Marketing & Communications

Long Live Technology:
Campaign Highlights Impacts of ‘Fast Tech’

Back Market and new partner iFixit are calling on both manufacturers and consumers to extend the useful life of devices through repair, refurbishment and reuse.

Published 2 weeks ago | About a 5 minute read

Image: Shots of Lone Rock Beach in Utah's Lake Powell in 2016 and 2021 | Back Market

A new global campaign from Back Market, the leading marketplace dedicated to verified refurbished electronics, urges consumers to stand against fast tech and the culture of overconsumption and overproduction.

'Let's End Fast Tech'

Back Market is on a mission to create a world that does more with what we already have by prolonging the lifespan of electronic devices through circularity and repair. Since its founding in 2014, the company has sold over 30 million refurbished devices across 17 markets — avoiding approximately 1.6 billion Kg of carbon emissions.

Back Market has also worked to increase awareness about the impacts of e-waste, encourage more conscious consumption habits and rally consumers against planned obsolescence. The “Let’s End Fast Tech” campaign was designed with two goals: to highlight the growing responsibility of fast tech's overconsumption and overproduction for the environmental impacts of the climate crisis; and to empower consumers to do their part to mitigate it — by extending the lifespan of their devices and keeping them out of landfills by reusing, repairing and buying refurbished tech whenever possible.

“E-waste and fast tech are global problems that need global awareness and solutions. We must start the conversation around the impact of our reliance on technology by illustrating how our environment has changed between smartphone model releases,” said Back Market CMO Joy Howard during an April 16 press conference in NYC to launch a new global partnership between Back Market and iFixit. “This campaign against fast tech will only be successful if we offer solutions that help consumers change deeply rooted behaviors — so we’re proud to team up with iFixit to provide the information they need to reuse, repair and refurbish their devices.”

The visuals riff on Apple’s popular “Shot on iPhone” campaign, using “before/after” imagery to show how much the environment has degraded between smartphone generations. The striking images drive home the cost of our disposable tech culture, which — while not the only culprit — is a major contributor to the climate crisis.

Back Market ad showing melting of Rhone glacier since
2009 The campaign shows the dramatic depletion of natural landscapes, including the Rhône glacier in the Swiss Alps, in recent years | Image credit: Back Market

“Today, advertising doesn't do enough to promote sustainable consumption. And yet, it plays a vital role in raising awareness in the face of the contradictory pressures we face daily — encouraged to buy more, while also being told to be responsible,” said Quentin Vandegucht, Marketing Director, France at Back Market. “That's why we're calling to end fast tech through a symbolic diversion — because symbols hold real power in our society.”

“Let’s End Fast Tech” — developed in partnership with Paris-based creative and interactive agency Marcel — now appears in high-profile locations across Hamburg, London, Madrid, New York City and Paris. The campaign also includes a dedicated online content hub and social components to educate consumers on the impact of e-waste and what they can do to reduce their reliance on the culture of fast tech.

Back Market & iFixit

The Back Market-iFixit partnership focuses on a combination of reuse, repair and refurbishment — integrating iFixit toolkits and tutorials across Back Market while incorporating refurbished technology options and information on all iFixit channels.

Back Market and iFixit are also calling on consumers to extend the lifespans of their smartphones from 2.5 to 5 years, and for manufacturers to make sure that their devices can last and be easily repairable for a minimum period of 10 years. This would require product designs that allow for easy removability and replaceability of spare parts — spearheaded by brands including Fairphone and Framework; that spare parts, repair information and software updates are provided for 10 years; and that anti-repair practices, such as software blockers, are banned. Keeping an iPhone 13 for 5 years instead of 2.5 years with a battery replacement cuts its annual carbon emissions by 49 percent, which could prevent 15.6 million tons of CO2 per year. Extending its life to 10 years through repairs and refurbishment reduces emissions by 68 percent. If adopted worldwide, Back Market projects the shift could prevent 21.6 million tons of CO2e per year*.

The digital industry, including production and usage, accounts for 4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and is predicted to represent 14 percent of total global emissions by 2040. The resulting e-waste is now the fastest-growing form of pollution on the planet, with approximately 62 million tons producedworldwide in 2022. That figure is expected to double by 2050; the US is currently the second largest producer, recycling just 15 percent of e-waste.

While manufacturers continue to release new devices marketed with “must-have” features, Back Market and iFixit are dedicated to making buying and repairing refurbished electronics a mainstream habit while challenging consumers to rethink the lifecycle of our phones.

"We can't keep throwing electronics away at the same rate," said Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit — a global repair community that partners with major electronics brands to help increase product circularity. "iFixit's been helping you fix your own devices for over 20 years; and [now], we're teaming up with Back Market to ask you to buy refurbished and fix your phone when it breaks. We're also calling on manufacturers to make software and security updates available for 10 years. Our mobile devices can and should last that long. Our shared future depends on it."

*Scenario calculation based on the carbon footprint of manufacturing from Apple Product Environmental Reports; refurbishment emissions from ADEME study; repair emissions from the Life Cycle Assessment of the Fairphone 5; and CO₂-to-household energy consumption conversion from the US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator and the number of smartphones sold in 2023.