Around the world people are constantly consuming and manufacturing products with one thing in mind, money. We are taught from a young age that being different and innovative will make us successful, and although some may disagree most of us thrive for success in order to achieve wealth and to be at the top of the system. Yet what value would money have when we run out of resources? Our resources rule the world, they allow capitalism to work. Many do not realise we are extremely dependant on our resources and that we're constantly taking them for granted. This has caused the capitalist market society to today become a linear system that manipulates the middle class and millennials, is not obligated to end poverty, does not benefit the middle class and is not bound to work forever.
We’ve all probably experienced receiving an email about sale or offer in the mail that just seems perfect for your needs, or maybe you have been drawn into a shop by a big sign saying “SALE’. Whether it is through social media, sale signs, newspapers, emails, the post and most of our entertainment, we are constantly under manipulation by major and minor companies who want us to endorse in their product. A decade ago, Target begun “Pattern analysis to explain human behaviour”. This allows them to create a consumerism cycle that they can keep on adding too and is never ending. Charles Duhigg explains in ‘Habits’, “Every year, millions of shoppers walked into Targets 1,147 stores and handed over terabytes of information about themselves. They used their customer loyalty cards, redeemed coupons they had received in the mail, or used a credit card, unaware that target could link their purchases to an individualized demographic profile”. Target hired people to analyze data on their consumers so they knew exactly what news and offers to send to them to draw them back into their shops. This is a method used by many associations today, and although some may find this convenient, this cycle also motivates us to purchase more than we need only to benefit the higher class while exploiting the lower class. This is just one form of manipulation, there is a whole other world on the internet with a system set to manipulate millennials.
Millennials are at their spending peak, they rely on reviews and research to find out what products to endorse in. Millennials review and recommend products over social media. What they endorse in is majorly impacted by social media influencers. These people are celebrities who are role models for many millennials and teenagers. 18-year-old internet sensation Essena O’Neill had been making thousands of dollars secretly, modeling on Instagram and sharing her pictures with 580,000 followers. On one of her instagram posts she writes “I know of many online brands that pay up to $2000 per post. This photo had no substance, it was not of ethical manufacturing. Be aware of what people promote, ask yourself, what’s their intention behind their photo”. This form of unethical target marketing lets companies focus on a target market that can be easily influenced and manipulated. 93% of marketers use social media for business and 70% of marketers have used facebook to successfully gain new customers. The companies and the social influencers benefit from this, while we are manipulated to believe that social media is a platform created for us to use for entertainment while it has turned into just another way for major businesses to manipulate us. This also occurs in holidays such as christmas (70% from a survey by mccrindle research think christmas has become too commercial) or valentine's day and even birthdays. Crucial things that make us human are manipulated for one ‘important’ reason, money.
Why is it that money has today become the most valuable resource of all? Is there a price to how much our lives are worth or how much our environment or whole ecosystem is worth? In a documentary by curiosity it is mentioned that “The core indicator of a country's health is the GDP, it’s the total market value of goods and services produced in a single year. Social impact is not considered, the environment is not relevant, the health, happiness and fulfillment of its citizens does’nt matter. Financial metrics are all that count”. This is relevant because the fact that money has become such an important thing to people around the world is extremely depressing. The fact that the core indicator of a country’s health is the GDP is bitter as it should matter more if we are healthy, happy, living well yet still playing our part in society. At the end of the day we are human, and although we have progressed through innovation and medication, what makes us human today is a lot less meaningful than what made us human in the past.
Imagine everyone else in the world had a million dollars, including you. At first you may think, ‘yes, equality and yay we are all rich. Unfortunately, with our capitalist system in place this would simply not work. Who would be doing the unpleasant labour the lower class are currently doing, no one would want to do this, as everyone has money now. Therefore, no one would be manufacturing products for you to buy, including things essential for people to live. The capitalist market society is not obligated to end poverty, yet we still have a great deal of charities in place and fight for equality, while we do not realise that companies we endorse in are exploiting the lower class. Mark Trotzuk (boardroom of eco apparel) says quote “When you go and manufacture something and you import it, they add in a duty rate. In countries like Bangladesh there is no duty rate, because of that you can save a lot of money, so what companies do is manufacture in a lot of these countries”. The major companies exploit the lower classes and their countries into bad and cheap labour conditions all in order to save money and manufacture as quickly as possible. So not only is the lower class exploited off, most of them are also fastened in poverty for as long as the system will exist.
Not only are we unaware that we are manipulated by almost all major and minor companies, we are also unaware that there are laws in the market established that is rather harmful to us. Ever wonder how it is that the ice cream cone from mcdonalds only costs 80 cents? The answer is simply the caveat emptor. The standard of the caveat emptor is part of all purchase transactions. Under this idea, a businesses’ only responsibility is to provide a product or service at a fair price. It is the responsibility of the consumer to research products and look out for their own interests. Due to the caveat emptor companies like mcdonald's are able to sell such awful and unhealthy foods if they sell it for a cheap price, no matter how poor the quality is. So next time you enjoy some $4 chicken mcnuggets, ask yourself what they must contain in order to be so cheap.
The capitalist market society has today become a linear system. This linear system is made up of consumerism and manufacturing. The system begins with a design, then resources are used to manufacture the product, then we endorse in the product, after a while we throw away the product and endorse in something new and because the product was not recyclable it becomes waste. This linear system is not bound to work forever as eventually we will run out of resources to manufacture with. The term ‘sustainable society’ is becoming more and more attractive to people. The simplified Brundtland definition of a sustainable society is “A sustainable society is a society that meets the needs of the present generation, that does not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In which each human being has the opportunity to itself in freedom within a well-balanced society and in harmony with its surroundings”. Although some may argue that the current system allows easy innovation with the use of unsustainable resources, a sustainable society would still allow the intended effects of capitalism to work such as innovation and the market society, this is supported by the 1997 Coomer definition on sustainable societies, “The sustainable society is one that lives within the self-perpetuating limits of its environment. That society is not a “no growth” society. It is rather, a society that recognizes the limits of growth [and] looks for alternative ways of growing”. The only thing stopping us from transforming into a sustainable society is the load of time it will take to make the change and the upper class not being ready to give up their extreme wealth, therefore we must demand for change.
As consumers we play a crucial role in allowing the capitalist system to work. Most of us want our products fast, whatever the quality, we do not acknowledge or are not aware of the consequences. While we should not aim to end and wipe out capitalism, we should end the linear system. We begin by demanding for sustainable products and manufacturing in order to save our ecosystem and improve billions of lives around the world. Many may fear that if they take the risk of becoming a sustainable individual they lose their chance for success. However we do not have to diminish or stop our progression and if we do not create a sustainable crib to crib system the beautiful and capable human kind will not be on this earth for a countless amount of years. A sustainable community will benefit us by allowing us to live life to the fullest and enjoy our short time on earth. It will take a very long time nevertheless, we can transform the capitalist linear society into a sustainable capitalist system that is not manipulative, is obligated to end poverty, benefits every social class, the environment and i bound to work for ever.
Around the world people are constantly consuming and manufacturing products with one thing in mind, money. We are taught from a young age that being different and innovative will make us successful, and although some may disagree most of us thrive for success in order to achieve wealth and to be at the top of the system. Yet what value would money have when we run out of resources? Our resources rule the world, they allow capitalism to work. Many do not realise we are extremely dependant on our resources and that we're constantly taking them for granted. This has caused the capitalist market society to today become a linear system that manipulates the middle class and millennials, is not obligated to end poverty, does not benefit the middle class and is not bound to work forever.
We’ve all probably experienced receiving an email about sale or offer in the mail that just seems perfect for your needs, or maybe you have been drawn into a shop by a big sign saying “SALE’. Whether it is through social media, sale signs, newspapers, emails, the post and most of our entertainment, we are constantly under manipulation by major and minor companies who want us to endorse in their product. A decade ago, Target begun “Pattern analysis to explain human behaviour”. This allows them to create a consumerism cycle that they can keep on adding too and is never ending. Charles Duhigg explains in ‘Habits’, “Every year, millions of shoppers walked into Targets 1,147 stores and handed over terabytes of information about themselves. They used their customer loyalty cards, redeemed coupons they had received in the mail, or used a credit card, unaware that target could link their purchases to an individualized demographic profile”. Target hired people to analyze data on their consumers so they knew exactly what news and offers to send to them to draw them back into their shops. This is a method used by many associations today, and although some may find this convenient, this cycle also motivates us to purchase more than we need only to benefit the higher class while exploiting the lower class. This is just one form of manipulation, there is a whole other world on the internet with a system set to manipulate millennials.
Millennials are at their spending peak, they rely on reviews and research to find out what products to endorse in. Millennials review and recommend products over social media. What they endorse in is majorly impacted by social media influencers. These people are celebrities who are role models for many millennials and teenagers. 18-year-old internet sensation Essena O’Neill had been making thousands of dollars secretly, modeling on Instagram and sharing her pictures with 580,000 followers. On one of her instagram posts she writes “I know of many online brands that pay up to $2000 per post. This photo had no substance, it was not of ethical manufacturing. Be aware of what people promote, ask yourself, what’s their intention behind their photo”. This form of unethical target marketing lets companies focus on a target market that can be easily influenced and manipulated. 93% of marketers use social media for business and 70% of marketers have used facebook to successfully gain new customers. The companies and the social influencers benefit from this, while we are manipulated to believe that social media is a platform created for us to use for entertainment while it has turned into just another way for major businesses to manipulate us. This also occurs in holidays such as christmas (70% from a survey by mccrindle research think christmas has become too commercial) or valentine's day and even birthdays. Crucial things that make us human are manipulated for one ‘important’ reason, money.
Why is it that money has today become the most valuable resource of all? Is there a price to how much our lives are worth or how much our environment or whole ecosystem is worth? In a documentary by curiosity it is mentioned that “The core indicator of a country's health is the GDP, it’s the total market value of goods and services produced in a single year. Social impact is not considered, the environment is not relevant, the health, happiness and fulfillment of its citizens does’nt matter. Financial metrics are all that count”. This is relevant because the fact that money has become such an important thing to people around the world is extremely depressing. The fact that the core indicator of a country’s health is the GDP is bitter as it should matter more if we are healthy, happy, living well yet still playing our part in society. At the end of the day we are human, and although we have progressed through innovation and medication, what makes us human today is a lot less meaningful than what made us human in the past.
Imagine everyone else in the world had a million dollars, including you. At first you may think, ‘yes, equality and yay we are all rich. Unfortunately, with our capitalist system in place this would simply not work. Who would be doing the unpleasant labour the lower class are currently doing, no one would want to do this, as everyone has money now. Therefore, no one would be manufacturing products for you to buy, including things essential for people to live. The capitalist market society is not obligated to end poverty, yet we still have a great deal of charities in place and fight for equality, while we do not realise that companies we endorse in are exploiting the lower class. Mark Trotzuk (boardroom of eco apparel) says quote “When you go and manufacture something and you import it, they add in a duty rate. In countries like Bangladesh there is no duty rate, because of that you can save a lot of money, so what companies do is manufacture in a lot of these countries”. The major companies exploit the lower classes and their countries into bad and cheap labour conditions all in order to save money and manufacture as quickly as possible. So not only is the lower class exploited off, most of them are also fastened in poverty for as long as the system will exist.
Not only are we unaware that we are manipulated by almost all major and minor companies, we are also unaware that there are laws in the market established that is rather harmful to us. Ever wonder how it is that the ice cream cone from mcdonalds only costs 80 cents? The answer is simply the caveat emptor. The standard of the caveat emptor is part of all purchase transactions. Under this idea, a businesses’ only responsibility is to provide a product or service at a fair price. It is the responsibility of the consumer to research products and look out for their own interests. Due to the caveat emptor companies like mcdonald's are able to sell such awful and unhealthy foods if they sell it for a cheap price, no matter how poor the quality is. So next time you enjoy some $4 chicken mcnuggets, ask yourself what they must contain in order to be so cheap.
The capitalist market society has today become a linear system. This linear system is made up of consumerism and manufacturing. The system begins with a design, then resources are used to manufacture the product, then we endorse in the product, after a while we throw away the product and endorse in something new and because the product was not recyclable it becomes waste. This linear system is not bound to work forever as eventually we will run out of resources to manufacture with. The term ‘sustainable society’ is becoming more and more attractive to people. The simplified Brundtland definition of a sustainable society is “A sustainable society is a society that meets the needs of the present generation, that does not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In which each human being has the opportunity to itself in freedom within a well-balanced society and in harmony with its surroundings”. Although some may argue that the current system allows easy innovation with the use of unsustainable resources, a sustainable society would still allow the intended effects of capitalism to work such as innovation and the market society, this is supported by the 1997 Coomer definition on sustainable societies, “The sustainable society is one that lives within the self-perpetuating limits of its environment. That society is not a “no growth” society. It is rather, a society that recognizes the limits of growth [and] looks for alternative ways of growing”. The only thing stopping us from transforming into a sustainable society is the load of time it will take to make the change and the upper class not being ready to give up their extreme wealth, therefore we must demand for change.
As consumers we play a crucial role in allowing the capitalist system to work. Most of us want our products fast, whatever the quality, we do not acknowledge or are not aware of the consequences. While we should not aim to end and wipe out capitalism, we should end the linear system. We begin by demanding for sustainable products and manufacturing in order to save our ecosystem and improve billions of lives around the world. Many may fear that if they take the risk of becoming a sustainable individual they lose their chance for success. However we do not have to diminish or stop our progression and if we do not create a sustainable crib to crib system the beautiful and capable human kind will not be on this earth for a countless amount of years. A sustainable community will benefit us by allowing us to live life to the fullest and enjoy our short time on earth. It will take a very long time nevertheless, we can transform the capitalist linear society into a sustainable capitalist system that is not manipulative, is obligated to end poverty, benefits every social class, the environment and i bound to work for ever.
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