The Men Who Made Us Spend

[SJVC]

Hey guys,

Here is a link to a really interesting tv documentary about consumerism and the growth of material product sales.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p01zxmrv/the-men-who-made-us-spend-episode-1

Of course watching tv is a not a good habit, but if you want to kick back and watch something educational that you could possibly apply to yourself then I would recommend watching it.

This first one is about how products are made to have a shelf life, examples such as the first light bulb and the iPod are used. There are two more episodes after this one which touch upon the psychology of spending and how children are indoctrinated by advertising.

I know a lot of you guys are based in the US and Canada so I'm not sure if the link will work if you don't live in the UK, but nonetheless thought it was worth a share.

 

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[Azif]

For those outside UK

 

[SJVC]

@Azif Awesome! Rep transferred.

 

[SarahSH]

That whole shelf life thing annoys me a bit and I think it has been taken too far in some cases. In the last 6 years, I have had to replace a certain component in my refrigerator ( different refrigerator, same component) 2x and the cost to replace,including a service call was almost half the cost of the fridge in the first place. In both instances, the fridges were only a couple of years old! The repair guy was eve commenting on this and also thought the parts were not made to last. I understand making a profit and the service industry also benefits and it is good for them but it is getting to the point that you can hardly find something that is made to last now days...even the formerly good brands have all gone downhill it seems. It is amazing that a freezer or refrigerator from the 1970s and even older in another instance I know of could still be going strong when new stuff breaks so quickly.

 

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