Unsolicited Swag
If you've ever attended any type of conference, you've probably come home with a collection of SWAG aka, stuff we all get. Within the marketing world, these are "promotional products". Pens, socks, flash-drives, coffee mugs, Yeti tumblers, more pens, balloons, fidgets, stress balls, hand sanitizer, towels, shirts, chip clips, water bottles, and more! The Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI) performed a study in 2024, and discovered that companies spent over $26.6 Billion purchasing these products.
As time's gone on, I find myself collecting less and less from vendors. Why? It's mostly garbage. I don't want it. I have SWAG sitting in piles at home, that I'll either donate or toss. Speaking of donate, many thrift stores are great places to find second-hand SWAG. Because someone else already realized it's junk. Like, how many tote bags with a company logo do I need? An extra one per conference? Probably not.
My Ethical and Environmental Concerns
Elizabeth Segran lays out in an article for Fast Company the environmental tole of these products. There's a handful of companies operating in the promotional goods space. All competing to give you the cheapest garbage. Drawing parallels to Temu-style fast fashion she explains:
Ensuring an ethical supply chain and materials with the smallest carbon footprint, of course, tends to increase costs. We see a parallel here with the fast fashion industry, which also focuses on making things as inexpensively as possible, so you can buy a T-shirt for a few bucks at H&M or Forever21. But over the last few years, reporting on these practices has drawn attention to their enormously damaging environmental footprint, which includes producing water pollution, toxic chemicals, and terrible waste. The human impact is just as terrifying: Workers at low-cost factories that make fast fashion products often labor under inhumane conditions, and many have died because of a lack of workplace safety standards.
These are cheap products built on exploitation. So these are bad before you decide that you don't actually need that tote that says "Accenture". Even switching from plastic to cotton bags just impacts the environment in different ways.
Broader issues with Consumerism
The next time you're offered something for free at a conference, ask yourself, "Do I need this?". The answer is probably "No". And while it may not feel like it, every little bit helps. And I'm guilty of this as well, I see something and get excited! Two weeks later, it's in a pile, never to be used again. But when I can make a difference, I want to. This statement from u/Denden798 on Reddit reminded me of this:
A reminder that the choices we make at work can be most impactful. If we can, help our companies choose to buy less stuff
So, what's the point of this rant? Lets all try to be more intentional about collecting junk in our lives, and discourage the creation and proliferation of it when we can.
Thanks for taking the time to ready. Go look at the marvelous Miss Wendy as a palate cleanser.
