ENGLISH 23
(A.K.A. CLIMATE CRISIS 101)
Deep Dive
Making waste (of the planet)
In 1955, economist and retail analyst Victor Lebow published an article in the “Journal of Retailing” in which he said
“Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfactions, our ego satisfactions, in consumption. The measure of social status, of social acceptance, of prestige, is now to be found in our consumptive patterns. The very meaning and significance of our lives today is expressed in consumptive terms. The greater the pressures upon the individual to conform to safe and accepted social standards, the more does he tend to express his aspirations and his individuality in terms of what he wears, drives, eats, his home, his car, his pattern of food serving, his hobbies. These commodities and services must be offered to the consumer with a special urgency. We require not only “forced draft” consumption, but ‘expensive’ consumption as well. We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever increasing pace. We need to have people eat, drink, dress, ride, live, with ever more complicated and, therefore, constantly more expensive consumption.”
“Thus the challenge was to develop a public that would always have an appetite as voracious as its machines.” What a sickening line. The American public is being convinced by the manufacturing and advertising industries to purchase items, in order to ensure the wheels of production are never still. This is completely backwards to how production and consumption should work, ESPECIALLY if you look at it from an environmental standpoint. Before mass production, most goods were made on an as-needed basis. If you needed a dress, you got fabric and made it, or went to a clothing maker and put in an order. Now, we aren’t even sure if we need another dress, but we probably do, right? Because look at all the cute ones there are in the online ads! Ready to purchase! In what feels very related to last week’s minimalist and Walden content, the manufacturing and advertising industries have completely warped our sense of desire for material goods…But the American economy has been built on the notion that a healthy economy is one that grows due to increased consumption. In order to prolong this unsustainable economic path, the entire advertising industry was created— this all feels so artificial! America’s prosperity relies on an industry that manipulates our minds such that we believe we need more items, the newest items, the items deemed “in fashion” (the latter of which is yet another construct fabricated to increase consumption). What makes “The Waste Makers” such an uncomfortable read is the fact that it so simply explains that many of our desires are not our own. They are a product of an economy and culture that excels in shaping desires and inventing scenarios and fads that draw the attention of our wallets. If being mindful of your consumption for the sake of the environment isn’t for you, maybe being mindful for the sake of acting on what you actually want is.
It wasn’t anything new to me to read that American consumerism has been pretty bad, but some of the examples in the text came as a surprise to me. For example, a soap company would rather spend money on new product packaging rather than research that can produce better products. This made me realize that most companies are focusing on what will appeal to the customer and encourage them to buy more instead of giving people quality products.
The example Ken mentioned about the smoking industry and how they ignored all the facts and science about how smoking causes cancer and continued to do their best to sell as many cigarettes they can. It was their goal to make people addicted in order for the corporations to profit greatly. Our mindset towards wanting more is becoming a serious problem. This reminded me of a trip I made to Nicaragua, where I went to volunteer to build a school for a small community. It was there that I learned how consumerism is making my life and others in developed countries worse. These people I was lucky to meet were happy and content with what little they had. The locals were always smiling and laughing with each other, which took me by surprise because in America, where we literally have everything these people don’t, we find ourselves unhappy that we can’t get the new iPhone or new clothes. These people in Nicaragua don’t have money to buy one pair of shoes yet they seem happier than us who have everything at our finger tips. This was just an eye oepning experience and hopefully we can change our mindsets that are wired to always want more.
I think you really hit the nail on the head when you were describing how corporations will make consumers want to buy more, beyond tobacco, we are all addicted to all sorts of stuff that we don’t need. Consumerism is not only a major issue in blocking our happiness, but also in terms of the climate. When you described your experiences in Nicaragua, it made me think of how Ken has emphasized over and over that most of the developed world has created/exacerbated climate change, and yet we aren’t faced with its most disastrous effects, countries who don’t have the means to tackle this issue are faced with the consequences of our actions.
This week’s reading is very interesting in many aspects. It was written in the early 1960s, just as modern consumerism in the United States was taking root. Now I am from China, and modern consumerism is also taking its root here at an extremely rapid pace in the recent years. Therefore, this book has a even closer relationship to me. In the twenty-first century, the book can be a reflection of the past decades for the developed countries, but it can also still as a warning sign against the potential dangers of consumerism, not to the American people as it was in the 1960s, but to the developing countries.
Going into the reading by Vance Packard, I did not expect much in terms of relativity to a book written in 1960. I was shocked to see the parallels so expertly drawn to our society today, where the issue of consumerism and eventual waste is exacerbated. The reading, along with the assigned documentaries for the week, opened my eyes to the consumerist ideals of society. In particular, the way in which purchasing is seen as a measure of success and a gateway to happiness by means of advertising. When put this way it almost feels like we are living in a dystopian society like Orwell’s 1984.
What Ken mentioned about the influence of this society on children in particular was quite shocking. On one hand, the idea of selling to kids was revolutionary, it spawned multibillion dollar industries. On the other hand, it can be considered downright evil, spawning generations that only know how to purchase and are subconsciously brainwashed into believing that is the gateway to true happiness and contentment.
This week made me feel as if I had been living as a puppet on strings.
Something that really surprised me was the topic of chapter 6: obsolescence. Companies strive to make products that will either decrease in quality, desirability, or function, and are smart in how they do it. This would include making a product that will break down in a certain amount of time, making a new product that makes the old one seem out of date, and making improved products that function more efficiently. This is what keeps companies profiting and keeps this consumer culture alive.
Packard’s three categories of obsolescence:
Obsolescence of function is when a new product or technology comes along that makes the old one inferior.
Obsolescence of quality describes a product that falls out of use because it has worn down or broken.
Obsolescence of desirability happens when something is rendered old hat by the arrival of newer and more exciting options.
“There are the soft, insistent commercials the youngsters hear during their weekly twenty-odd hours of television watching. And there are the breakable plastic toys, which teach them at an early age that everything in this world is replaceable. “
It wasn’t until I read this sentence then I realized that I grew up watching commercials that can shape my attitude about consumerism. I can still remember the commercials in which an actor encourages us to purchase their products as soon as possible. Many kids have been impacted by those commercials, and their idea about consumption is gradually shaped by them. It is scary to think that people, at such a young age, have been negatively impacted by the capitalist who wants to maximize their profits, and the formation of our values is shaped while we don’t even realize it is formed.
[W]e see gendered ads for women’s and men’s products for things that shouldn’t even be gendered like shampoos, shaving cream, deodorant, and usually women’s products are more expensive than men’s. There really is no need to have to gender such basic hygiene products, but corporations advertise such products in a way that makes us feel as if we have to stick with what is targeted towards our gender so that we can spend more money. I also realize the same thing about the whole “matching” idea, we are made to feel as if we need to buy shoes that match every single one of our outfits, or buy furniture and house decor that all matches together. All of these things are being done by the people who own these corporations in order to convince us to spend more and more money each time. It’s scary how easily convinced we can be that we need certain stuff when it’s actually so unnecessary. Like the author explains, this growing consumption just creates more waste, which in turn harms our environment. We feel that if we own something that goes out of fashion, we must throw it away, we consider it “useless” even if it is still in good shape. I feel like, at the end of the day, we can’t really place the blame on consumers, but rather on the corporations that hire people to advertise consumption in such clever and convincing ways. This type of advertising really is like propaganda.
Fortunately, growing up my parents had taught me to be mindful of my purchases and to avoid wasting. Though I am not as conserving and minimalistic as they are, I do my best to make purchases that will last me a long time and refrain from replacing what’s not broken. For one, we don’t need to be buying the newest iPhones when we have ones that still work perfectly fine. We also don’t need to buy new car models when our current ones run without issue. My dad still uses an iPhone 6 and drives a car from 2000! We need to start investing in products that are durable because it’ll save us money in the long run and reduce waste. This is an issue that needs to be addressed at both a cultural and systemic level. We, as consumers, need to change our mindset and stop feeding into the system.
“Our enormously productive economy… demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfactions, our ego satisfactions, in consumption.. We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced, and discarded at an ever increasing rate” (Victor Lebow).
It’s scary to think about life if we were to ween ourselves off our addiction to consumption, to consumerism. After all, The Waste Makers and The True Cost have showed us just how much our economy depends on consumerism. It would practicality fall apart without it – at first at least. America is an addict and its addiction is to things; buying things, using things, showing off with things. It’s a nasty cycle of purchase, use a little, discard when no longer seen as “cool”, “new”, or “on trend”. We are really in a predicament here. Many, if not most, people don’t think of the effects of wasteful purchasing/discarding. Terrible environmental impact, social injustice, monetary loss, and decline of well-being are all effects of this sick process and we are willingly feeding into it. Turning a blind eye because the “environment will bounce back”, the places in which human rights are being disregarded in order to make these products “seems a world away”, money always comes back, “just pick up a shift”, and the thought process of “if I buy this, I will be happy”. We were taught to be this way; our system isn’t raising Americans, it’s building mindless consumers. When previously asked who I thought was responsible for this, when responding to The True Costs, I noted that its the system/corporations AND us, the public. However, I do believe that the systematic business of consumerism driven by corporations is to take the lion share of that blame.
The clothing industry makes it seem impossible for something to be fashionable and reusable. However, I definitely think that it is doable. I remember watching a fashion competition show where a contestant made a jacket out of the scraps of clothing from the works of other contestants and I thought it looked wicked. Of course, my taste cannot be the representative for the future of the fashion industry, but I definitely thought it was a cool concept. I do believe that there is a future where clothing is much more sustainable because it is reusable while still being fashionable.
Reading Packard’s “The Waste Makers”, I was immediately struck by how little businesses in the 50s (and especially today) thought so little about how their increasing rate of overproduction would impact the environment and nature’s resources. Did they just assume it would last forever? I understand that maybe in the 50s everything seemed so plentiful, but in 2021 the lasting effects created from this consumerism attitude has already succeeded in destroying much of our planet. ..
Aside from that, what I personally related to in Packard’s novel was the marketing technique called “obsolescence of desirability”. In high school, my family was very poor and living off of food stamps. Because of our financial situation, my mother could only afford to get me a flip phone to use in emergencies. I viewed it as a luxury at the time: I had my own phone! But when I went to school, everyone in my class made fun of it. They said it was “ancient” and asked if it “even had internet” and I was pretty ashamed. This was because the iPhone 7 had just come out and many of my classmates rushed to buy it (even though many had already owned the iPhone 6). Looking back, it was clear that “psychological obsolescence” was in full effect, encouraging everyone to buy the new iPhone simply because it was new, and shun anything else that was old (aka: obsolete). This way, the iPhone became a status symbol of how much you could afford and how stylish you were considered to be. My flip phone did not make the cut.
This reading made me realize how deep consumerism runs in the veins of America. It will definitely be hard to change this culture but it’s something that we have to do in order to save ourselves and our planet. On top of this, we not only save future generations from environmental disasters but we can save ourselves from unhappy lives. While limiting consumerism doesn’t guarantee a happy life it can help you lead a better life. Letting go of the importance of material goods allows you to focus on the things you have that you don’t need to buy like your friendships and hobbies. People just allow corporations to tell us what we want, what to buy, what to do, but we need to open our eyes. We have to look at how much we are losing (in more than just money) because of rampant consumerism and realize how much more we have to gain from rethinking our economy and forming a culture that put the peoples’ needs and desires over corporate desires.
I found this week’s reading extremely interesting. While speaking about consumerism for the past few weeks, I’ve begun wondering when and how it started. Thus, reading part of The Waste Maker answered my questions and provided me with some relief. Taking this class and hearing about the anthropogenic disasters, I was starting to lose hope in humans. I began to think of the increasing and never ending selfishness of humans. However, after reading the book I realized the huge impact corporations had and continue to have on society. From the very beginning, corporations worked to convince society of its need to consume. As mentioned in the book, after society recovered from World War II, consumerism declined. That is until corporations began to come up with slogans, styles, fashion, and everything possible to persuade more consumers to buy. Corporations created fashion and in effect, shaped society. After several years of the same cycle, society began to live to buy, as we still see it now.
At this point in the course, after having watched the documentaries “Merchants of Doubt” and “The True Cost” and read “Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming”, it is not surprising at all that advertisements companies and American corporations have gone to the extent of manipulating the American population as described in chapters 2-7 of the book “Waste Makers”. However, it is still considerably disappointing that these businesses have used academic subjects, such as psychology and journalism, against the common good. I think this is what has bothered me quite seeing behind the scenes of these businesses because mostly all academics, and even mostly all professionals, go to a great extent to ensure that their work and research is accurate. It’s just continuously frustrating that the elites of the United States are able to manipulate and gaslight the entire country without any consequences. Maybe regulations have been created since the 60s in regards to this clearly unethical phenomenon but this manipulation still goes on extensively today as we’ve learned in the documentary “The True Cost” this week.