Monday, February 27, 2017
Consumer Demand Spurs Economic Growth
During World War II Americans saved a large sum of money when they where forced to rationalize there necessities for soldiers in battle. With all this money and factories slowly begin to produce consumer goods Americans were ready to spend money. As the economy grew so did income. Such as real income which was measured by the amount of goods and services that sum of money could buy. With new goods and services being built Americans wanted everything new. Leading to competition, American soon began to try to one up or buy the better product of that of their neighbor or friends.Americans would base each other off the goods they bought. This became known as Planned Obsolescence and was used as a marketing technique to help encourage this outrageous consumption.
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I think we still see planned obsolescence today. For example, light therapy masks come with a battery pack that lasts for 30 days and then you have to buy a new one. Even though the batteries could last way longer, they have to make money somehow. However, this can cause a lot of waste. Are there any other pros and cons to planned obsolescence?
ReplyDeleteConsumerism became really big in the 1950's, since after the intense dedication and commitment that WWII required, Americans were more than ready to enjoy a relaxed, affluent, at-home lifestyle. Traditional family values, suburbs, and consumerism combined created a culture where everyone needed to be better than their neighbor, and be the richest and most technologically advanced house on the block. I had never heard of the term planned obsolescence, I think that is really interesting! Also, I agree with Jamie that it still exists today, for example the iPhone. Each year they make a new model, which isn't necessary, and they change the charge port/headphone port so that people have to buy the new charging cables and other accessories that come with it.
ReplyDeleteI believe that planned obsolescence is necessary for companies to survive, and people are willing to continue renewing their things so that they can fit in. For example, everyone wants the new iphone, and if you are a few generations back, you may be made fun of. I feel like planned obsolescence is less planned and rather, progress is made so quickly that it makes older generations look obsolete. And if companies couldn't come up with newer and better things constantly, what would keep them in business?
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