consumerism personalized and marketed as charity

We seem to be pretty much in the peak of the rich industrialized world's consumer "golden age", where, all of a sudden, no one blinks twice at dishing out four bucks for a cup of coffee with some milk in it or eating out several (if not all) days a week or 'shopping at the mall' as a weekly activity. So naturally, consumer product companies are going out of their minds to find new ways to tempt us while we are still in denial about the repercussions of such insane spending and waste.

So here's a unique one, that even I found a bit tempting (especially since it is part of the new "Product Red" movement that donates a significant portion of profits to fighting AIDS in Africa.) It is still absolute blatant consumerism, no one need to spend sixty bucks on a pair of sneakers, but I have to admit, it's pretty fun. You can now go on the converse website here and design your own shoe. You can pick a color for each side, the tongue, the heel, the shoelaces...etc, you get the point. I made few versions before deciding that I still couldn't pay $60 for a pair of sneakers.