The Consumerism Call-in September 29, 2015

Every week on Nightline we open up the phone lines for a conversation on an issue.

This week we were asking if you feel that you are a victim of consumerism? 

Do we need the new car? New iphone? new pant suit (who wears a pant suit)?

We want to get people to call in and share how they bought because they felt they had to not because they wanted to.

Is out of control consumerism inevitable or can we stop it?

The Podcast!

Here is a look at what some of the the listeners had to say over the SMS.

Consumerism is an evil parallel religion in its own right that one should fight.

Fadi

Need means greed nowadays Trish :-)

Hi james. Yes its very tempting to get the latest jeep, ive often looked at the wrangler, but i have to say my '95 xj cherokee has become far too good to sell! Unbeatable off road, and it has taken a beating! B rgds ian (the skoda guy) ;-)

Contentment is an inexhaustible treasure. Mustafa

The apple sale figures proofs that we can put togethe thirteen million greedy people with a good blitz 

Regards Afzal

My niece was about to make her grandma trip over...when she was told to look out....she said no problem.

We can always get another  grandma from Carrefour...

It's simple. If what you've got is working, don't change it. My 2005 Pajero have done 320000 Km and it still drives so well!!!

business trends : consumer behaviour controls by marketing strategies  and  product life cycle is shorter.Buthaina

Can't stop myself to buy new lure when I pass by fishing shop

Perhaps electronics and white goods manufacturers could be forced to better produce and better distribute economically priced spare parts in order to encourage repairing in place of throwing away.  (Tim Holmes in Ajman)

Satisficing (satisfaction + sacrifice) example. Cost of Good 800mm camera lens is $1,000. Next level quality is for $18,000. Do we need to spend 17k forlittle better picture? 

Best

Ali

Friend of mine has this self correction thing. If he likes something, he takes a look and then sleeps on it for a week; if he cannot stop thinking about, might as well get it otherwise he's forgotten about it - Saad Zafar

I must admit I have a bit of a tech addiction. Recently the only thing which has been keeping me from getting the latest and greatest is that I have forced some sanity into myself. Plus, I dont like where Samsung has taken their phones anyway -Erik

he problem is ads push us to buy items on sale at half price which we don't want to throw away import item at home ultimately doubling our expense

Dr James,

Always good to listen to you. The problem is much greater. Not only wastage of resources and money, the disappointing quality deterioration ofa range of products bought here should be discussed !!! And counterfeit products a big challenge in this environment of high pressure to purchase 

Berhanu

And here are the show notes!

Apple today announced that opening weekend sales for the brand-new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus have exceeded thirteen million units, breaking the previous record of ten million units sold by the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus last year.

http://www.salon.com/2014/11/02/fast_cheap_and_out_of_control_how_hyper_consumerism_drives_us_mad/

Think of it: 48,800 items in the average American supermarket, 500 or more stations on satellite TV, 125 beverage options in a single Coke machine, 65 different styles with 140 color and fabric options—a total of 9,100 options from a single dress company, a new Nook with 700,000 Google apps. Does this endless proliferation of consumer products really give people more choices or just different variations of the same options? Is it really true that more choices are always better?

Modernization’s strategy of planned obsolescence, entrepreneurs’ insistence on incessant innovation, and modernism’s dedication to making it new intersect in the world of contemporary fashion to expose the irrationality and inefficiency of today’s markets. Modernism, we have seen, is defined by its thoroughgoing commitment to the new or, more precisely, to an endless process of renewal.

The American clothing industry today is a $12 billion business and the average American family spends $1,700 on clothes. Cline observes, “Nowadays, an annual budget of $1700 can buy a staggering surfeit of clothing, including 485 ‘Fab Scoopneck’ tops from Forever 21 or 340 pairs of ladies’ sandals from Family Dollar or 163 pairs of seersucker Capri pants from Goody’s or 56 pairs of Mossimo ‘Skinny Utility’ cargo pants from Target or 47 pairs of glitter platform wedges from Charlotte Russe or 11 men’s Dockers suits from JCPenney or 6 Lauren by Ralph Lauren sequin evening gowns.” In much of Europe, where fast fashion started, the situation is even crazier. In an article entitled “Britain’s Bulging Closet: Growth of ‘Fast Fashion’ Means Women Are Buying HALF Their Body Weight in Clothes Each Year,” Paul Sims reports that the average woman in England has twenty-two garments hanging in her closet that she has never worn and will spend on average $201,000 on clothing during her lifetime.

http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/press/press-releases/2013/november/university-of-leicester-academic-encourages-day-off-from-2018out-of-control-consumerism2019

Call-in on Shopping, too much? January 7, 2015

Every Wednesday on Nightline at 9pm we open up the sms and phone-lines for a Q&A.

This week we asked you about shopping and whether or not it is getting the better of us?

Do we really need to shop so much and buy so much? Tough question when you think that we have the Dubai Shopping Festival and that shopping is a huge boost to the economy.

Do we need to shop so much?

Here is the podcast.



Here is a look at some of the SMS messages from the show that helped to drive the conversation.

We're from Eastern Europe. For me there's no such thing as shopping for fun. If we need something we buy it. Sold the 5years old TV and bought new one for a bargain price. Needed a dishwasher because of the kids, bought one recently. Same with cloths and everything else. I think it's inherited from parents.

Certainly, Hamza(d) is sleeping on the couch tonight! :O

Our 2 yr old twins are incredibly fortunate & have been given almost all their clothes (we bought 3 baby grows when they were born as we're so prematurenothing fitted! ) I was putting away some of their trousers & dresses with our wonderful helper & she & I were trying to fit them all in the wardrobe. She said 'my daughter doesn't like dresses but that's OK,  she only has 1'.

 It really put it all into perspective. For their next birthday we are going to ask everyone for xlothes for a boy & girl of their  age group but they will be sent to orphanages in Sri Lanka & Uganda that friends support. A real wake up call, we have so much when others are happy with so little. Hannah

I've been putting my clothes back in my wardrobe on the right hand side when it's worn the at the end of each on th I can look at the things on the left& see why they haven't been worn. It works! Have managed to get eos of some things quite easily :) Hannah

Hey James,

As you mentioned earlier about your mother that people do compare prices in here vs overseas and it's cheap here.

Would be happy to come back on air, before I hit the couch. If you need my perspective on consumerism and shopping festival. Hamza

Here are the notes we used for research.

How much is enough? What do you really need and is our shopping culture something we need to think about? Sustainability, the environment…

Are you a compuslive shopper?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2151580/Our-culture-consumption-glorifies-compulsive-shopping-It-time-treat-shopaholic-like-addict.html

Is consumerism out of control?

http://www.becomingminimalist.com/escaping-excessive-consumerism/

http://www.quora.com/Why-is-consumerism-a-bad-thing

There are a few things.

1. There can be no consumption without production. If a population consumes more than it produces, this is ultimately unsustainable. Consumption is 70% of the US economy. Some day, this will collapse.

2. Consumerist culture isn't just about buying things you want. It's about convincing you that you need things that you don't necessarily need or want and encouraging you to spend money on these things, sometimes even when you can't afford them. This is a bizarre way to structure production - make stuff, trick people into buying it, so you can make more stuff to trick people into buying. A culture more concerned with growth, development, and improvement than superficial validation and instant gratification would be able to provide for actual needs and wants far better.

3. Consumerist culture also motivates people to go into debt, which is also an unsustainable thing, since loanable funds aren't unlimited. It also sacrifices the future for the present.

In short, consumerism sacrifices the future for short-term immediate gratification. It is like an addictive drug, and withdrawal is going to suck.

http://www.globalissues.org/issue/235/consumption-and-consumerism

Today’s consumption is undermining the environmental resource base. It is exacerbating inequalities. And the dynamics of the consumption-poverty-inequality-environment nexus are accelerating. If the trends continue without change — not redistributing from high-income to low-income consumers, not shifting from polluting to cleaner goods and production technologies, not promoting goods that empower poor producers, not shifting priority from consumption for conspicuous display to meeting basic needs — today’s problems of consumption and human development will worsen.

… The real issue is not consumption itself but its patterns and effects.

… Inequalities in consumption are stark. Globally, the 20% of the world’s people in the highest-income countries account for 86% of total private consumption expenditures — the poorest 20% a minuscule 1.3%. More specifically, the richest fifth:

• Consume 45% of all meat and fish, the poorest fifth 5%
• Consume 58% of total energy, the poorest fifth less than 4%
• Have 74% of all telephone lines, the poorest fifth 1.5%
• Consume 84% of all paper, the poorest fifth 1.1%
• Own 87% of the world’s vehicle fleet, the poorest fifth less than 1%

Runaway growth in consumption in the past 50 years is putting strains on the environment never before seen.

المؤشرات الرئیسیة عن مھرجان دبــي للتسوق

Main Indicators of Dubai Shopping Festival

Title 2011 البیـــــــان

Festival Days 32 المھرجـــــان أیــام

Total Visitors ( In 000 ) 3,980 ( بالالف ) الزوار عدد إجمالي

Daily Average of Visitors 124,375 للزوار الیومي المتوسط

Total Spending ( Million AED ) 15,100 ( درھم ملیون ) الانفــــاق إجمالي

Daily Average of Spending ( Million AED) 472 ( درھم ملیون ) للانفاق الیومي المتوسط

Source : Department of Economic Development

Mar 17---Kindeness

The Dubai Kindness Movement!

Do we need to be thinking about consumer protection?

March 10-UAE Consumer Protection.

The plan was to have the director of the UAE consumer protection society in the studio. Too bad that he could not make it in the last seconds before we went on air.

Again and again and again I am stood up by government and quasi government officials.

What a shame.

Here is a taste of what we might have spoken about.

UAE consumer rights body calls for subsidies

by Daliah Merzaban on Wednesday, 05 March 2008

SUBSIDY CALL: The Emirates Society for Consumer Protection said the UAE should raise subsidies on rice, sugar, bread, milk and other basic foods. (Getty Images)

A UAE consumer protection body said on Wednesday it had urged the government to subsidise basic food items as part of measures to curb food price rises, which it expects to reach 40% this year.

The Emirates Society for Consumer Protection is asking the government of the second-largest Arab economy to raise subsidies on rice, sugar, bread, milk and other basic foods, its executive manager Jamal Al-Saeedi said.

Food prices in the UAE, which pegs its dirham currency to the weak US dollar, rose about 30% in 2007, according to a survey conducted by the body, Al-Saeedi said

"I expect they will go up another 40% this year," he told newswire Reuters by telephone.

"The government needs to intervene. We made proposals two weeks ago and we are still waiting for a response."

Inflation in the UAE hit a 19-year high of 9.3% in 2006, and probably accelerated to 10.9% last year on surging rents, National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) said last week.

Food price inflation is partly driven by the dirham's peg to the dollar, which hit record lows against the euro and a basket of major currencies this week, Al-Saeedi said.

Rising costs for labour, rents and government fees have also forced retailers to pass through price rises to consumers, he said.

"The dirham has fallen against the US dollar and 85% of the food... is imported," Al-Saeedi said.

The proposals - which also include a call for tighter controls on rent increases - were submitted to the Higher Committee for Consumer Protection, which will consider them at its next meeting, Al-Saeedi said.

While UAE emirates Dubai and Abu Dhabi have put ceilings of 5% per year on how much landlords can raise rents, many landlords are "cheating", Al-Saeedi said.

Rents jumped about 18-19% and food prices about 8% last year, NBAD said in its note.

Like most countries in the world's top oil-exporting region, the UAE is constrained in its fight against inflation by the dollar peg that forces it to track US monetary policy when the Federal Reserve is cutting interest rates to ward of recession.

By contrast, Gulf economies are surging on a five-fold jump in oil prices since 2002.

Businesses in the UAE have been complaining about rising costs and migrant construction workers rioted in Dubai in November to demand pay rises to compensate for savings lost due to the dollar's slide.

The Ministry of Economy warned suppliers in November against raising prices of good sand services in an "unjustified" manner to take advantage of a 70% increase in federal government wages this year. (Reuters)

UAE food prices head skywards
Basic food prices jump 36% with exporter demands to push rice up by more than 70%, newspaper says.

UAE inflation in danger of hitting 12% this year
Gulf states' peg to US dollar likely to drive inflation up in 2008, Merrill Lynch warns.

Feb 3--consumerism

We are all consumers... but has consumerism gotten out of hand?

Are we buying without thinking of the long term impact on you and I, the economy and society?

Some say it is all about VALUES.

Others say it is about helping others by creating work.

But have we gone too far?

No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies

Naomi Klein

HarperCollins 2000

A book review by Danny Yee © 2001 http://dannyreviews.com/

In No Logo Naomi Klein offers a lively account of some of the major trends in business and culture in recent years — the rise of branding, its role in the growth of corporate power, changes in labor markets and the nature of work, and the resulting backlash. While she offers nothing that's really new or original, she brings together and synthesizes a broad range of material; the result is an overview that has helped to raise awareness of important issues.

Branding and advertising are hardly new phenomena, but Klein traces the origins of modern branding campaigns to the mid-80s, stressing the role played by clothing companies such as the Gap, Hilfiger, and Nike (she admits to having been a label-obsessed "mall-rat" as a teenager). She describes the appropriation of youth and "indie" culture (the "hunting of cool"), the intrusion of advertising (Channel One, Coke and Pepsi) into schools and universities, and "identity marketing" (the targeting of minorities, feminists, and progressive agendas). This is an entertaining account, but sometimes Klein gets caught up in the details of individual cases, and in her own rhetoric, coming up with statements such as "It wasn't until January 1999, however — when Hilfiger launched the ad campaign for the Stones' No Security Tour — that full brand-culture integration was achieved."

The rise of branding is tied up with the broader growth in and consolidation of corporate power. Klein surveys the expansion of superbrands and franchises (with Walmart and Starbucks as examples). She looks at the process of mergers and synergies, focusing on superstores, branded villages, and other controlled spaces (with Disney as a key example). And she considers corporate censorship: control of the media and distribution channels, the way aggressive protection of trademarks blurs into harassment of critics, and the willingness of multinationals to appease repressive states.

Part three, "No Jobs", shifts focus to look at changes in labor relations and working conditions. The Cavite Export Processing Zone in the Philippines is an example of a labor force kept under tight control, in "sweatshop" conditions. Meanwhile United States has seen massive casualization of the workforce, from lowly "McJobs" at McDonalds to temps at Microsoft. And corporations are no longer "good neighbours" creating jobs for communities; instead they create wealth for shareholders.

Klein finishes with a look at the "backlash" produced by these changes, covering adbusting and culture jamming, the Reclaim the Streets movement, anti-corporate activism, brand-based campaigns (with case studies of Shell, Nike, and McDonalds), and "local foreign policy" (in government, university, and school purchasing policies). This touches on how corporations have responded and Klein also offers a chapter on the limitations of brand-based campaigns — targeting Shell and Nike gives Chevron and Adidas a free run, while unbranded companies can only be reached through controversial secondary boycotts. A conclusion considers broad issues of consumerism versus citizenship and the fight for the global commons.

---

No Logo contains some fascinating material, but it is rather narrowly focused on what a marxist would call the "ideological superstructure". Klein says that she has "always been drawn to the shiny surfaces of pop culture" and, despite a few gestures at more, it's not clear that she really gets below those surfaces. She spends too much time making the same point repeatedly using different examples, rather than placing the phenomena she is describing within their broader historical, economic, and political contexts.

Her account of corporate mergers, for example, only mentions in passing the decline in anti-trust action by the United States Federal Trade Commission. When dealing with intellectual property — the legal basis for much of what she discusses — she never really distinguishes trademarks and patents and copyright, with no exploration of the differences in the capital of (say) Nike, Monsanto, and Microsoft. (And the free software movement was surely worth a mention as part of the "backlash", though Klein seems to have noticed that, with her own web site now making a point of running free software.) And at one point she writes:

"Political solutions - accountable to people and enforceable by their elected representatives - deserve another shot before we throw in the towel and settle for corporate codes, independent monitors and the privatization of our collective rights as citizens."

But she has little to say about political solutions or political processes — nothing, for example, about the significance of campaign finance reform and trade treaties in the United States, or about the politics of labor laws and corruption in the Philippines.

Sometimes, too, Klein seems mesmerized by the very corporate behemoths she is describing, lingering a little unnecessarily on the details of their dominance. She suggests at one point that some ideas can't be co-opted by corporate marketing because they aren't expressed primarily through "style and attitude". One has to wonder if No Logo itself qualifies here, if it isn't more useful to marketing and advertising executives than to activists — but Klein would be the first to admit that she is brandishing a double-edged weapon.

23 July 2001