“Does it spark joy?” asks Marie Kondo on her Netflix series “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo”, holding up a tea pot, a sweater or any sundry home item. If it doesn’t “spark joy” in you, Kondo is emphatic that you get rid of it.
“Marie Kondo is selling things now and that does not spark joy in me,” commented a Twitter user.
“Marie Kondo’s online shop is not ‘sparking joy’. Imagine how stressed you’d be sitting at home thinking ‘I just spent $75 on two pointless things that I could have got for a fiver if I’d wanted’. That’d surely bring much more stress than some jumpers folded the wrong way,” was another comment on Twitter.
The items in Kondo’s shop are arranged into seven different categories: decor and living, tidying and organisation, tabletop and entertaining, cooking and kitchen, bath essentials, aromatherapy, and books.
In terms of price, the least expensive product in Kondo’s store is a ceramic chopstick rest for US$8 (S$10). The chopsticks are priced separately at US$10 (S$14).
The tidying guru said that she was not looking to promote consumerism, remarking that what is most important to her “is that you surround yourself with items that spark joy. If the bowl that you’re using currently sparks joy for you, I don’t encourage replacing it at all.”
On social media, people are wary of Kondo’s latest business move, sensing irony and contradiction everywhere.
“After telling you to get rid of stuff, Marie Kondo has opened a store to sell you other stuff,” said a Twitter user.
“#MarieCondo completely contradicts her own decluttering philosophy with launch of online shop! #Nomorejoy #ohtheirony,” was another comment.
“Presumably when people buy enough of your trinkets you show up at their house to help them declutter all the s*** they bought from you so you can sell it to the next customer?” someone wrote.
“She’s invented the perpetual motion machine of consumption. I thought this was impossible under the laws of physics,” remarked another.