Ethical commodities as exodus and refusal

At the same time as brands and branding dominate our contemporary mode of capitalism, brands also claim an ethical position based on a critique of their competitors (Lury, 2004; Arvidsson, 2006). This paper hopes to contribute to the understanding of ethical brands from an autonomist Marxist perspective by showing that, although ethical claims do not offer a way out of capitalism, they do begin to assemble an alternative mode of production. The autonomist concepts of exodus and refusal (Tronti, 2007;Virno, 1996) are employed to provide a frame for action across different ethical bases, and beyond the production of commodities. This frame is applied to two examples: Molleindustrias app Phone Story (2012) and the Diaspora social media project (2010 present). In their own ways, these projects critique existing modes of production and offer pathways to alternative practice.