A Buy Partisan (BuyPartisan) App Has Finally Arrived: Now We Can Spend Consciously

App's screenshot after scanning the barcode of a product

Although Wally is technically smartphone illiterate and manages well enough with his Motorola 3G, when he chanced upon something called a “BuyPartisan” app, he downloaded it immediately.  It was his second ever smartphone download.  “Since there is no longer such a thing “bipartisan” in politics,” he said, “I may as well join the shitfest.”

According to Colby Itkowitz, of the Washington Post’s “In the Loop,” Matthew Colbert “developed the app to give consumers more knowledge about how they spend their money.  For some, it may translate to not buying a certain cereal anymore, for others it could simply be a conversation starter, Colbert said.  But he hopes all users will appreciate having at their fingertips an awareness that a fraction of their grocery bill went to political contributions.”

Wally says that he is anxious to try it out, “It’s my newest and most fun toy of the year, so far.”  And although he doubts that the app will seriously effect his buying habits, “it’ll still be fun to know where some of my money goes,” he said.

“As long as people take Wally’s attitude towards the app, there won’t be much of a problem,” says one Denver attorney.  “But should it become both popular and effective, then you can expect that state and federal legislators will start passing laws placing mucho limits on what apps like that will be able to do.  Most likely it’ll happen as a Corporate Privacy issue because, unlike in the recent past, corporations are now people.”