Preview

Consumerism: The Scourge of Modern Society

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1816 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Consumerism: The Scourge of Modern Society
Residents of a prosperous country have to go no further than a supermarket to get all they need to live a sustainable life. This is undoubtedly a benefit of living in a capitalistic society; however, there is also a flip side to which many scientists and philosophers call attention. This is the ideology of consumerism, which is often embodied in a consumer’s urge to purchase goods in ever-greater amounts, even if those goods that are not needed. Consumerism is supported by manufacturers, who do their best to sell their products by encouraging people to buy more and more. A solid example of this is the smartphone market. According to Pulitzer-Prize-winning American author Anna Quindlen, “A person in the United States replaces a cell phone every 16 months, not because the cell phone is old, but because it is oldish” (2008, para. 6). As a result of this consumerism, the more people want and buy, the less they appreciate the value of their possessions.

Perhaps one of the most powerful forces that contribute to the promotion of consumerism is the omnipresent advertising in capitalistic societies. Advertising is an essential component in the marketing strategy of any product, but at the same time, it affects the human mind. Advertisements portray products as necessary objects that are required to keep one’s social identity secure. Thus, they do not represent wants, but instead create a need for luxury goods. Numerous print and TV ads persuade potential customers that it is a Gucci bag, a Calvin Klein dress, or a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes that define their personality and character – not the personal traits they possess.

Youth are probably the most vulnerable target of advertisers. Grown-ups can often distinguish between what they need and do not need; however, young people tend to be less capable of critical thinking. Since their world is created by their aspirations to keep up with modern trends and acquire the most up-to-date gadgets, they are easier to manipulate

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    If we thought about it, maybe we’d also realize that our relationship to brands and marketing campaigns has been undergoing a transformation. Marketers like to talk about the skepticism of the “new consumer,” a smart young character fleeing the mainstream and adamantly resistant to all forms of advertising. The consumers he observed seem very much involved with brands and products. If traditional advertising has become a less effective way of fostering that involvement, the commercial persuasion industry has in turn been fiendishly resourceful in coming up with alternative methods, infiltrating hitherto unexploited aspects of our lives.…

    • 357 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Advertisers are beginning to focus their attention on teen consumers more and more because of the influence teens have on other teens, the growing efforts teens make to fit in with society, and their ability to spend more money on items because they lack paying life-time payments, and being an adult.…

    • 450 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Consumerism In America

    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The way Americans treat our planet has changed dramatically over the years. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, our impact on the planet has been mostly negative. The United States in particular has not been treating our planet well. Environmentally speaking, The United States is not doing a very good job compared to other countries because of the way we treat our environment, our high rate of consumerism and that fact that our basic moral and social values differ from other places around the world.…

    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The American Paradox

    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In today’s mass media, it is quiet common for advertisers to assimilate class into their commercials. These advertisements portray a certain level of elegance because of the sophisticated choice to use classical background music and thick European accents. On the contrary, other advertisers take the common-folk approach by structure these commercials around the western concept. Both of these advertising tactics supports an American paradox. As argued in Jack Solomon’s “Master of Desire: The Culture of American Advertising”, the contradiction lies in the desire to strive above the crowd and the quest for social equality.…

    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    At first Jhally explains how industrial capitalism has revolutionized the world; he also notes how capitalism’s crowning achievement of innovation and the wealth of commodities. In contrast, Jhally also argues that capitalism is very dependent on consumer consumption and without them, capitalism would collapse into stagnation and depression. In order to keep the continual consumption of their products, businesses use advertising to persuade the masses and their marketing techniques can also be found almost anywhere in the U.S. With advertising messages on everything from food to bathrooms to sidewalks – nearly any surface or location – marketers have now been perturbed with making their messages stand out amongst the ever-increasing competition. In response, marketers are beginning to utilize the most influential forms of advertising, emotions and society.…

    • 780 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Advertising is everywhere we go; we see and hear advertising in magazines, newspapers, billboards, television, radio, internet, and even the classrooms. In the article, Kilbourne describes how advertising supports almost every communication, not by selling products to us but by selling us to the products’ manufacturers. Advertisers compete against each other for the opportunity to deliver their product to the consumers thru the media and companies are investing excessive amounts of money on psychological research in search of specific words and images necessary to capture the attention and money of consumers.…

    • 721 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Do Objects Make Us

    • 882 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Many people in today's society are distressed greatly with ones rank in the social hierarchy; material possessions of all sorts seem to construct, shape, and style the lives of consumers all over the world. Consumers all over the world are becoming more and more demanding as more and more is being advertised. Many companies, such as Apple, often advertise months in advance for products creating commotion, attentiveness, and desire among the world. Stores, such as Old Navy, inspire consumers to shop at stores like theirs to feel pleased and satisfied with how much can be bought with such small amounts of money; when in reality, the consumers are spending money on their identity.…

    • 882 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Consumerism

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages

    1.Whats consumerism ? Consumerism is defined by the preoccupation of society with the acquisition of consumer goods . Good morning/afternoon fellow classmates , today I’ll be discussing how the powerful images conveyed in Bruce Dawe’s texts Americanized and Abandonment of Autos, and a cartoon by Clay Butler, raise issues and concerns about consumerism.…

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bruce Dawe Consumerism

    • 611 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The over consumptions of material goods have overtaken society to the point where it has become a part of today’s necessity. But first of all, what is consumerism? Consumerism is the process of selling and promoting material goods which often leads people to obsessively consume vast amount of products. The concept of Consumerism however, have been negatively depicted within Bruce Dawe’s ‘Americanized’, ‘Televistas’ and a film ‘confessions of a shopaholic’ .…

    • 611 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    First, Americans are becoming over materialistic because of competition. Source number five, “The New Consumerism”, an essay written by Juliet Schor, explains the concept of competition between Americans, which leads to dangerous effects. In the essay, Schor explains how the American neighborhood led to competition in the middle of the twentieth century. Schor states, “In the 1950’s and 60’s, when Americans were keeping up with the Jones down the street, they typically compared themselves to other households of similar incomes” (Schor ¶ 3). This explains competition because even though each family has similar incomes, the competition to have the same possessions may develop in the neighborhood, even if they don’t need it.…

    • 343 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    A Swedish proverb says “don’t throw away the old bucket until you know whether the new one holds water.” Most of us are throwing away so much it’s likely that there will be no resources in the future. Our practices are putting a lot of stress on future resources and we might soon find our needs unsatisfied because of our throw-away attitude and careless practices.…

    • 1447 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Advertising to Youth

    • 2677 Words
    • 11 Pages

    In the ever expanding world of consumerism and advertising, companies are constantly looking for new ways to sell their products to youth by making their commercials and campaigns more memorable than the competition; thus having to reinvent themselves. The youth generation has become the prime target because they have more spending power than ever before; because of more disposabel income, and increased avenues at their disposal in which to spend their money. Therefore companies spend an enormous amount of money on advertisement to ensure popularity and early brand loyalty. In the last decade, these superbrands are looking towards new and outrageous ways to capture young audiences, although these campaigns are appealing, how effective are they? This essay is meant to demonstrate how companies are reinventing themselves, whether their efforts are effective, and what possible implications these actions may have on youth during their teenage years, when they may be the most impressionable.…

    • 2677 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    In a Brave New World, a novel written by Albert Huxley, the utopian world is driven by consumerism. At an early age everyone is indoctrinated in the mindset that, “Ending is better than mending. The more stitches the less riches.” The mindset of the society is that it is better to buy a new item, rather than fix and old one. This would absolutely infuriate Karl Marx. He would say this enables greed and capitalism in society. That this is just a way to get people to spend money on things they do not need or already have. This is all part of the world we live in today, Every year we get a new phone or “upgrade” to a new one, even if the phone we are currently using is not broken.…

    • 320 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Critical Media Analysis

    • 1146 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Ewen, Stuart. 2001. Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture. New York: Basic Books.…

    • 1146 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Consumer Society

    • 1186 Words
    • 5 Pages

    It is believed that advertising manipulates the society through the products of consumer culture, and promotes a false consciousness of needs that later on becomes a way of life. Pervasive advertising and consumer culture have caused a decline in the intellectual standards of U.S. popular culture. Peoples lives today involve little thought; most facts and ideas are fed to a person by the media. Often, misleading or untrue statements are passed through different ads, and only few are noticed or complained about. This system threatens the integrity of American democracy and ideology. This media-oriented society threatens to bring about an age of ignorance as we have never seen it before. The importance of the problem of consumerism cannot be understated.…

    • 1186 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics