The concept of consumerism is closely related to modern society, which is quite understandable given the abundance of goods and services thrown into the global market (Monod 176). The phenomenon of consumerism, however, could be observed a touch earlier. Because of the so-called consumer revolution and the following commercialization of British society, the latter began to develop distinct features of consumerism.
In retrospect, it is really surprising that the social revolution, which led to the development of consumerist moods in British society, started with the import of Asian goods (Monod 175). The change, which the British society went through after the introduction of new and, therefore, desirable goods, is quite understandable when considered through the lens of Bernard Mandeville’s theory of the market. As Mandeville explains, the private desire for pleasure (Monod 174) was the key driving force behind the process of shaping the taste for luxury in British people.
On the one hand, the idea of consumerism being born in Great Britain might seem somewhat odd, seeing that consumerism can be related to the desire of acquiring innovative products, which is contrary to the British tradition of cherishing the things that have passed the time test. On the other hand, a closer look at the phenomenon will reveal that the concept of consumerism aligns with the idea of the British conservatism rather well. As Monod explains, having luxury and exotic products soon became related to respectability and politeness (Monod 176) in British society.
Despite the obvious development of consumerism trends in the British society of the XVIII century, it would be wrong to claim that the phenomenon of consumerism as an uncontrolled desire to acquire new goods without the necessity to do so can be applied to the British society on the specified time slot. It seems that the key reason for the British people of the XVIII century to buy new goods had a new experience; in other words, the products delivered from such exotic countries as China seemed an intriguing novelty, which was worth paying for. Such a need for new experiences contrasts sharply with the current definition of consumerism as buying the products merely for the sake of having ones. Nevertheless, the above-mentioned phenomenon admittedly gave vent to the development of consumerism as people know it nowadays. It is quite remarkable that the taste for luxury mentioned above was shaped by the introduction of exotic products and the necessity to maintain the status of a wealthy and, therefore, a powerful member of the British society.
Speaking of which, the relationship between British society and the increasing rates of what was about to grow into consumerism was quite unusual. Though the phenomenon that took place with the introduction of foreign goods and services into the British market could not be defined as consumerism as people see it today, the premises for the uncontrolled acquisition of goods and services were obviously created at the point when Britain started to import foreign products. However, it would be wrong to attribute the economic breakthrough solely to the introduction of foreign goods into the British market. Apart from the aforementioned factor, the cultural characteristics of British people played a major part in the creation of the consumerist philosophy in British society. Enhancing the traditional values, the British Empire encouraged consumerism and, therefore, contributed to the evolution of its economy.
Works Cited
Monod, Paul Kléber. Imperial Island: A History of Britain and Its Empire, 1660-1837. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons. 2009. Print.
A health plan brings transparency to the quality and price of the health care system. This paper presents the summary, major themes of the article ‘A Health Plan Work in Progress: hospital-physician Price and Quality Transparency’. Along with its learning outcome, the relevance of this article in the health care system of the US and sharing with colleagues about some of the perspectives on this article are also briefed in this paper. There are some challenges and risks in the implementation of this health plan. This plan will help bring transparency of quality and price to the health care system.
Introduction
The epitome of the article ‘A Health Plan Work in Progress: Hospital-Physician Price and Quality Transparency’ is briefed here. This article is about the consumerism strategy of health plans that emphasize the ramp-up of price and quality transparency efforts. Concerning the enormous interest of the employers in this plan, there is an attempt to develop a consumer tool to assess the price and quality information in the hospitals.
When the health plan becomes a strategy of consumerism the employee will be more responsible for the medical expenses, lifestyle choices and the decision on the treatment. The main points which are discussed in the article are the ramp-up of price and quality transparency efforts in health plans, applying consumerism strategy in health plans perceiving the idea that competition motivates health plan efforts, price transparency which makes price information on physicians and hospitals available through websites, transparency of the quality of the hospital and physicians, challenges and risks due to introduction of the transparency of quality and price and the implication of this health plan emphasizing on the transparency of price and quality of the hospitals and physicians.
With the introduction of the ‘facilitated consumerism strategy’, there began an issue of increasing the costs of care. This led people to search for high-quality health care spending at the lowest cost. By introducing the transparency of price and quality, the people themselves can determine the physicians and hospitals concerning the efficiency and quality of care, spending lowest cost. Consumerism strategy of health plan brings competitions between different health maintenance organizations. Health plan creates new value for care by making health cost and quality transparent and it was embraced by many national insurers, it is open to assessing the quality and cost of the care.
At the same time, there are risks and challenges for this health plan. The biggest challenge in the implementation of the plan is the possibility of misinterpretation and wrong information on the price and quality of the care by consumers. Then, the next risk is that the question of who has access to it. The information on price and quality are given on the website but many people do not use the website for health care. Every program will be undergone through a sheer evaluation, but this health plan does not have an efficient evaluation format. Health providers are indifferent towards this and the negative responses from physicians are also reported.
The federal government is reluctant to publish the data of Medicare physicians’ claims that would inform the private insurers on the performance of the physician. The federal government should bring this health plan under a common measurement of transparency of the quality and price by participating in private and public partnerships of insurance providers, employers and various stakeholders who have contact with this health plan.
Major themes in this article
Facilitated consumerism and health plan strategy
A health plan will enhance in bringing the transparency of quality and price in the health care system. Health care had been embracing facilitated consumerism and there was no transparency in the quality and price of health care. Through a health care plan, the consumer will decide the treatment, price and quality. “Plans generally provide some type of price information on inpatient and outpatient procedures and services from data based on their own negotiated prices or through aggregated health plan claims data obtained through a vendor; few plans provide price information on services in physician offices.” (Tynan, Liebhaber, & Ginsburg, 2008, para.2).
The strategy of consumerism
“Many health plan respondents, particularly those representing large national insurers, reported embracing consumerism, including price and quality transparency, as a way for health plans to create new value for their employer clients.” (Tynan, Liebhaber, & Ginsburg, 2008, Consumerism strategy, competition motivate health plan efforts, para.2). There is competition among various health providing organizations relating to giving quality care. When the health plan works the various health maintenance organizations will attempt to give quality care at the lowest cost.
Price transparency
“Several national health plans and a regional plan reported providing some type of price information based on their data—usually negotiated prices with hospitals and physicians—and are making this information available to enrollees in specific geographic areas on a rolling basis.” (Tynan, Liebhaber, & Ginsburg, 2008, Price transparency, para.1). National health plans make the various hospitals provide information on the price of the care. When the information is published through the website the consumer will have the access to assess from which hospital, he can receive quality care at the lowest cost.
“Few health plans reported providing price information for physician services; when they do, they generally provide the average cost of physician office visits in a particular geographic area, sometimes by city or zip code, and these costs are not specific to particular physicians.” (Tynan, Liebhaber, & Ginsburg, 2008, Price transparency, para.8). At the same time, there is a possibility of misinformation regarding various data on the hospital and physician. Some of the responses from the consumers support it.
Quality transparency
“Most of the quality information plans are providing pertains to hospitals rather than physicians. This reflects both the greater availability of third-party hospital data, as well as more widely accepted quality measures for inpatient care that are collected and reported by organizations independent of health plans, which mitigates concerns by providers and others that health plans might provide information biased in favour of health plans’ interests.” (Tynan, Liebhaber, & Ginsburg, 2008, Quality transparency, para.2). Through the transparency of quality, the consumer can know the facilities and the performance of the hospital and physicians.
Learning outcome
In the 1990s there was an increase in the health care cost which led to the notion of ‘facilitated consumerism’. This results in shopping for high-quality care at a low cost. Health became a source of inequalities. The more money one spends on health the more he gets cured. When there is no public awareness about the expenses of the care, there is a possibility of a timely rise of the cost of care. Therefore, a health plan will certainly help to reduce the cost of care and to increase the quality of care. Moreover, it will bring competition between different health maintenance organizations that would result in the high quality of health care with a minimum cost of care.
If there is transparency for quality and price, the people can assess the quality of care where the price is too low. But the major challenges concerning this health plan are that there is no proper evaluation method or format. The consumer does not know how to assess the program, and therefore, he is not able to give adequate suggestions for better implementation of the program. All the information regarding the quality and price will be published on the websites. But many people do not visit websites for better healthcare.
So, it will be an obstacle in the implementation of this health plan. Most health maintenance organizations may not be opened to publishing accurate data on the quality and price of care. Physicians may be reluctant to give correct information on their performance. All these factors will be barriers to the execution of this plan. But what I assume is that it will bring a change in the health care sector in the coming years. If there is healthy competition between health providers, there is no doubt about receiving high-quality low price health care. Since the US health care system is entirely operated by the private sector, this health plan will help provide transparency in the quality and price of care.
US health care system and the article
“The focus on price and quality transparency gained momentum when President Bush issued an executive order in August 2006 directing federal agencies that administer health care programs to share price and quality information with enrollees.” (Tynan, Liebhaber, & Ginsburg, 2008, Health plans ramp up price and quality transparency efforts, para.2).US health care system is entirely operated, and health insurance is given by the private sector. Therefore, the health plan has a vital role in providing high quality and low-price care. So, the department of health and human services incorporated a notion that highlights ‘high quality and low-price care’ as the centre point of health care improvement.
Sharing with a colleague
The transparency of quality and price in the health care system is necessary today. So, the implementation of a health plan will help to increase the transparency of the health care system. By the health plan, the consumer will be able to know more about various health care systems and their services. The consumer demands the quality of care where the price is low. Therefore, it will aid the consumer to assess the various health organizations in terms of their quality and price. Moreover, the consumer can know about the performance of the physicians. It will certainly lead to the transparency of quality and price of health care and thereby the quality of health.
But there are some difficulties in the execution of this health plan. Even though there are attempts to mould a measurement to assess the health plan, there is no proper and adequate tool for measuring the accurate evaluation of health plan. The information regarding the transparency of quality and price of care is published on the websites. But many people do not use websites to assess the health care system.
So, in the initial days, the health plan will have many barriers to overcome. There are reports about the negative responses from the physician regarding their performance. This plan will motivate the health maintenance organizations to bring more quality in the health care and low price. If there is healthy competition between health providing organizations, indeed it will result in high quality in the health care system.
Conclusion
A health plan is a strategy to bring transparency to the quality and price of the health care system. This paper is an epitome of an article about health plans discussing various dimensions of a health plan. The main points discussed in it are transparency of quality and price of the health care system and some of the risks and challenges in the implementation of health pan.
Reference List
Tynan, A., Liebhaber, A., & Ginsburg, P B. (2008). A health plan work in progress: Hospital- physician price and quality transparency. Centre for Studying: Health Change System. Web.
Tynan, A., Liebhaber, A., & Ginsburg, P B. (2008). A health plan work in progress: Hospital- physician price and quality transparency: Consumerism strategy, competition motivate health plan efforts. Centre for Studying: Health Change System. Web.
Tynan, A., Liebhaber, A., & Ginsburg, P B. (2008). A health plan work in progress: Hospital- physician price and quality transparency: Price transparency. Centre for Studying: Health Change System. Web.
Tynan, A., Liebhaber, A., & Ginsburg, P B. (2008). A health plan work in progress: Hospital- physician price and quality transparency: Quality transparency. Centre for Studying: Health Change System. Web.
Tynan, A., Liebhaber, A., & Ginsburg, P B. (2008). A health plan work in progress: Hospital- physician price and quality transparency: Health plans ramp up price and quality transparency efforts. Centre for Studying: Health Change System. Web.
The government should be committed in establishing strong and efficient legislation to counter the current crisis in the health care sector. The issues of escalating costs and prices of health care as well as poor quality of services should be adequately addressed. Legislation on the following issues should be undertaken.
Legislation on reduction of health care costs
Legislation on insurance of all citizens
Legislation on patient protection and affordable health care
Legislation on Job training
Legislation on tax Policy
By adopting the above mentioned policies, efficiency in the health care system will be attained. The issues of un-affordability and inaccessibility of health care services will be overcome (Frampton et al, 2010).
The issues of escalating costs and prices of health care as well as poor quality of services should be adequately addressed. A point worth of consideration is that legislation on cutting health care costs should be administered. This should include strict legislation on evading fraud, insurance for chronic disease, development of healthy workforce, and coordination of care through family doctors (Frampton et al, 2010).
Plan on policy development
In order to effectively develop policy on health care consumerism, all stakeholders should be considered. The government should incorporate all stakeholders in highlighting the needs for change (Hamilton, 2008). The needs of all stakeholders should be highlighted and analyzed. For instance, the patients’ needs on different health complications and affordability of services should be addressed. On the other hand, employers, insurance companies and health care providers should also be consulted. This will ensure that the needs of all stakeholders are considered. By so doing, efficiency in undertaking the policy development on health care consumerism will be attained. None of the stakeholder is immune from the effects of the current health care crisis thus the need for involvement in policy development (Kongstvedt, 2007).
In order to administer the legislations and policies on health care reforms, all stakeholders should be incorporated. Policy development on health care consumerism requires incorporation of all stakeholders. The government should welcome opinions from all stakeholders to ensure efficient and sustainable change is attained (Hamilton, 2008).
References
Frampton, S. et al. (2010). Putting Patients Fist: Best Practices in Patients-Centered Care. New York: Prentice Hall.
Hamilton, P. (2008). Health care Consumerism. New York: Routldge.
Kongstvedt, P. (2007). Essentials of Managed Health Care. New York: Prentice Hall.
Green consumerism entangles placing enormous focus on the consumption of products, which people deem as environmentally benign, with the intensions to save the environment from harm or damage.
Campaigns to inculcate the concepts of green consumerism are on and echoed in an abundant way all over the world but the question as to whether “green marketing contribute to the greening of a states consciousness, or whether it does encourage corporate green washing” (Marie 2004, p.1) remain.
Going green means more than just buying biodegradable products such as consuming pineapples packed in containers with biodegradable lids. The concepts also imply consumption of products, which cause less harm to the environment.
Driving a hybrid car, which has less hazardous emissions compared to the convectional cars as well employing the use of cookers that emit less heat into the environment, responds to the green consumerism ideologies.
It therefore stands out that the environment faces the challenge of environmental degradation attributed to the depletion of ozone layer, which again is a consequence of the manner in which the environment is treated. The problem needs a solution but green consumerism, given the characteristics of the consumer, amounts to nothing but a band-aid solution.
Why
The design of products borrows lots of contribution from what the consumers desire in order to fulfill their need. Ways in which customers arrive at decisions on what to buy or what not to buy dependents on a number of factors but more importantly on the buying power.
Manufacturers only venture in production of products, which suit the demand of the consumers who seem guided by subscriptions to different ethical positions.
The work of Marie (2004, p.1) indicate that “such ethical position means that eco-marketers must carefully frame their environmental products in a way that appeals to consumers with environmental ethics and buyers who consider natural products as well as conventional items.”
It’s hence paramount to evaluate situations that fail to promote the prosperity of green consumerism. For consumerism development, some preconditions are prerequisite.
The green consumerism does not contribute significantly to subjective well being (SWB). Green products consequently fail to foster economic development.
“Economic development increases SWB by creating a cultural environment where individuals make choices to maximize their happiness rather than meet social obligations” (Ahuvia 2001, 25). In its pure sense, green consumerism is a social obligation aimed at encouraging consumer to make selections of products that are friendly to the environment.
The campaign to woo the consumers to change their purchasing habits should assure them that the shift suggested translate to happier state than the former habit.
The work of Ahuvia (2001, p.25) sheds light that this is because “ the cultural transformation away from obligation and toward the pursuit of happiness is part of a broader transition away from collectivism and toward individualists cultural values and forms of social organization.”
Green consumerism ideologies do not give substantial links between their deployment and contribution to altering the consumer’s cultural values so that a spontaneous shift towards their embracement can take place among all consumers at individual level.
Given that green consumerism is no more than a concept anticipated as adopted by people and have thus not been inculcated in their practices, advocating for them definitely interests consumers collectively. However, “collectivism is a social mechanism for organizing and enforcing group cooperation” (Ahuvia 2001, p.26).
Unfortunately, collective reciprocation of consumers towards attention on green consumerism lasts for a while based on its erosion by forces like wealth endowment discrepancies.
For example, in spite of existence of hybrid vehicles, which consume less fuel compared to the giant luxurious fuel consumers, some consumers still go for the latter, which gives them a better social class feel.
The fact that the luxurious vehicles extract many resources from the environment makes them less green but again, yet consumed!
Ahuvia’s deductions that “…people in individualistic countries tend, on average to be happier than people living in collective societies” (Ahuvia 2001, p.27) further complicates the perception that green consumerism would result to an ample solution to save the environment.
Secondly, consumers’ ignorance makes the green consumerism no more than a band-aid solution. Giddens (2003, p.390) confirms this when he says that “…people have similarly skeptical attitude towards ads, by large. They often switch off or go out of the room while they are on.”
To change shopping styles of the consumers credibly, intensive awareness on the benefits of green consumerism demand are with no doubt paramount.
How possible is it to convince buyers to purchase commodities that they do not pay attention to get to know what they constitute? Despite big ignorance to ads on the consumer’s side, Green products do not have specific identities that ads anchors can impose on masses.
Modernism has resulted into diminished advertiser’s ability to manipulate the consumers. Instead, companies produce products rather not to sell but to merge what the consumers want. If that is the case, then how often do consumers take into consideration the ideologies of consumerism when giving birth to new needs that require new products to satisfy them?
Additional challenges to green consumerism emanate from the fact that no manufacturers would be willing if they have their sole uncompromised freedom of choosing what to produce not to produce in response to the consumer demand. Whether the consumer demands green or not the manufacturer will still respond as appropriate.
The issue of choice comes in handy when it comes to supporting the claim concerning green consumerism. Consumers encounter a tyranny of choices that seem worth making. With the vast differences between various consumers, tastes and preferences it follows that deferent people have different values to articulate to products that they purchase.
The problem of such vast tastes and preferences places the concepts of green consumerism at risk since. Schwartz (2004, p.15) argues, “If you’re content choosing among three different kinds of breakfast cereal, or six television stations, you can simply ignore the dozens or hundreds that get added to your supermarket shelves.”
Introducing more products labeled green or fair deal on top of the existing convectional products only increases the number of choices that consumers need to make. Unfortunately, according to Schwartz (2004, p.25), for the consumers who are already satisfied with none green products might not have a room for accommodating the environmentally benign products.
The concept of green consumerism restricts itself to maximization of resources. As a way of example, making use of recycled products rather than products made from virgin materials. Simply the concept seeks to transform the society into that dominated by maximization ideologies.
The ‘maximizers’ “as opposed to satisfiers, go shopping for big items or small ones, they spend more time looking, have a harder time deciding, look around more at what others are buying…”(Schwartz 2004, 27 ).
Since green consumerism definitely gives room for more products, with regard to the work of Schwartz, it would give rise to a confused pool of buyers and consequently serve to be just a band-aid solution.
Consumer’s freedom of choice threatens green consumerism. The modern world confers people with freedom of choice, which is absolute. The challenge rests on convincing a predetermined mind not to buy what it intended in supermarket floor.
Such an attempt would be received with enormous antagonism citing the foundation upon which complains are registered on dissolution of freedom of choice. The problem is not that green consumerism here is not significant towards fostering emergence of different races of people who appreciate mechanisms of getting a greener environment.
It becomes evident that “…we have no choice but to choose, yet there seems little possibility of knowing our choices to be correct or to be correct for a very long” (Giddens 2003, p.387).
The challenge, which deems green consumerism not a significant strategy for achieving a benign environment, rests on the capacity of the consumers to limit individually their freedom of choice for the sake of green environment.
Collective movement of consumers to abundance consumption of green products is not very simple unless in a situation like when “the needs of the Chinese were determined by the state and, often than not poorly accommodated” (Ho 1997, p.16). In such a scenario, endorsement of green consumerism attempts is possible accompanied by high probabilities of success.
The requirement that there be middle class of consumers that grows so as a rapid movement on consumer consumption patterns to emerge makes the green consumerism non feasible. “…These are people who are most capable of feeling and expressing their dissatisfaction in the exchange process and instigating consumerist activities” (Ho 1997, p.16).
A critical group of middle class people therefore becomes vital to spearhead the process of acceptance of green products as opposed to convectional non-environmental benign products. The condition demand consumer awareness on the benefits of green consumerism and emphasizes on the need for collective cooperation.
Unfortunately, the notion of collectivity contradicts with (Ahuvia 2001, p.27) “…people in individualistic countries tend, on average to be happier than people living in collective societies”. Furthermore, the demands placed by the requirement on the need for awareness faces contempt since the modern society is not sufficiently manipulated by advertisements.
Inadequate consumer participations in green consumerism forums pose a big blow to the ideologies of green consumerism as exemplified by a study conducted in China in 1994.
The study focused to identify the consumer knowledge on issues related to consumerism. “35 percent did not know they had the right to be accurately informed about the products and services they bought and used” (Ho 2001, p.17).
As per the results of the study, it passes for a paradox for consumers to shift into green consumerism if in the first instance they are miss-informed or under informed about the environmentally hazardous products they consume.
Another study conducted in 1995 in China evidenced that “those who encountered problems in the exchange process, only 4% complained to the consumer associations while about 40% took no action at all” (Ho 1997, p.17).
For sustenance of green consumerism culture, people must have the relevant information with their consumer rights, bleach, which makes them aggrieved and seek legal regress.
Misunderstanding what consumerism is all about, yet forms another impediment toward green consumerism. The term consumerism is only meaningful if it refers to act of buying and its associated patterns and behavior.
Giddens (2003, p.395) noted that, “it’s about trying to make people to buy cars through making them sexy, for example, not all other issues. It is hard to define what a consumer is unless it’s someone who is buying something.”
The causes of the degradation and deterioration of the environment do not have any relationship with consumerism. Concerns on environmental degradation ought to be blamed on traditional, cultural and nature transformation.
Contradictions amongst those who call themselves green environmentalists garner possibilities of green consumerism as being purely unrealizable.
For example, the study conducted by Prothero and Connolly between 2002 and 2004 reveal that consumer claims of their environmental consciousness was not reflected by actual purchasing behaviors.
Prothero and Connolly commented that one of their interviewees claimed to avoid junk food but “at the same time, her diaries show purchases of crisps, popcorns and chocolate on almost daily basis” (Prothero & Connolly 2002, p.127).
The capacity of masses of people to embrace the concepts gets barriers since the process of changing from one lifestyle to another invite controversies.
Many focus at the anticipated results, which for green consumerism are quite promising but the protocol to obtain exactly that seems too hard to go by. Therefore, based on the expositions made in the paper, it suffices to declare green consumerism no more than a band-aid solution.
Reference List
Ahuvia, C., 2002. Individualism/Collectivism and Cultures of Happiness. Journal of Happiness and Studies, 3(1), 23-36.
Ho, S., 1997. Business Horizons. The Emergence of Consumer Power in China, 2(1), 15-21.
Giddens, A., 2003. An Interview with Anthony Giddens. Journal of Consumer Culture, 3(3), 387-399.
Marie, A., 2004. Ethics and the Environmental. The aesthetic turn on green marketing, 9(2), 86-102.
Prothero, A., & Connolly, J., 2002. Green Consumption. Web.
Schwartz, B., 2004. The Tyranny of Choice. Scientific American Mind, 50(20), 15-37.
The concept of consumerism is used to describe an analysis category that arises with mass production development and consumption expansion. It is basically a social economic order that emphasizes the need for consumers to purchase products in large amounts. It is the cultural expression and manifestation of the apparently ubiquitous act of consumption. It is basically use to refer to a way of life that is preoccupied by consumption (Mile, 2012).
In our society today, consumerism is seen as a negative aspect of the life of people and their purchasing behaviors. This is also believed to be the cause of materialism in the society. In simple terms, consumerism is a condition that arises when consumers buy goods and services without considering their true need, their quality and their consequences of their production on the environment around.
It is, therefore, a movement that is driven by spending of huge sums of money on such things as advertisements without taking in to account the true need, durability, and the origin of those products. It is an economic system that is driven not by the real needs of the consumers but by artificial wants.
For instance, in consumerism, it is believed that people no longer put on clothes in order to cover themselves but only for show off. If these clothes are expensive, they become attractive even if wearing them is not needed at tat time. It is, therefore, a result of greed but not need. The consumer must have met all the basic needs before consuming commodities that leads to consumerism. According to Toscan (2012), we normally tend to consume many products after we have met our basic needs.
These products may include luxury items and ethnological innovations. It is at this stage that the consumerism arises because when people are consuming the luxurious products, they are not being driven by actual needs but by artificial wants. Consumerism therefore arises in the course of consumptions of a variety of items that are beyond the basic needs.
Consumption maybe a cause of environmental damage because people may consume less than what is produces leading to wastage of surplus. The surplus will cause pollution if it gets to waste. If the consumers demand more than what can be produced, there will be over exploitation of resources.
When the commodities that the customers are demanding are being manufactured, there may be a lot of emissions and waste materials. These emissions pollute the air, water, and soil. This may cause death of aquatic organisms, those living in the air and soil. Even human beings may contract some diseases associated with this kind of pollution.
Effects of consumerism. Examples of known environmental effects
Although in modern society consumerism is believed to contribute to materialism, it also has positive effects. It is believed to have created a culture in which emergence of mass markets, industrialization and cultural attitudes increases the earnings of people, making it easier for them to meet ever-growing consumption needs. The main a basic tenet of consumerism is that human desires are infinitely expandable and there are many ways to produce products to satisfy them.
Consumerism has both positive and negative effects in the society. For instance, in most cases, it interferes with the normal functioning of the society. It denies the consumers a chance to buy adequate supplies for meeting their life necessaries and community life. Instead, they seek to gratify an insatiable desire for thing and means of buying them. They do not take time to observe the utility that would be obtained form the products bought.
This kind of attitude results to surplus productions of products which end up getting wasted. This leads to adverse effects on the environment. There are a number of ways that consumerism results to environmental degradation. For instance, there is air and water pollution.
There is also land contamination due to wastes from surplus goods. Land contamination might lead to forest degradation. The organisms living in the soil cannot survive when the soil is contaminated. The plants that need the same soil in order to survive and be fruitful will also dry up when there is soil contamination. Most of these waste products form acidic substances in the soil making it hard for that soil to support any form of life.
Forest degradations that results from soil contamination also makes the land prone to more harsh conditions. For instance, due to this degradation, soil erosion is very common. This escalates the problem of water pollution because the soil containing chemicals will be washed away into the river. This shows that if one problem is not solved, it will lead to the other. There are also industrial wastes that cause pollution and automobile emissions that affect air and water.
Water pollution mostly interfered with aquatic life and my result to deaths of aquatic organisms. According to Toscan (2012), the kind of lifestyle that people adopt determines the impacts that they will have on the environment. The kind of lifestyle in the United Kingdom, where Toscan based his research on, determines the amount of carbon dioxide that will be emitted.
Carbon dioxide emission has been the point of focus on most of the economies throughout the world. The emission of carbon is harmful also to the lives of people. If inhaled by human beings, there is likelihood of contracting some diseases. This becomes very costly for individuals and the states.
World bodies and governments action in protecting precious resources
In protecting the precious resources, various governments have put measures in place to ensure that these resources are guarded against. For instance, to protect the environment, most of the governments have put some laws that deal with pollution issues. Companies that are emitting some gasses that are harmful o the environment are fined heavily if they do not control the emission (Bostan, 2010).
his fine is put high so that the companies will find it hard to lose a lot of money by breaking such a simple rule. It is meant to discourage them from using some energy sources that produce such substances. The companies are also encouraged sources of energy that are environmental friendly.
Concerning pollution of water and soil, governments have also put in place some measures. The governments are imposing heavy penalties to companies that are polluting the water and soil through waste materials. According to Mcpherson (2012), the governments are also subsiding alternative sources of energy in order to make them affordable to the companies. This will ensure that the company will only use those sources of energy that that do not emit harmful gases.
Reference List
Bostan, I. (2010). The Consumerism and Consumer Protection Policies in The European Community. Theoretical and Applied Economics Volume XVII, (2010), No. 4(545), pp. 19-34.
Mcpherson, S. 2012. Protecting Precious Resources. Us: Foundation for Economic Education.
Mile, S. (2012). Consumerism: As a Way of Life. New York: SAGE.
Toscan, S. (2012). The Impact of Social Factors and Consumer Behavior on Carbon Dioxide Emissions in the United Kingdom. New York: SAGE.
Ever since David Fincher’s 1999 film Fight Club was released to the theaters, it had almost instantly attained the status of a cult movie. And, there are many objective reasons to believe that the actual explanation, as to this film’s popularity with movie-goers, has to do with its clearly defined anti-consumerist spirit.
As it was pointed out by Dussere (2006): “The film (Fight Club) suggests that American culture is entirely suffused by commerce; there is no need to go to the supermarket because the supermarket is everywhere” (24). In our paper, we will aim to explore the validity of this suggestion at length, while analyzing the essence of anti-consumerist themes and motives, contained in the movie.
Analytical part
The close watching of Fight Club reveals an undeniable fact that it was namely due to narrator’s continuous exposal to American consumerist culture, that caused him to succumb to depression.
In the memorable scene where, prior to having met Taylor Durden, Jack/Protagonist (later revealed as the actual Tyler Durden) expounds on the particulars of his lifestyle, viewers are being taken for the walk through Jack’s apartment that features pieces of furniture with price tags explicitly displayed above them, as if his apartment was nothing less of a store.
And, as it appears from the context of Jack’s monologue, the fact that he kept on buying ‘trendy’ things for his condo had very little to do with his genuine desire to own them (due to their sheer impracticality), but rather with the fact that he was made to believe that by owning these things, he was proving his ‘sophistication’ in its own eyes: “Like so many others, I had become a slave to the Ikea nesting instinct… If I saw something clever, like a coffee table in the shape of a yin-yang, I had to have it” (00.04.48).
Nevertheless, the harder Jack strived to embrace consumerist spirit, the stronger were becoming his mental anxieties, sublimated in his inability to enjoy healthy sleep.
As Diken and Basse (2002) had put it: “As a spectator of his own life, he (Jack) paradoxically lives in inertia in the midst of a mobile network society. Jack also suffers from insomnia, a typical pathology of the hyper-mobile network society” (349). Apparently, as time went by, Jack was becoming increasingly aware of the fact that his material possessions were endowing him with only superficial sense of identity.
The sheer futility of consumerism, as essentially inhuman money-driven philosophy, is being explored even further in the scene where, as a recall coordinator, Jack explains to the passenger on the plane the actual mechanics of a car-recall procedure. According to protagonist, the considerations of protecting people’s lives affect recall-related corporate decisions the least.
If the cost of a recall is expected to be higher than the cost of dealing with lawsuits, initiated by unsatisfied customers, the car-manufacturing company will not move a finger: “Take the number of vehicles in the field, A. Multiply it by the probable rate of failure, B. Multiply the result by the average out-of-court settlement, C. AxBxC=X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don’t do one” (00.20.25).
Thus, we can only agree with Smith and Lesley (2002), who had rightly pointed out to the fact that the theme of consumerism-driven corporate greed plays a substantial role in defining movie’s semantic subtleties: “The overall framing of the film (Fight Club) seems to revolve around the personal emptiness and appalling greed of corporate America, to which the main characters represent a nihilistic and terroristic response” (129).
Throughout the initial parts of the movie, Jack becomes increasingly discontent with highly mechanistic essence of his professional duties.
Still, it was not until the time when Jack got together for a drink with Durden, after his apartment blew up in rather mysterious manner, that he was beginning to realize the sheer vainness of his existential mode.
There is another memorable scene in the movie, when after having ‘sophisticatedly’ referred to a blanket as duvet, Jacks gets to be lectured by Durden on the sheer irrelevance of utilization of sophisticatedly sounding but essentially consumerist terms, for as long as exploring one’s identity is being concerned: “Why do guys like you and I know what a duvet is? Is this essential to our survival in the hunter-gatherer sense of the word? No. What are we then? Consumers” (00.28.48).
Later in the same conversation, Durden states: “Murder, crime, poverty. These things don’t concern me. What concerns me are celebrity magazines, television with 500 channels” (00.29.06). By coming up with these remarks, Durden implied that people’s consumerist urges deny them a true sense of identity, because despite what advertisers want us to believe, one’s existential identity is not something that is being purchased but something that is being earned.
After all, it matters very little whether a particular individual surrounds itself with ‘brand names’ or not – all that is important is whether he or she can be considered a productive member of society by adopting intellectually honest stance in life. It is specifically one’s ability to see through superficialness, which defines the extent of such person’s ability to live in a dignified manner.
As Durden had put it: “You’re not your job. You’re not how much you have in the bank. You’re not the car you drive. You’re not the contents of your wallet” (01.21.12). Nevertheless, it would be wrong to suggest that film’s foremost motives are being concerned with director’s intention to promote essentially anarchist agenda.
As the context of Fight Club implies – the evils of consumerism should not be thought of as ‘thing in itself’, but rather as something that undermine consumeristically-minded individuals’ ability to act in socially responsible manner, especially if they happened to be men.
Nowadays, American large cities get to be colonized by legal and illegal immigrants from a Third World, who despite lacking intelligence, are nevertheless being endowed with perceptional manliness – that is, they are not afraid of indulging in violence when circumstances call.
On another hand, many native-born American men appear to be simply deprived of psychological qualities that would allow them adopt an active stance in life, when it comes to protecting their own interests – the fact that consumerism became an integral element of their existence, caused them to become unnaturally effeminate.
In the scene when Durden gives an order to the members of a Fight Club to go out on the street, to pick up a fight with a stranger and to lose that fight, viewers are being shown a virtual impossibility of a task: “Now, this is not as easy as it sounds. Most people, normal people, do just about anything to avoid a fight” (01.12.09).
And yet, it is namely the celebration of masculine virtues that has always been the yardstick of Western civilization. Therefore, in Fight Club director subtly implies that consumerism does only prevent men’s endowment with strongly defined individuality, but it also creates objective preconditions for the integrity of Western civilization to be undermined from within.
Conclusion
Just as we have suggested in Introduction, Fight Club is best referred to as the movie that exposes the counter-productive essence of consumerist spirit.
Even though that, while trying to oppose consumerism, film’s major characters indulge in behavior that can hardly be defined as socially appropriate, they nevertheless do a very good job emphasizing the conceptual fallaciousness of consumerism as something that undermines the integrity of people’s individuality. In its turn, this explains the cult status of Fight Club – the themes and motifs, explored throughout its entirety; reveal consumerism as misleading pathway towards happiness.
Apparently, it is not simply an accident that in one of film’s final scenes, Durden talks about his vision of a perfect world as such, where people would cease being consumerist automatons: “In the world I see, you’re stalking elk through the Grand Canyon forests, around the ruins of Rockefeller Center” (01.37.55).
Obviously enough, Durden’s idea as to what accounts for happiness in this life is being shared by a number citizens, who despite being encouraged to indulge in consumerism on full-time basis, subconsciously strive for something greater than simply attaining the status of ‘settled individuals’.
Therefore, it would only be appropriate, on our part, to conclude this paper by restating its initial thesis – it is namely because themes and motifs, contained in Fight Club, correlate with great many people’s anti-consumerist subconscious anxieties, which explains film’s unwavering popularity.
References
Diken, Biilent & Laustsen, Carsten “Enjoy Your Fight! – ‘Fight Club’ as a Symptom of the Network Society”. Cultural Values 6.4 (2002): 349-367.
Dussere, Erik “Out of the Past, into the Supermarket: Consuming Film Noir”. Film Quarterly 60.1 (2006):16-27.
Fight Club. Dir. David Fincher. Perfs. Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter. 20th Century Fox, 1999.
Warren, Smith & Leslie, Debbie “Fight Club”. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 4.1 (2002): 129-135.
Wilson, George “Transparency and Twist in Narrative Fiction Film”. Journal of Aesthetics & Art Criticism 64.1 (2006): 81-95.
Sexual themes have been used as an aid to the advertisement in providing business success. Sexual consumerism refers to the practice of adopting specific sexually appealing ideas to entice customers into buying a given product (Tissier-Desbordes & Visconti, 2020). The representation of newspaper adverts, television programs, music, and Internet ads with sexually appealing messages is more common with the media in contemporary society. As such, identifying the use of sexual consumerism in public media characterized by the presentation of sexually appealing adverts is key in explaining the current advertising as an emerging issue.
The history of sexual advertising is attributed to the human revolutionary period that saw people adopt the ‘sex Sells’ idea to lure a larger public into impulse buying (Keller et al., 2020). Sexual advertising is also known to have originated from the influence of certain fashion modeling that exposes the skin, chests, breasts, and light and free clothes, revealing an individual’s nudity (Larimo & Pesonen, 2020). For a long time, the effect of incorporating sexual themes in creating brand loyalty has been a controversial debate. The 19th-century generation, for instance, embraced sexual advertising on the Internet to a lower extent suggesting their little approval of nude images as a marketing strategy (Choi et al., 2020). The current generation, however, has overemphasized the adoption of erotic signs as a marketing tool. This is evidenced in many aspects, including video platforms, television promotions, and the music industry. For instance, the current social media platform depicts a high level of sexual advertising with many ads mostly associated with erotic appeals.
The effects of sensual attractions can be explained using two contrasting opinions. The first viewpoint considers sexual images to present negative implications on the social order of a society. For example, the current advertising platforms, including public ads, email advertisements, print media publications, and program advertisements, are commonly associated with information full of sexual themes. Such information is considered to be disruptive to the behavior of the general population. Sexual promotions are also conducted on an exploitative sexist nature. For example, the images of beautiful-looking women have been used to drive their male counterparts’ unconscious minds into buying products without their conscious consent (Aylsworth, 2020). On the other hand, women have been used as sex objects, with many seen to expose their bodies or nudity to represent product promotions in creating brand equity. For example, the beauty and fashion industry use good-looking and fancy ladies to develop a sexual inadequacy on the male gender, exposing them to the excitement for sexual acts. Sensual images have, therefore, corrupt people’s thoughts into impulsively buying goods or are enslaved into buying to advance the goals of many firms that maximize their profits out of erotic selling.
Adverts promoting sexual enhancing products, such as Viagra, have a greater impact on adolescents’ indulgence in sexual practices (Aylsworth, 2020). These products give a wrong impression to satisfy an individual’s sexual lust when bought. Television advertisements are also more rampant in sexually teasing people with the representation of sex scenes to attract others into watching television programs. On the contrary, other views approve of the use of sensual advertisements. Such notions rely on the current civilization in explaining human progress. For instance, sexual drives have been used to define an individual’s level of intelligence in judging between right and wrong and choosing the desired course of action in any conflicting social situation. As such, addressing the implications of erotic signs must harmonize the two contrary ideas on the controversial debate of sexual advertising.
The legality of either of these opinions is still in question, with sexual advertising seen as a matter of moral right or wrong. The legal systems have not instituted an explicit legal course of action in addressing the endemic effect of sexual advertising (Jiménez et al., 2020). However, the law restricts the level of use of sexual themes as a promotional strategy. Most policies outlaw the adoption of full nudity to represent an advertisement. Despite the existing laws, and overstated form of sexual advertising is still manifested in the public domain, with major ads depicting partial or close to nude images.
The adoption of sexual consumerism to promote the sale of products attracts certain implications on the social order of society. The use of sexual themes in representing major advertising activities, for instance, draws several issues in the public domain. Social media ads have been seen to promote exploitation along the lines of gender. For example, the male gender is unconsciously driven by their sexual desires into impulse buying. The female gender has also been used as a sexual object to represent erotic ideas. The use of sexual advertising presents a moral implication in judging the appropriate use of sensual advertising. Despite the legal laws protecting any misuse of sexually appealing advertisements, the legal policies have not effectively addressed the effects of sexual advertising. Many individuals still exaggerate the use of sexual attraction as a strategy to promote their products resulting in social discourse.
References
Aylsworth, T. (2020). Autonomy and manipulation: Refining the argument against persuasive advertising. Journal of Business Ethics, 1-11. Web.
Choi, H., Yoo, K., Reichert, T., & Northup, T. (2020). Feminism and Advertising: Responses To Sexual Ads Featuring Women: How the differential influence of feminist perspectives can inform targeting strategies. Journal of Advertising Research, 60(2), 163-178. Web.
Jiménez, D. L., Dittmar, E. C., & Portillo, J. P. V. (2020). Self-regulation of Sexist Digital Advertising: From ethics to law. Journal of Business Ethics, 1-10. Web.
Larimo, J., & Pesonen, A. (2020). Advertising in Central and Eastern Europe: A Case Study of Nestle television advertising in Russia. In Petr G. & Chadraba, R. (Eds.), Business strategies for economies in transition (p. 199). Springer.
Tissier-Desbordes, E., & Visconti, L. M. (Eds.). (2020). Gender after gender in consumer culture. Routledge.
In her essay, “Barbie: Queen of Dolls and Consumerism,” Amy Lin of UCLA ponders the social engineering mechanisms behind one of the most famous children’s toys – the Barbie Doll. In giving a historical review, the author argues that the emergence of Barbie was a logical succession following the dominance of the images of a mother and a housewife during the Baby Boomers’ epoch (Maasik and Solomon 72).
The doll gave rise to a new female archetype – a hedonistic shopaholic with a dream life. While that was an alternative to the patriarchal ideal, Barbie could barely be considered a catalyst for a positive change. It taught girls that living happily and carefree meant consuming. After all, Barbie doll has always boasted numerous belongings, lush attire, and even real estate. One can readily imagine a little girl asking her parents to buy more clothes, bags, pets, furniture, cars, and houses for her doll to make her life “complete.” Throughout the last few decades, the Mattel company did everything possible to stimulate these consumerist tendencies.
It launched dolls after beloved cartoons and movies, gave the Barbie different jobs, and made up captivating stories. In recent years, the manufacturer has been catering to the tastes of the public that wanted more diversity. It led to the creation of Barbies of different races, cultures, and ethnicities. However, as Lin points out, this tendency cannot be seen as progressive since it serves the same purpose that the Mattel company has always sought to reach – more profit (Maasik and Solomon 73). Thus, it is essential for the new generation to be critical about the Barbie phenomenon and reassess its attachment to the childhood toy and the impact that it had on their values.
Work Cited
Maasik, Sonia, and Jack Solomon. Signs of Life in the USA: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers. 9th ed., Macmillan, 2011.
Economists attribute economic growth and development to various factors, such as education and free access to information. Economists claim that education is one of the key pillars of economic development since, through education a country’s populace is empowered to be economically productive.
Moreover, freedom and democracy are also major factors in driving economic growth and prosperity. In the current information age, attempts have been made to ease access to information as a means of economic development. it is emerging that economic growth and development is due to consumer culture, rather tan the factors mentioned earlier. Consumerism increases demand for goods and services, effectively tilting the demand and supply mechanism. In this regard, producers have to increase production to meet increasing demand.
Moreover, advertisers fuse the western culture which portrays success and happiness with Consumerism, thus making it appeal to the masses. This attracts consumers to adapt to the consumer oriented western lifestyle. This creates markets for goods and services, and thus a vibrant economy. Thus while education, mass media and the internet aid a country’s development, consumerism is the primary ingredient for economic growth and development.
Consumerism has ushered a new dawn in economic growth and development, according to Andrew Lam’s book “The Perfume Dreams, Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora”. Evidently, access to education has increased in most of the Asian countries such as Vietnam, Pakistan and others. This is perceived as a step forward towards economic development. Along with education, is the emergence of a new generation of Asians who are fascinated by globalization rather than with the Continent’s history.
In Asia, globalization didn’t just happen by chance. As in many other parts of the world, the internet and the mass media have been instrumental in spreading the global culture. While the internet is a late entrant in global arena, the mass media is not. Media brands such as CNN, BBC and others have, like the internet, help many of the world communities’ access information easily, which effectively helps to propagate materialism and consumerism.
Economic growth and development can however be attributed to the spread of materialism and consumer culture. The media and the internet can be attributed for the spread of democratic ideals in many countries. However, these two create a communication platform, which has ushered in a new dawn in Asia: consumerism. In Vietnam, as well as in many communities around the world, the consumer culture is alienating the youths from their past.
However, such alienation is not in vain as today’s youth form the new consumer market for intangible goods and services such as information, entertainment and global brands such as Coca Cola. Fashion and sports are also products of mass consumerism, with the new generation exhibiting insatiable appetite for these products. Consumerism and not globalization is the new dawn and is the face of economic growth in many countries.
Proponents of consumerism have been accused of ignoring other fundamental aspects of economic growth such production. Dr Ashfaque Khan, in his article “Consumerism” argues that such criticism emanate from the assumption that consumer culture overrides the need to encourage production. Moreover, other vital sectors such as the employment industry, the utilization of a country raw materials and workforce are ignored. In sum, consumerism impinges on the production capacity of a country.
This view hold true to the extent that exports are impinged on by an insatiable appetite for goods intended for export. However, critics are ignorant of basic factors that determine the effectiveness of consumerism in economic growth. Mass consumption creates a higher demand for goods and services, effectively spurring producers to increase production.
Increase in demand for consumer goods affects the demand supply mechanism. Increased demand for goods and services increases the need to produce more goods and services to meet the demand gap. As such, increased demands for goods spurs a number of activities. Primarily, increased demand for goods and services leads to an increase in investment in primary modes of production. As such increased demand for consumer goods and services leads to spurred growth in the production sector of the economy.
Furthermore, consumerism impacts the economy in terms of Job creation. While consumerism is associated with multinational brands such as Toyota, Coca Cola among others, small scale entrepreneurs have slowly emerged to satisfy the needs of small scale consumers. In many of the local towns, small cafes, movie theaters, shops and vending outlets have found their place in the retail industry. These small scale retailers, other than creating jobs, provide producers with avenues to distribute fast moving products.
They also help to meet the changing shopping patterns of the middle income earners. Thus consumerism promotes higher economic growth rate by jobs and spurring entrepreneurship. Like globalization, consumerism does not just happen. Noreene Janus in her article “Cloning the Consumer Culture; How International Marketing Sells the Western Lifestyle” claims that for consumerism to spur economic growth, it needs to be cloned, developed ,spread, popularized and then presented to the world through the mass media.
This has not been easy though. It has taken consistent effort by multinationals to advertise and sell consumer culture. Suffice to state that even though the multinationals advertise and market their products through the mass media, this is not consumerism. Consumerism is the attitude created by such advertising that consumption brings happiness. Multinational companies associate consumption of their products with class, happiness, luxury and the attainment of a higher social status.
As such, the culture created through such adverts symbolizes general well being, success and achievement. Therefore, the desire to be prosperous drives people to consume international brands rather than local brands. The spread of consumerism is enabled by the fact that multinationals fuse the western lifestyle with consumer advertising. Most of the content in these adverts portray the western lifestyle as the ultimate enjoyment of life as a result of consuming multinational brands.
Therefore, people are attracted to adopt western lifestyle. As a result they shop for multinational brands such as Coca Cola as a way of enjoyment. As explained earlier this creates more demand for such goods which in turn spurs the growth of the production industry. Thus economic growth is realized. Multinationals advertise the western culture out of the realization that the western world realized economic growth because of a consumer culture.
Thus, their aim is to spread the culture across the borders, thus expanding market for their goods. The spread of consumerism is not only attained with the help of the mass media even though it plays pivotal roles. The emergence of global advertising firms has taken advertising to a whole new level. Such firms are not only helping repackage global brands but are also help to remodel and merge western culture with consumerism.
The result is that people are putting much faith in multinational brands more than other things such as religion. People have become consumers of multinational brands, not because of the benefits they derive from them but as a way of life. Architects of consumerism appeal to the masses that consumer goods and products provides solutions to their problems.
This is the reason commodities such as the iPhones, computers and such other new age technologies are popular since they help people overcome life challenges. Thus the users and the gadgets are inseparable. Steve Bruce, in his book, “God is Dead: Secularization in the West”, likens consumerism to a new religion. Actually Bruce argues that consumerism has become a new religion, replacing God. People worship commodities that give them tangible satisfaction.
A walk across town reveals that more and more people spend their Sundays in shopping malls rather than in church or other places of worship. This implies that money that would have been given to church is used to acquire consumer goods. This is driving the demand for consumer goods a notch higher and significantly spurring economic growth. Education is vital for economic growth since it equips people with knowledge to be economically productive.
The internet and mass media are crucial since they help people access information, a vital ingredient for economic growth. However, consumerism is the primary agent for economic growth. This is due to the fact that mass consumption creates mass markets for consumer goods, and significant demand for such goods, effective spurring economic activities such as increased production retailing, advertising marketing and other related activities. Consumerism is therefore vital for economic growth.
Consumerism refers to the process of creating and retaining the urge to buy goods and services in larger volumes in a socially and economically accepted order. It can be a crucial and vital process in the growth of the economy of a country particularly in developing countries .In his article Consumerism Dr Ashfaque H Khan attributes Pakistan’s sturdy economic growth that span for a period of five years (between 2003 and 2007) to the process of consumerism.
The country’s growth was reportedly at 7% per annum on average for the whole period. This effect is due to the fact that consumerism takes up a share of between seventy and seventy five percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). During this particular period it was close to 72 percent. Sixty percent of India’s GDP also depends on consumption and is projected to increase by the year 2025 (Khan 1).
How it works
The process by which consumerism increases and retains the growth momentum is a consequence of the linkage between the growth of the economy, increase in the per capita income, raising consuption, increase in retail space and popularization of products. Khan explains that increased economic growth causes an alteration in the consumption pattern through the upsurge in per capita income. Weakening of laws prohibiting entry international products results in flooding of the domestic market with international products.
The consumers become more informed and begin experimenting with the different showcased products in the increased retail store spaces. However, in “Cloning the Consumer Culture: How International Marketing Sells the Western Lifestyle”, Noreene Janus argues that the economic status of the consumers will greatly influence their purchasing power or interest.
Khan proceeds to say that the growing consumer appetite encourages greater investments in manufacturing equipment and growth of the service industry such as real estate. The increased investments create more job opportunities which in turn increase the amount of disposable income available for the prospective customers.
This act of consumption thus propels the private sector to expand in order to satisfy the now enormous demand. Despite criticism the method has been italicized by countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam making them a darling of the international markets (Khan 2).
Relation between consumerism and religion
In order to understand how to increase consumption of a product we have to know how these brands act as religion. An anonymous article in the Financial Times refers to modern day products as the new religion. Religion refers to what one believes in that influences how they relate with others.
It is meant to satisfy a psychological want of openly showing one’s self-worth just as brand dependence. Regions where people are more religious and ardent church goers’ products such as Apple which are brand name stores are bound to perform dismally. This is attributed to the fact that religious people tend to shy away from nation-brands of self-expressive goods but purchase tendencies remain the same for functional products.
Atheists due to lack of a religion tend to take brand names as their religion whereas the religious people already have something to believe in thus they do not value these products. A perfect instance s is that of the Apple Inc. customers who viewed Steve Jobs as their ‘messiah’ while extending hostility to their ‘evil advisory’, Microsoft’s Bill Gates or HP’s Hewlett Packard.
Therefore by understanding its consumers a country can influence the effect of consumerism to its economy’s advantage by selectively liberalizing the different market types or international product brand-names. The advertisements will be viewed as the missionaries of the brand-religion.
How to promote consumerism
According Andrew Lam assertions in his article, “Closing of Age in a Changing Nation”, the West has a great influence on Vietnam. People view such places as America as the places with the magical spar in life. Hollywood films are being watched and several people such as Nguyen want to take their loved ones to the United States (103). This is due to what they have seen in adverts on the newspapers and television sets. We can take advantage of these to promote consumerism.
Janus says that there exists a transnational culture in the use of products such as automobiles, watching of Hollywood movies, shopping malls that generate the homely feeling irrespective of whichever part of the world one is in. The current global culture is a consequence of slight but spontaneous developments that relied entirely on technological advances, augmented international trade and air travels.
Forging customers
Transactional culture is based on the consumption of a product and relies on advertising to pass the message of ingestion in a simple but understandable way. According to Janus, an advertiser is supposed to rely on the positives such as excitement, youth, status or fashion while avoiding the resultant social incongruities, class variances or workplace disagreements.
Consumer freedom of choice should be offered as an alternative to political democracy. The advertiser should capitalize on the fact that the only means of self-expression for social change available to a great majority of the people is the freedom to choose between varieties of products. Transnational culture will only hold once the local cultural differences are done away with.
Engaging in a global marketing strategy where a similar advertising message is used in all the countries is an effective method. Targeting the poor families in the 3rd world countries in the advertising campaigns is also bound to bear fruit as these people can contribute money amongst themselves to raise the required amounts.
Use of global media
A crucial factor in the creation of the transnational culture is the swiftness and the scope of transmission of the intended advert through media such as television, newspapers and magazines. A company should therefore ensure these media convey the adverts appropriately particularly in television which is efficient with illiterate people.
This is according to Greys Advertising International in Janus’ article advertising using such media may alter the thinking of the customers. For example, when light-skin products are advertised through television they persuade African women to hate their completion and try to be white. These way breaching products are sold to these women.
Governments and consumerism
The Government of the day plays a vital role in promotion or limitation of consumerism in their country. According to Khan and Lam Vietnam government has promoted the process by allowing sales of international products to its citizens indiscriminately. For India the last decade has seen its GDP grow at an average of 7 percent and the per capita income rise by two points lower. This can be attributed to the increased middle class who have in turn raised the demand higher.
Through this, the government has recognized the importance of developing consumerism and brand-awareness as ingredient maintaining high economic growth. To nurture this more, the government came up a retail FDI policy five years ago that has greatly benefited the foreign retailers such as Rino Greggio (Argentina). This policy does not only boost the consumption rate it also sets India apart from other countries of the world.
The steady economic growth of China over the last thirty years has witnessed expansion of the middle class purchasing power making it the leading consumer market in the world. According to Khan China also has the second largest number of luxury goods consumers in the world (2). In order to uphold this, the government has a 5-year plan being one of its priorities. Moreover, other nations are beginning to value the role of consumerism in their economic growth and are putting measures in place in readiness.
Conclusion
Consumerism can be used as a way of encouraging and supporting economic growth for any nation as discussed above. It can also be used as a measure of the standards of livings of the people while mirroring the resilient middle class in the economy. The aim of any government is to upgrade the standards of living of its people. When used appropriately consumerism can serve as diligent tool for that goal. Were it not for consumerism, India would not be a member of the elite G-20 group (Khan 2).
Professionals who undermine the usefulness of this process end upbringing down the economies of their countries. A good example is Pakistan whose economic growth was diminished due to false advice by ‘professionals’ who undermined its usefulness.
Countries such as Vietnam should do more to promote consumerism in order to improve the living standards of their people rather than using its resources to restrict the freedom of speech of its people.