Sociology of budol consumption in the Philippines: the construction of reflexive complicit consumer

Budol consumption, a locally recognized consumption phenomenon, has gained prominence in the Philippine online marketplace yet remains sociologically underexplored. Budol consumption commonly refers to consumers being induced into unnecessary and unplanned purchases, often viewed as impulsive buying. Prevailing psychological and technological theories tend to depict such consumers as passive and manipulated, overlooking the reflexive practices apparent in budol consumption. Likewise, existing theories of reflexive consumption do not fully account for how self-awareness is mobilized in this context. Drawing on analysis of budol- related TikTok content, this article advances two arguments. First, I argue that budol consumers are also reflexive consumers who are active and self-aware, challenging dominant portrayals of impulsive consumers as merely reactive and passive. Second, I demonstrate that self-awareness in budol consumption is mobilized in a distinctive manner that existing understanding of reflexive consumption may not fully capture. Rather than enabling resistance or more informed consumer decisions, reflexivity here leads to complicity with problematic consumption practices. Budol consumers recognize algorithmic/technological infrastructures designed to induce them into consumption but knowingly continue to participate. To account for this dynamic, I proposed the concept of reflexive complicity, which may illuminate other modern, platformized consumption practices.