SHOP 'TIL
YOU DROP The Crisis of Consumerism
This film includes marketing, sociological,
psychological, biological perspectives to learn about the relationship between
consumerism and those aspects. It made me realized that consumption has
increasingly become problematic as a central component of late modern
existence. As an industrial designer in the future, it is my responsibility to guide the correct consumption concept and
help people to reassess our values and goals.
The social effects and the power of
advertising may lead to overconsumption. Sophisticated advertising creates
demand for products and it results in overconsumption. One sign of over
consumption is that people may have an addiction of buying something. The
addiction needs to be fed so people buy more than what they need or can afford,
and they become anxious trying to pay for it all.
In addition, the power of advertising on
influencing societal values and targeted markets like children causes the
breakdown of communities as well as a unhealthy attitude to life. An
increasingly anxiety-ridden, fast-paced and work-focused culture could make
people form negative attitude toward life, brings them degrading communication
ability and leads to the distortion of consumption concept. As an industrial
designer in the future, I might have the chance to controls society by
controlling the products’ stories being told; as a result, evoking an emotional
response through the products may be helpful to lead a correct and healthy
consumption concept and a way of life.
In addition, the overconsumption may cause severe
economic and environmental costs, for example, resource depletion, species
extinction, and general ecological degradation. The problem seems not so severe
if we focus on our individual trash, but when we look at the whole society, the
picture is quite appalling. The consumption concept that ‘it is easier to buy
another rather than repair or recycle’ causes over need for raw materials. As a
result, more products are created, sold and the throwaway. For instance, plastic
products are in everything and some of the products or packaging are
disposable, which may lead to the problem of trash. As a consequence, it might
be urgent to design environmentally friendly products to turn the tide. For
example, the products should be designed to use less material. The whole life
cycle should be green and even the packaging might be able to educate people
about saving the environment. Therefore, the product will not lead to waste and
consumers’ consumption concept could be more environmentally friendly.
My three most important “take home messages”
are:
- As a member in the modern society, everyone should have responsible consumption principles and concern about the environment. Follow the mainstream or fashion trends without thought is undesirable.
- Industrial designer could be able to lead a healthy consumption concept by telling the right stories of products instead of just promoting the product for private interests. It may also lead to a healthy value and lifestyle, and release consumers from stress.
- Considering the materials, manufacturing process and the whole life cycle of products before designing instead of just satisfying the modern society and vanity.
No comments:
Post a Comment