OUGD501. COP2. Consumerism Seminar/Study Task 2.

following on from the consumerism lecture we had a session with richard looking at the details of the topic and the real and modern world application of the theory.

consumerism exists to appease our natural desires - we are innately animalistic and, despite evolution and human progression we maintain those same basic instincts - sex, anger, greed, violence etc. due to intelligence & desire for mankind to progress humanity generally in agreement that should limit or stop a lot of these instincts for good of people and society.

consumer culture creates a false need for these instinctual desires - it is a self perpetuating concept that manufactures and instills the desire in the consumer causing greed for social control.

this in turn creates stratification and social inequality that is masked by the short term appeasement of one or many of those animalistic desires - the cycle is enough to keep people happy for a short while so they dont rise up to make change but are conversely not brain dead or completely detatched (like feeding a junkie a little bit more to keep them hooked)

mass production arose from henry fords desire for a more efficient production method - introduced the production line which enabled unskilled labour to produce more technical products without any special training - meant that produce could be churned out twice, three, ten times faster.

increased efficiency in production means greater supply in shorter time period - appeases high demand resulting in increase in sales.

ads and brands are all important in creating a perpetual need to consume.

publicity is eventless - continues only while nothing else happens

all real events are exceptional - only happens to strangers



from the seminar we were asked to read john berger's 'ways of seeing' and, in line with task 2, write a critical analysis of an advert of our choice in line with the theory we learned fr4om the lecture and seminar.

i chose this advert -

http://channelhopping.onthebox.com/2012/12/23/ad-nauseam-the-best-worst-festive-adverts/

coca cola is a a brand globally recognised and related to christmas. it is commonly known that the red colouration of father christmas, and the holiday itself, comes from the rebranding of the holiday by coca cola. is this sense the religious holiday is now more about consumerism and the purchase of goods than the family values it is meant to hold. the advert is almost the opitomy of the concept of consumerism as every value related to christmas has ben over riden by advertising and the encouragement to buy products to prove love and care for others around us. many people say that when they see this advert they know its christmas. the normality of consumerism can be recognised from this, because people now know the holiday from an advert as opposed to the calendrical association. even the aesthetic of the holiday is recognised via the brand rather than the real themes surrounding it. from an economics point of view the advert is simply promotion for the purchase of the good in order to generate profit for the company. it can be seen that the profit motive is directly related to conmuerism and the patterns it produces. in the western world the constant exposure to adverts and brands makes people desensitised to the extent to which consumerism guides our lives.