Consumption From Mcdonald\'s Proud \"Billions

¶ … Consumption

From McDonald's proud "billions served" signs to the Hummer's popularity as an inner city vehicle, over-consumption characterizes American culture. The results of over-consumption are sometimes obvious: obesity, personal debt, overfull landfills, and air pollution. However, much of the time the consequences of a consumer-driven society include that which is not so apparent, such as stress, interpersonal conflict, crime, addictions, and spiritual malaise. Over-consumption is by no means new to human beings: people in most cultures throughout time have been drawn to the accumulation of material goods. But because the twentieth century bore witness to a rising middle class throughout the world, more people than ever before have been able to afford to over-consume. With the advent of the credit card and innovative financing services by the banking industry, over-consumption has become commonplace, acceptable, and even encouraged, in the United States and beyond. Through advertising and overt social cultural cues, over-consumption had become a way of life. Over-consumption keeps a market economy strong, but it can lead to environmental degradation, psychological stress, and the denigration of social and communal ties. Thus, over-consumption is caused by most of the same destructive psychological and sociological factors that it creates, including a dependence on consumption-driven economics and existential angst.

Over-consumption, defined as buying beyond both needs and means, is both a cause and effect of a consumer-driven market economy. Were citizens to suddenly curtail their spending, the economy would suffer: jobs would be cut and companies could go out of business. Surplus goods would stockpile. Therefore, the market depends on over-consumption. Because politics and economics are so tightly linked, the entire American political engine depends on over-consumption as much as the business world.

The advent of easy large, easy to access lines of credit is one of the major contributing factors to over-consumption. Millions of Americans go into debt as a result of abusing credit cards. The credit card companies prefer customers who carry balances to those who pay off their bills each month because the interest accrued over time is from credit card customers is enormous. Therefore, credit card companies and retailers encourage over-spending. Retailers create a culture of consumption mainly through advertising, which cleverly appeals to psychological fears and anxieties. For example, men who fear losing their hair will buy products that promise hair growth while women will buy hundreds of dollars worth of cosmetics in order to look younger or more like the models in magazines.

Over-consumption is also caused by a "keep up with the Joneses" mentality that began around the 1950s, when American consumer culture truly began to thrive. "Keeping up with the Joneses" prompts many people to over-consume in the form of purchasing unnecessary vehicles such as SUVs and Hummers, because no self-respecting soccer mom would show up in a ten-year-old sedan. Wearing the right clothes, makeup, and shoes, having the right computer and cell phone are also part of the "keeping up with the Joneses" mentality.

Sports-utility vehicles (SUVs) are not necessary or even feasible in urban centers, yet they are one of the most popular vehicles today because over-consumption is hard-wired into the American brain. Advertising as well as social pressures stimulate spending on such unnecessary items. Few people own just enough clothes, shoes, or cosmetics, or buy just enough food; many people have far more than what they need to live on. Even people who live off of meager salaries, those who can barely pay their rent or mortgage, end up purchasing items they don't need from Wal-Mart, simply because they are on sale, cheap, or come with colorful packaging. Over-consumption is driven by a desire to look and act in accordance with social norms. Those who opt for a simpler, less materialistic lifestyle may be branded as hippies or near-outcasts. Shopping in malls or online is easy and has reached hobby status for some Americans. For instance, teenagers in American suburbs often spend their weekends in the mall, and hordes of people flock to stores during clearance sales.

While over-consumption is in large part caused by advertising and a "keeping up with the Joneses" mentality, increased prosperity in our society has also led to a wave of compulsive spending and over-consumption. Over-consumption is a result of a selfish, me-driven mentality on which American culture was founded. However, selfishness is also a result of over-consumption. The causes and consequences of rampant consumerism are similar: emotional, psychological, and spiritual malaise.

Over-consumption is a form of addiction and it is, therefore, akin to the over-consumption of food and drugs. In fact, the term "consumption" refers both to consumer spending and to eating, and one of the most predominant forms of over-consumption happens to be overeating. As a result, over-consumption causes health problems like obesity, diabetes, and some forms of cancer. Psychological results of over-consumption are similar to the psychological consequences of addictions: stress, anxiety, emotional unrest and existential distress. A loss of meaning fuels addictions of all sorts, including an addiction to spending. Over-consumption also creates a vicious cycle, as purchasing material goods beyond one's means in no way alleviates emotional pain. Trying to fill an existential hole with consumerism is like filling it with drugs or alcohol. Over-consumption can cause further stress and psychological pain when a person realizes that his or her life is not improved as a result of buying $500 worth of clothes. When personal debt and health problems are added to the mixture, over-consumption can make a person's life miserable.