":true,"total_views":30,"today_views":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26435"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26667,"href":"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26435\/revisions\/26667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}