First things foremost. consumerism is non new ; it may merely be during the last decennary that the PoundStore has become an mundane happening on our high street. raising consciousness that things can be bought at a price reduction. therefore bring outing the lust some of the population have to have something better than you do. It really started every bit early as the first civilisations. the likes of Ancient Egypt and Ancient Rome ; as there remains grounds that societies purchased things good in surplus of their basic demands. That grounds can be found in remains and pictures that depict nutrient staggered in majority. slaves and retainers environing those in power and control. marbles statues. alien spices. silks and a universe of varied doctrines. that all flowed to the oral cavity of the Tiber and up to the bosom of Rome long earlier anything was mass produced. Consumerism has proved it can be good to the economic system. when there is a demand for things. of that there is no denying. If you fast frontward to the industrial revolution. when merchandises were produced upon a immense graduated table. and things became more low-cost to the mundane civilian. mass production resulted in mass ingestion. all of which aided the economic system of the clip. So as the demand increases so does production. which consequently creates legion occupations.
That said it creates a strong a negative sentiment as it does positive. You. as the consumer. have now become more cognizant of the specification of a merchandise long before you come to buy it. as it is now that easy to happen and entree that information. whether this be done via the cyberspace or in shop. and you now have a higher demand on the quality of the things you purchase. the determination of “which one do I acquire? ” has now become more complex than of all time. Today consumerism is every bit large an issue as of all time. and one that everyone negotiations about. whether it’s realized or non. such is its graduated table. The chief aim of me composing this essay is to place what motivates consumers to do their purchase? We know that it’s quality that is sought. but is the quality they seek. really in the signifier or map of a merchandise? Do they even want them for those grounds at all? Where does merely being a aggregator of things come in all this? I late finished reading the autobiography of Corey Taylor. good. It took me about 6 months so I’m traveling to advert it one manner or another. I was compelled to read this because he’s one of the few people in the universe who wouldn’t call Irish bull if I told him things from my childhood. In his book Corey mentions his film aggregation. “I have so many films that many are still in the plastic.
I have so many I forget what films I have and rebuy them and stop up giving the old 1s off. I have so many films that I sometimes keep multiple transcripts because there are different versions. I have about 12 different version of Reservoir Dogs: I have the regular 1. all the different coloring material ten percent anniversary editions. the particular edition GasCan bundle that was released for the 15th day of remembrance. and the Blu-ray version. If I am anything. I am a aggregator and an partisan. But here is my inquiry: What is the difference between greed and collection? Where does fandom stop and fanaticism get down? ” ( C. Taylor. p. 162 ) – I thought I had a batch of DVDs holding about 300. Since consumerism originated. subdivisions of the populace have actively sought an alternate life style. there are those who merely decline to warrant the ‘form’ when you can acquire the ‘function’ at a fraction of the cost. The committedness of the anti-consumer committedness can run in a graduated table from moderate “simple living” to “Freeganism” .
However. at the same clip. you have the “you acquire what you pay for” crowd. who will ever pay more. believing they get more. This increased payment towards goods doesn’t simply cover a individuals desire to hold a better point. or even a trade name name point. as it is my belief that the purchase isn’t really for their ain benefit. it’s for yours. Some consumers derive pleasance through expecting. geting and having something that they desire to hold. Most of the clip they are influenced by the phantasy used in commercials and advertizements. To once more cite that autobiography ; “Commercials are romantic comedies designed to do the consumer envious of the people and the merchandise – the prettier the individual. the more you truly need those bloomerss. Billboards look like subliminal messages. your ain personal envious stroboscope visible radiation if you drive fast like me. and their exclusive intent is to dose you with crap you do non hold or hold non seen. So you find yourself desiring material you ne’er knew you wanted. ” ( C. Taylor. p. 136 ) – entire advertisement spend in the United states is about ?111 billion every twelvemonth
The consumerism engine isn’t as basic owning something for its value. for every individual who buys a merchandise as a mark of wealth ; there is another who wants their mark of stature to demo that they are sophisticated. this can be achieved via vesture. or holding a room full of books inside their place. If they do non desire to look affluent or sophisticated. possibly they want to look to be a manner mogul. who will desire to be seen as cognizing what’s trendy and what’s non. where they will be have oning the exact same vesture as the show silent person in the window of the high street stores. irrelevant to whether they really like it or non. merely because it’s ‘in’ . Whether it is in the sense of wealth. manner. or category. at the terminal of the twenty-four hours. anyone who tries to be anything. will ever being nil more than portion of a coterie. or at least that’s how I see it. I guess even if you’re non purchasing it for yourself. there will ever come a clip when you fall victim to consumerism. Take this quotation mark from The Rebel Sell ; “Next twelvemonth. everyone in the household may hold to pass more on their gifts.
They do so non because they want to prosecute in in one-upmanship. but merely to recover the place they one time had. It merely takes one individual. one act of ‘offensive’ ingestion. to trip such an episode. The other people in the household are non obsessed with position. they merely want to avoid looking inexpensive. ” ( J. Heath & A ; A. Potter. p. 119 ) . You may merely be forced into forking out more than you intended. but to about differ with the point made in the book. if you do non desire to look inexpensive. that means you want to look something. which means you want to keep a position. The short version. you’re still portion of a coterie. There are those who would wholly differ with me. but I have a difficult clip looking at a subject such as consumerism from an impartial angle when I do non believe in individualism. I fail to see how in a universe that has merely under 7 billion people populating on it how you can be single. You have to desire something because you’ve seen it. I’ve ne’er been in a place where I’ve bought something without first looking at it. as it’s aesthetic value means something to me. even if it’s nil more purchasing a Sn of beans in my local Morrisons. I will ever purchase the Sn that doesn’t have a dent in over the 1 that does. wouldn’t you?
Lashkar-e-taibas look at something I’ve bought late. my earphones. now out at that place in the large broad universe there are literally 100s of types to take from. the bulk of which are the same every bit far as the specifications go. but. in instance you haven’t noticed. rapper Dr. Dre has his ain line of earphones. They’re called “Beats By Dre” and until now. they were made in partnership the company Monster. Apparently that has changed now and Beat generations are their ain thing now. and that’s good. As I’m truly non a fan of Monster merchandises. nevertheless that’s a narrative for another twenty-four hours.
These earphones I bought are soft black. with chrome speech patterns. the ruddy ‘b’ logo on each side. with a 1 meter red 3. 5mm overseas telegram. they’re keen and for ?279 I’d expect them to be. but they’re designed to bring forth noise. shouldn’t they manner they look be immaterial? Possibly I pigeonholed them prior to buying because of whose name is on them. and how much they cost. but I think I’m allowed excessively ; I had really high outlooks of them. I originally expected them to be overly heavy on the low-end. that’s non to state there’s no bass. these earphones are nicely warm and balanced in the mids and truly impressive in their bringing of high-end item. So. they’re worth the money in both the sense of signifier and map.
However. in the thick of being impartial while giving an sentiment of whether I’m a “victim” of consumerism. I have to state I got the kind of vibration I’m used to acquiring when I buy an Apple merchandise. as I truly think about ?40 of the fee has gone on the packaging. Like the earphones themselves. the box is a work of art. but when you purchase something for yourself does the box truly necessitate to be? That minute when you receive a merchandise as a gift the box makes the impact. but really when you analyze it why would you desire your money spent this manner? Then there’s the instead thick brochure it comes with. it looks nice. but open it up and you feel like you’re acquiring every individual linguistic communication in the universe with merely a twosome of pages of information that’s so generic ( to the whole scope ) that it’s incomplete. with non even a individual account of why you get two different leads in the box. or even that the executive version really requires a brace of batteries to work decently.
The brace they replace were a brace of old Sony MDR-ZX300. now by comparing. they are nowhere near every bit good looking. a really basic unpadded black headband. with glistening metallic dark ruddy ear pieces. and that’s about it. that said. they merely cost me ?29. 99.
Even though they are now around 18 months old. they’re still hitting all the right notes. and they have a few characteristics you don’t happen on some of the most recent releases in this monetary value bracket. pivoting earphones for illustration. this is something I wouldn’t normally expect to happen on a set of earphones in this monetary value scope. The build quality isn’t the best ; chiefly due to the fact the most of the earphone is made from a instead inexpensive plastic. although they don’t experience inexpensive by any agencies. They do experience somewhat flimsy and could likely profit from a strip of metal in the headband to do them more lasting. which the Beats have by the manner. At this monetary value. these earphones didn’t come with noise call offing ability. even though they are over ear earphones. they don’t rather fit tight over your ears. but holding said that the overall sound quality from highs. mid-tones and deep bass were astoundingly good. and they got their just portion of usage traveling back and Forth to class/work mundane.
I besides didn’t feel like I’d spent 20 % of my purchase on the packaging. as I was a simple cut and toss fictile cast with some basic proficient specifications on the dorsum. They displayed the earphones decently and I bought them because I read those specifications and I knew they’d be loud and clear. and would hit with adequate Bass to play my Metallica or Corey Taylor albums with nice force.
So they are over ?250 less than the cost of my Beats Studio earphones. and give the same sound. good. to my untrained ear they do. I would travel as far to state that they’re more comfy to have on. due to the swivel characteristic excessively. So why do I wear the Beats?
Well. the chief ground is they retail at ?279. so I’m barely traveling to go forth them on the side acquiring covered in dust. but the 2nd ground. and a ground that I’m happy to acknowledge is 90 % of the technologically cognizant population know they cost ?279. and that to me is every bit good a ground as any. They’re in every magazine you open due to how many famous persons wear them. a speedy Google hunt showed me Gwen Stefani. Ice Cube. Kate Holmes and even Dr. Dre himself. they besides made a brief visual aspect in the picture for Poker Face by Lady Gaga.
In world I don’t know why they cost so much. as with any other brace of earphones. I’m ne’er. of all time. traveling to utilize them to the fullest of their advanced capablenesss. yes the noise cancelling characteristic is a large asset. and it’s a immense benefit on the coach or train. if for no ground other than to merely submerge out the raging adolescent who doesn’t even purchase a ?1 brace of earpieces and insists on playing his music out loud for all to hear. ( his ‘sign’ being the manner of music he listens excessively. he wants you to cognize what genre it is. he wants to look cool by holding the most recent release blasting every bit loud as his phone will play it ) I’ll even admit I have no thought as to what I would hold to even see playing to prove the capablenesss of the 20hz-20. 000hz frequence scope. or the 115db dynamic scope.
The Studio Beats come with a 40mm talker. which in earphone footings is much larger than the 30mm in the MDR-ZX300s. but other than that. they’re reasonably equally matched. at least in a proficient comparing. It’s merely aesthetically that they’re really different. the MDRs being really basic. and looking like a brace of earphones. the Beats looking like something from the hereafter.
I guess it’s hard for me to give a balanced position on consumerism. chiefly because I am a victim of it. as we all are in one manner or another. even if we try non to be. I openly admit that whenever I buy something I ever take into consideration its aesthetic value. or what my friends will state. strictly because the sentiments of other people matter to me. I believe that we as a species will ever seek to warrant what we purchase. utilizing the map of an point as an alibi to bask its signifier. in my sentiment we choose points that reflect our values and our aspirations. where we seek to project how we see ourselves onto others. we want to suit a genre or to be portion of a coterie. Every clip we categorize person because of how we dress. and we form an sentiment of them. we by pure happenstance categorize ourselves. therefore we become portion of a genre. you may hold picked your pants or jumper because you want to be warm. but there’s more than one you could hold chose. you may hold needed that point because of it’s map. but you made your determination based on it’s manner.
I’m precisely the same. as I chose my Beat generations in black. because I normally wear black… although. to sum up precisely how much of a consumerism victim I am. my Dr. Dre Beats aren’t even the echt article. they cost me ?35 in Turkey. but to the passer by in the street. I’m have oning ?279 earphones. That’s how vain I am. That’s how strong a clasp consumerism has over me. I’m non traveling to sell a kidney to be seen in the top of the line apparels or to having the latest tech’ . but I’ll find a manner around it.
My originative piece is instead self explanatory. I’m connoting that I like many others are sheep who merely follow the herd.
Bibliography
TAYLOR. C. ( 2011 ) . The seven lifelessly wickednesss. Settling the statement between born bad and damaged good. London. Ebury.
HEATH. J. . & A ; POTTER. A. ( 2006 ) . The Rebel sell: how the counterculture became consumer civilization. Chichester. Capstone. Bingham. J. ( 2011 ) Cycle of ‘compulsive consumerism’ leaves British household life in crisis. Unicef survey finds – Telegraph. [ on-line ] Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. telegraph. co. uk/news/politics/8760558/Cycle-of-compulsive-consumerism-leaves-British-family-life-in-crisis-Unicef-study-finds. hypertext markup language [ Accessed: 20 Nov 2012 ] . Businessteacher. org. United Kingdom ( 2009 ) Consumerism. [ on-line ] Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. businessteacher. org. uk/international-relations-essays/consumerism/ [ Accessed: 20 Nov 2012 ] . En. wikipedia. org ( 1915 ) Consumerism – Wikipedia. the free encyclopaedia. [ on-line ] Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Consumerism [ Accessed: 20 Nov 2012 ] . Hanson. C. ( 2009 ) Letters from a broad… : Wall-E: our new weather new world… . [ on-line ] Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //lfab-uvm. blogspot. co. uk/2009/01/wall-e-our-new-brave-new-world. hypertext markup language [ Accessed: 20 Nov 2012 ] . Helium. com ( 2009 ) Excess consumerism: Obsessed with shopping – Spending & A ; Saving ( Other ) – Helium. [ on-line ] Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. He. com/knowledge/20575-excess-consumerism-obsessed-with-shopping [ Accessed: 20 Nov 2012 ] .
Thehathorlegacy. com ( 2008 ) Wall-E was wholly and wholly made of win. — The Hathor Legacy. [ on-line ] Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //thehathorlegacy. com/wall-e-was-completely-and-totally-made-of-win/
