Even on Black Friday, every euro you spend is a quiet vote for your values

Every euro we spend is a vote for our values, so try and tailor your spending towards businesses that share them.

We are living through a time when it feels harder and harder to pretend we do not see what is happening in the world. 

We scroll past images of devastation, conflict, hunger, whole communities being pushed to the edge, and then we walk into a shop and buy something that, if we really traced it back, might connect directly to some of that suffering.

It feels uncomfortable to admit this. I think most of us would rather believe that capitalism is something abstract, something “out there”, something we cannot influence. But the truth is simpler. 

The truth is that Western consumption fuels much of the damage. The truth is that many multinationals rely on supply chains built on low wages, unsafe conditions and environmental destruction that happens far from where their customers live.

And here is the part that is even harder to look at. We uphold that system every time we shop without thinking. Not because we are bad people. Not because we do not care. Mostly because life is busy, money is tight and the convenience of a giant corporation is seductive.

But convenience has a cost. Someone is always paying for it.

Research from the International Trade Union Confederation found that most global corporations employ only a tiny fraction of the people involved in producing their goods, while the vast majority work far down the chain in places with weak protection and low wages. 

Another major study found that European companies are only a few steps away from suppliers involved in forced or child labour. These realities sit behind the products on our shelves. They sit there quietly, but they sit there.

Small businesses

It can feel overwhelming, but I am starting to realise something. Our choices are not meaningless. Not even close. Every euro we spend is a small but powerful act. The Irish economy reacts very differently depending on where it goes. 

When we buy from a local independent business, a single euro can circulate back into the community several times. It becomes wages. It becomes rent for a small premises. It becomes someone’s childcare money or someone else’s heating bill.

It is the opposite of extractive. It is nourishing. This is not sentimentality. This is practical economics. The multiplier effect of spending locally is real and measurable.

I think of the small businesses I know. The makers, growers, producers and craftspeople who are trying to build something honest and sustainable here. 

When we choose them, we are not only supporting their livelihoods. We are choosing transparency over opacity, care over volume, and a way of living that feels more human than the race to the bottom that global capitalism often demands.

Who benefits?

Christmas brings all of this sharply into focus. The pressure to buy is huge. The temptation to default to big chains is strong. But this year, as the world feels heavier and more fragile than ever, maybe the most meaningful thing we can do is pause and ask ourselves a simple question.

Who benefits from the money I am about to spend?

If the answer is a multinational that extracts profit and gives little back to Irish communities, then perhaps we have another option. A small Irish business. A maker in Cork or Kerry or Donegal. Someone who pours actual care into what they produce. Someone who is rooted here.

It might cost a little more. It might take slightly more time. But the impact is enormous. Not just for the business owner, but for the kind of world we are shaping with our everyday decisions.

And this is the important part. This is not only about Christmas. This is about how we live all year. It is about noticing the power we hold and using it with intention. It is about understanding that while we cannot fix the global system alone, we can refuse to feed the worst parts of it.

Spend at home

We can choose to back people. We can choose to keep our money circulating close to home. We can choose to spend in ways that reflect what we value, not what we have become numb to.

I am not perfect at this. None of us are. But I am trying to see more clearly. I am trying to recognise the quiet power I have every time I take out my wallet. I am trying to use that power with more care than I used to.

Every euro we spend is a vote and I want to cast mine for something better. Something that does not rely on someone else’s suffering to give me convenience. Something that strengthens the world I actually live in rather than the one that is swallowing us whole.

What's your view on this issue?

You can tell us here

We may not be able to rewrite global capitalism in one lifetime. But we are absolutely able to refuse to play our part in its worst chapters. 

We are able to fund the kind of businesses that stand for dignity and craft and fairness. We are able to look our children in the eye and say that we tried to shape the world they will inherit, not just consume our way through it.

That is not naïve. That is our moral responsibility.