I’ve been writing about the right-to-repair movement and finding more sustainable ways to buy tech for years, but it wasn’t until earlier this year on a routine Tube journey across London that I heard of Back Market, a refurbished tech marketplace originating in France.
While avoiding any possible eye contact with strangers, as is good Tube etiquette, my gaze drifted up to a Back Market advert above the window pane. “Sorry, cats. Tech now has multiple lives too,” it said. It was amusing and immediately made me want to know more.
It turned out that I was late to the party, and this was just one of many cheeky ads that Back Market has run on the London Underground network and beyond. The company’s campaigns aim to normalize buying refurbished tech by making it fun, Back Market’s CEO Thibaud Hug de Larauze said at SXSW London on Tuesday.
