ABSTRACT
Consumption becomes political when consumers assess products through the eyes of citizens. This chapter explains Jonah Peretti's contribution to the transnational effort to improve working conditions in the global garment industry. It addresses the role of different kinds of media in the Nike email exchange, the subsequent mobilization of the antisweatshop campaign and its network, and ends with a short assessment of the impact of media-oriented transnational political consumerism on corporate policy. Micromedia includes all personal communications technologies, including email, telephones, personal web sites, and even the ancient technology of face-to-face human speech. Without modern communication technologies, the Nike Sweatshop email exchange would never have existed. Activists and citizens are increasingly using media-oriented strategies to promote political consumerism and corporate responsibility. Culture jamming differs considerably from conventional modes of political participation, which focus on change through the political system, for example, in the form of policy regulation.
