Consumerism

After seeing a few documentaries about consumerism, it got me thinking about how much I have been fooled in the past, and about how much people are fooled now. All those advertising on TV and magazines, they are just there to deceive us and make us believe that we need those things when we actually don't, at all! They create commercials for products and make us believe that we would be happier, skinnier, prettier if we bought then, they make us believe that other people would see us in a different light just because we own this stuff.

There was a particular quote on a documentary that I watch that sums up pretty much what these companies are doing with their advertisements:

There are two kinds of products, the kind that you use, cars, machines - durable products. And the things that you use up, cigarettes, gum, pasta - perishables. Consumption is about treating the things that you use as the things that you use up.

 -- Earnest Elmo Calkins

This is totally true, they make us believe that we need that product, but just for a certain period of time, because after a month or two, there is a new model, new color, new style being sold to us, and we fall for that... a lot. Why the need to get a new iPhone just because of a few differences? if your phone is still good and does what is should do, then why go spend 300 € on a new one? Why should you spend money that you probably don't have, that you could use on other things like food, rent, etc..

As a personal example, my phone got broken, this happens a lot to phones nowadays ( remember the Nokia 3310? such a durable phone ! ), we need phones that are long lasting like our mascara! Maybe we need to invest a little more money now and keep that phone for more than 1 year, I know that if I get an iPhone that I'm not going to buy the next version of it as soon as it comes out if my old phone is still going strong! I'm getting a phone that does what I need it to do - phone calls, text messages, maybe photos, a few apps and that is long lasting - that's what I need, I don't use my phone for nothing else, it's just a tool, not a part of my personality, of myself and what I'm worth as a person. I do not need it to captivate the interest of people, I do not need it to be cool and attract people and make them like me, I'm the one that should do that, create connections with my opinions, my jokes and myself.

Sorry for the long rant guys, this is one of the reasons I hate TV, most of it is all advertisements and people telling what we should buy to be "happy". Most people don't have the willpower to say no or to understand what really is important.

Consumerism

Monday, December 26, 2016

After seeing a few documentaries about consumerism, it got me thinking about how much I have been fooled in the past, and about how much people are fooled now. All those advertising on TV and magazines, they are just there to deceive us and make us believe that we need those things when we actually don't, at all! They create commercials for products and make us believe that we would be happier, skinnier, prettier if we bought then, they make us believe that other people would see us in a different light just because we own this stuff.

There was a particular quote on a documentary that I watch that sums up pretty much what these companies are doing with their advertisements:

There are two kinds of products, the kind that you use, cars, machines - durable products. And the things that you use up, cigarettes, gum, pasta - perishables. Consumption is about treating the things that you use as the things that you use up.

 -- Earnest Elmo Calkins

This is totally true, they make us believe that we need that product, but just for a certain period of time, because after a month or two, there is a new model, new color, new style being sold to us, and we fall for that... a lot. Why the need to get a new iPhone just because of a few differences? if your phone is still good and does what is should do, then why go spend 300 € on a new one? Why should you spend money that you probably don't have, that you could use on other things like food, rent, etc..

As a personal example, my phone got broken, this happens a lot to phones nowadays ( remember the Nokia 3310? such a durable phone ! ), we need phones that are long lasting like our mascara! Maybe we need to invest a little more money now and keep that phone for more than 1 year, I know that if I get an iPhone that I'm not going to buy the next version of it as soon as it comes out if my old phone is still going strong! I'm getting a phone that does what I need it to do - phone calls, text messages, maybe photos, a few apps and that is long lasting - that's what I need, I don't use my phone for nothing else, it's just a tool, not a part of my personality, of myself and what I'm worth as a person. I do not need it to captivate the interest of people, I do not need it to be cool and attract people and make them like me, I'm the one that should do that, create connections with my opinions, my jokes and myself.

Sorry for the long rant guys, this is one of the reasons I hate TV, most of it is all advertisements and people telling what we should buy to be "happy". Most people don't have the willpower to say no or to understand what really is important.