Timely reflections on consumerism

The man himself!

Reading John Kenneth Galbraith's writings on "The Theory of Consumer Demand" (that is a link to the abridged text of the overall book, The Affluent Society) brought up a great point, in my opinion. Sure, we all talk about how all of our consumption is a bad thing, but did we ever think about the cycle of consumption we are locked into? Why do we consume so much if we need very little? Why do I crave new shoes or the fanciest Apple product?

Galbraith said it is because advertising tells us we need it! Think about it. To quote him:

"A man who is hungry need not be told of his need for food. If he is inspired by his appetite, he is immune to the effect of Messers. Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn. The latter are effective only with those who are so far removed from physical want that they do not already know what they want. In this state alone men are open to persuasion." [Note: I am assuming the aforemention Messrs. are advertising gurus. Also, the italics were my own.]

This water came from a pure mountain!

Surprisingly I had never thought this through before. Why do Americans, among others, need to have commercials for food? Bottled water? Because we actually have no great need for it! Were I in desparate need for water, I would not need at TV commercial tell me which mountain spring it came from in an exotic country. I would just drink the water.

With the surplus of production in Western society, producers had to do something to entice us to buy beyond our needs. Hence, the rise of advertising. I find this very interesting. A whole sector of our business is perpetuating the constant consumerism that causes so much trouble environmentally. In order to change it, we wouldn't just have to change people's habits, but also remove or completely alter portions of our economy.

After coming to this realization, I will be more suspicious of advertising I see and attempt to see past all the bru-ha-ha about the newest toy. Even though iPads look pretty sweet ...