August 10, 2009
It makes me wonder- have the companies started producing low-grade products in ridiculous quantities that they HAVE TO sell at low prices to get rid of them; or have they been trying to lure the class of people who could not previously afford their products and make them addicted; or its all just a farce, and the GREATER GOOD is worked out by affixing a tag displaying the price at least four times the actual (and I mean selling) price of the product, and providing a 40% DISCOUNT on it. Get robbed. Everyone's invited!
We might have been accustomed to this idea as we've been seeing these strategies (how can we forget the kid-luring stuff that they give FREE with their products) in action since forever. But there is still a class of people, such as those who've recently migrated from towns to metros and the likes, who get thrilled at the thought of making such a good bargain, and thus get carried away. As for the Gen-Now, the metro-kid since birth, and having got ample opportunities to visit the innumerable outlets around them, they go for stuff only if they feel like it, unless they've turned into shopaholics. For the pampered lot, it doesn't matter to them whether the price is 20% or 200%, they'd buy it if they have to. What sucks is that companies are luring people to consumerism, at its dirtiest.
And the question- "What's wrong about it?" does indeed have an answer. Just look at how small kids are being used to add to the appeal of products varying from toys to cars, and you'd know what am I talking about. I wonder if they show healthy programs for kids for durations equivalent to time each day spent showing kids trying to sell stuff.
And celebs, I just do not have words for them. Nobody knows whether they themselves heard of the product they're promoting till they've started promoting it. And mind it! They're still just talking about the stuff, not using it. Just by holding a pack of products and speaking lines about it, they're laughing their way to the bank. And the vicious circle of consumerism sucks the consumer into the black hole with no escape.
And don't even get me started on status symbols. Gosh! Its not just grown-up stuff anymore. I mean, kids HAVE TO own stuff such as a Playstation or an iPod even before they learn their remainder theorems. And why? Just because some friend of theirs, another pampered kid from next block owns it. And what about all the extra sums that the parents have to cough up in fulfilling the kids' demands.
On a grown-up level, the phenomenon acquires a deadly and dirty face. Be it owning a big car, branded jewelry or living in a posh locality, grown-ups exhibit a kiddish behavior regarding these issues and sometimes value these petty things more then their lives, families, relationships... Consumerism has indeed taken its toll on us.
And who's to blame, and be benefited by it all, is not something I need to tell you. Right?