ENGCMP 0200
Dr. Adam Johns
April 18, 2009
The Cost of Consumerism is Too High
Every year for Lent, I give up chocolate. It’s really not that hard; eating Sour Patch Kids instead of Hershey Kisses isn’t much of an issue for me. Plus, it gives me an excuse to OD on chocolate bunnies Easter morning. Giving up chocolate, however, was getting boring. Being the good, non-practicing Catholic I am, I wanted to upgrade my sacrifice this year. Realizing I had overdrawn my checking account, I made the decision to give up excessive spending. Really it was more of a necessity than a sacrifice, I was broke. Nonetheless, I felt I had made a legitimate Lenten goal. This meant no shopping, eating out, or splurging on expensive, frilly drinks at Starbucks. For forty days, I was able to keep my spending to a relative minimum. Reflecting on my success on Easter, however, I realized I had actually spent a lot more than I’d thought. During the course of Lent, I’d bought a new pair of running shoes, a good deal of food, and other miscellaneous items. Although I’m still happy with my decrease in spending, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s impossible to live a self-sustaining life in our society and even a minimally materialistic lifestyle is extraordinarily difficult. The Industrial Revolution and the technological revolution that has been occurring over the past century have made it both infinitely easier and more appealing to live a materialistic life. Because our society is increasingly reliant on technology for everyday life, a self-sustaining way of life is impossible and only through complete isolation can we free ourselves from a materialistic lifestyle.
It is debatable what revolution has had the most impact on Western society, but there is no doubt the Industrial Revolution had an enormous effect on the Western lifestyle. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a growing workforce composed of farmers who became unemployed because of the enclosure movement found employment in cottage industries and later in factories. These factories became increasingly efficient through innovations in textile and metal production, steam power, and transportation. Workers migrated in large numbers to cities to be close to their jobs, greatly altering the European demographic. With urbanization and a decrease in cost of manufactured goods due to efficient production, city dwellers began to buy many of the things that were traditionally produced within a household. Every necessary item was being made in mass quantities. The changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution are still with us today. Though the majority of Americans no longer work in factories, most of us still live in urban and suburban areas and our lifestyles are similar to the workers of the Industrial Revolution. We can’t grow much food because we lack the space and our 9-to-5 jobs don’t leave much time for the production of clothes and other household items. Unfortunately, this has caused a consumerist society to develop. Originally, workers bought only what was necessary, but as many consumer products became less expensive because of mass production in factories, the general public was eventually able to afford to buy more. Now we have items, such as vacuums, dishwashers, and computers that aren’t necessary for everyday life, but making living much more convenient. We have come to believe that these items are indispensable and this belief has been able to infiltrate our society through advertisement.
Americans have made materialism a science. Companies spend millions on advertisements and just as much researching how to optimize the effectiveness of the ads (Savan). Advertisement has been a major part of American media throughout modern history. The rise of advertising as a professionalized industry corresponded with the rise of mass production of consumer products in the 19th century. The first American advertising agency was opened in 1841 in Philadelphia. In the following decades, advertising became prominent in newspapers and newly formed magazines as Americans were gaining access to more consumer goods as they became less expensive and payment plans were developed (Emergence). Without the technology we have now, such as television and the Internet, however, advertisement in the 19th and early 20th century was not as overbearing or effective as it is today.
Leslie Savan, author of The Sponsored Life, suggests that we, as Americans, “don’t need to have a corporate sponsor” and “don’t even have to buy anything—though it helps, and [we] will. [We] just have to live in America and share with the nation…expectations and values, rhythms and reflexes” (Savan). Consumerism is ingrained in our society and it is impossible to separate ourselves from the consumerist ideals that have so thoroughly infiltrated our culture. Television-watching Americans see about 100 commercials daily, and considering 99% of American households own at least one television, that is bound to represent the majority of individuals (Herr). Including other advertisements such as logos and labels, the average American will be subjected to 16,000 ads per day (Savan). Although it is, theoretically, our decision to splurge on that new pair of shoes at the mall, it is particularly hard to resist materialism in our culture, especially when materialism is our culture and we are taught this as children.
We are brainwashed to become consumers from the time we are infants and advertisements are particularly effective to children. Children are unable to distinguish between commercials and regular programming they watch on TV until the time they are eight and they are also susceptible to exaggerations; children often think a toy does a lot more than it can in reality (Marketing). Also, kids these days are spending twice the amount of time in front of a TV or computer screen than they are spending in a classroom, says Ed Mayo in his book Consumer Kids, making them the perfect target for excessive advertisement. According to the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, advertisements have the potential to cause major problems in a child’s life, including “dependence on the things [they] buy for life satisfaction, a “me first” attitude, and conformity.” Unless advertisements are blatantly obnoxious, such as Happy Meal advertisements on school report cards in Orlando, we hardly notice the extent to which we are bombarded with them beginning in infancy (Elliott). Television and radio have been marketing arenas for decades, although marketing has recently gone beyond commercials and implanted itself in programs themselves, but with our increasing obsession with the Internet come new horizons for corporations. Internet advertising is growing at a rapid rate, despite the depression, and has produced far more revenue in its first 14 years of existence than broadcast and cable advertising did in their first 14 years (Koeppel, Yarow).
The Internet and television have also made consumption physically easier. This has come both as a result of our consumer culture and as a catalyst for it. With the development of the mail-order catalogs, home shopping networks on TV, and eventually online shopping, one need not leave the comfort of home to shop. Credit cards and payment plans have made more expensive items available to most consumers. Because we often don’t spend actual cash when buying something, it is hard to comprehend how much we are spending on material goods.
This unbelievable amount of materialism in our society has an affect on our psyche. According to Tim Kasser, author of The High Price of Materialism, people with materialistic goals “report lower psychological well-being than those who are less concerned with such aims” (Kasser, 5). Through a series of studies on adolescents, college students, and adults, this conclusion was consistent. Although more research is needed to conclude exactly what is causing unhappiness related to materialism, Kasser has a theory. While “there is no doubt that humans require some material necessities and comforts in order to feel secure and stay alive,” Kasser says people in our society use material goods to hide their insecurities (29). He also argues that just as we have physical necessities, we have psychological necessities. Advertisement encourages us to buy a product if we can’t find a date or need more adventure in our life. Beautiful, rich celebrities, who we view as the epitome of success, tell us to buy these products so we can be like them. Unfortunately, once we have material wealth, it is shown that our psychological well-being does not improve (47). No matter how many times we are told that money can’t buy happiness by “sages from almost every religious and philosophical background,” we are clearly not listening (1).
Kasser and I agree that changes need to be made in order to lead a rewarding life. There is no need to work long hours away from our families at an unsatisfying job to buy material goods which may or may not make us happier for a few weeks when we can abandon our consumerist lifestyles completely and ensure happiness. Kasser tells the reader that we must make personal changes to curb our consumerist tendencies. He believes we must examine why we crave material goods and then make changes in our everyday lives. He suggests we “remove activities from our lives…that reinforce materialistic values and decrease self-esteem” such as “wandering in the mall or shopping on the Internet” (103). Kasser also argues that we need to change society itself through government regulation of advertisement and support of “corporations that are more intrinsically oriented” (111). I agree with his assessment of the problem and I think these are good moderate solutions, but in order to completely abandon the materialistic lifestyle, we must isolate ourselves from it.
Our society both fuels materialism and is fueled by it. The two are so thoroughly connected that it would be nearly impossible to root materialism out of our society in this generation’s lifetime. To abandon the materialistic lifestyle, at least in the present time, requires physical and mental isolation. Living in a remote location removes the exposure to advertisement that is present in cities, such as billboards, ads on bus stops, and in storefronts. Television and the Internet must also be abandoned. Materialism resides in product placement in TV shows, commercials, the glorification of celebrities, and websites and is far too difficult to avoid in these forms of entertainment. One must also live a self-sustaining lifestyle by producing food and clothing oneself. While this is a radical solution to the problem, it is otherwise impossible to rid ones life completely of consumerist values.
Beginning with the Industrial Revolution, our society has experienced a rapid increase in materialism, which has been bolstered by the advertising industry. Technology, including TV and the Internet, has worsened matters. American society is so thoroughly obsessed with consumption that it almost seems that it is human nature to want to acquire goods. It has been shown, however, through Tim Kasser and other psychologists’ research, that humans are happier when they aren’t fixated on obtaining material goods. In order to live more rewarding lives, we need to separate ourselves from this lifestyle. Although moderate measures could be beneficial, true happiness through isolation from materialism can only be achieved by complete physical and mental isolation. I had attempted to reduce my consumerism during Lent and failed because of the many temptations that are present in our society and many Americans would do the same. It will be beneficial to our society if Americans lobby for the government to increase regulations on advertising, but it is most beneficial for our individual lives now if we isolate ourselves from the materialist environment that is America.
Works Cited
Elliott, Stuart. “Straight A’s With a Burger as a Prize.” 6 December 2007. The New York Times.
“Emergence of Advertising in America: Timeline.” 13 February 2008. Duke University Libraries. 12 April 2009. < http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/eaa/timeline.html>.
Herr, Norman. “Television and Health.” 2007. The Sourcebook for Teaching Science. 12 April 2009. < http://www.csun.edu/science/health/docs/tv&health.html>.
Kasser, Tim. The High Price of Materialism. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2002.
Koeppel, Peter. “Alternative Media Marketing Succeeds in a Recession.” 17 April 2009. Adotas. 17 April 2009. < http://www.adotas.com/2009/04/alternative-media-marketing-succeeds-in-a-recession/>.
“Marketing and Consumerism: Special Issues for Young Children.” Media Awareness Network. 14 April 2009. < http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/tools/content_cart/index.cfm>.
Novotney, Amy. “What’s Behind American Consumerism?” Monitor on Psychology, 39(7), 40.
Savan, Leslie. “The Bribed Soul: Ads, TV, and American Culture.” 2007. Center for Media Literacy. 15 April 2009. < http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article575.html>.
Yarow, Jay. “Chart of the Day: Internet Ads Growing Faster Than Any Medium in History.” 14 April 2009. The Business Insider. 17 April 2009.
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