Consumerism
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- Blofeldt0
I think anti consumerism consumers and ethical consumers are one in the same thing actually. But you are right, the article doesn't deal with tis topic directly.
i'll get my my Howies coat.
- ********0
well yeah mitsu. I'm as anti-consumerism as the next guy. i'm just critting the article. It is shortsighted - and this from a professor of philosophy.
- ********0
shortsighted because i don't think taxing advertising would stop consumerism. The issue is much more diffuse than advertising.....
might as well ban all lifestyle magazines....all celebrities that accept sponsorship.... all tv programmes/news reports etc. that fetishise technology... close every store that sells
only ghetto-fab clothes... etc etc etcdon't know about u, but i'm more susceptible to wanting to emulate my peers, than when i see U2 promoting iPod. That kinda shit makes me never wanna buy a U2 album eva again (not that i ever would). And i reckon the majority of us are more clued up about direct advertising, than if we go to a "cool club" and see everyone drinking Asahi, then we all drink Asahi. As i say, it's much more diffuse than just advertising.
- Blofeldt0
I think the article accurately demonstrates that there are a lot of people who've never really thought about how they are influenced, how they fit into society in general and how they create a lot of ill-informed hot air.
As for U2 and IPODS. I don't own an iPod because i'm a designer and don't want to fall into the connotations of that bracket. And i don't like U2 because they're shit! ;)
- ********0
Yeah i know, the article is really good and informative in the first half. Then goes a bit dumb.
- dprskier0
The fact that because U2 adverstised for ipod makes you not want to but an ipod, makes you the exact rebel consumer they are talking about. It's funny someone said that because it fits the article so well.
Either way, awesome article and good points. When they started talking about "solutions" it did take a step down in quality.
I think consumerism is here to stay. That being said, being a "rebel consumer" is a good thing if it means supporting companies which are morally sound and support the same causes as you do.
- chach0
we just need to stem human greed a little ;)
interesting article!
- bentzen0
ah, the irony of consumerism:
after reading this article about a month ago i bought the book. it's sitting on the shelf for now while i read chomsky's hegemony or survival. what does this tell me? to educate myself, i must consume (especially when the library doesn't have the book). there is no way to not be a consumer and live in contemporary "western" culture - unless you move to a shack in the forest and live off the land. even the anti-consumer consumes on a daily basis. try using the net and coming on newstoday without a computer. we can make informed choices when we do consume but we can't take everything into consideration. i always love hearing the anti-Gap or nike people talk about their computers. where do you think they're made? do you think they are environmentally made? do you think those workers are any better off? consumerism is only a part of a larger socio-cultural problem. i'm looking forward to reading rebel sell. it
- ********0
The fact that because U2 adverstised for ipod makes you not want to but an ipod, makes you the exact rebel consumer they are talking about
====================
Firstly, I said it makes me not wanna buy a U2 album again. NOT it makes me not want to buy an iPodSecondly i'm not fighting the idea that i am a "rebel consumer", or however he choses to term it. But embracing the idea that distinction matters to me, even if it is material distinction.
Thirdly, I was highlighting the idea that advertising like that merely reinforces the empty shell of the image-society,. I was showing that advertising is not the correct target for his vitriol, but rather the real assimilationh of culture by "the spectacle" such as drinks cleverly placed in cool clubs. Advertising advertises itself as unreal, and U2 advertising iPod reveals itself to be fake - an image. And i think will in fact make most of us, atleast most people i know, think U2 are cheap. Whereas, if we're in a skate-boarding show (or woteva they called) and we all see Tony Hawk supporting Stussy, then that enters the real and is more the cause of consumer culture than advertising.
That was my point.
- gepetto0
a good read, but again NO solution!!! just their critique :(
if they can't figure a solution with all their research than maybe there isn't one.
- chach0
now, now, don't give up that easy.
in a real way our kids lives depend on us wrangling a solution. consumerism is directly relted to the global QOL and our environmental issues, right?
i suppose its about our limited resources and how we use them.
- lifeinbinary0
a man walks into a bar...
- abstrakt0
"the problem of consumerism"
i don't think consumerism is a problem. if this guy is saying it's a problem, he's contributing to it more than most people. he's no different than the No Logo lady.
- scarabin0
i think it's ironic that i get both adbusters and flaunt in the mail every month, each being on the opposite ends of the consumer spectrum...
i believe that if consumerism was not an inherent part of the way the human animal thinks, it would never have developed. what we have here is an exaggeration of the little things we need to process daily events, blown out of proportion by our very success as a species. we always judge another human by what he or she posesses; what you have in your home and what you wear establish who you are to other people. it's not new, and will always be this way. we're just better at it now because we can get a wider varriety things much easier.
- abstrakt0
well said, scarabin
- gruntt0
is tonight "recycle thread" night?
lot's of oldies finding their way back to the top of the PVN.
=)
- lifeinbinary0
this was a great article i thought. worth pondering over.
time to save the world.
- F_180
“business is amassing great sums by charging admission to the ritual simulation of its own lynching.”
this line really struck me.
- abstrakt0
i don't really understand that line. the "ritual simulation" part. how is it ritutal, and how is it a simulation?
- rasko40
I.think.we.are.all.going.to.hell...