Trends come and go faster than ever, with fast fashion and social media vying for our attention, pushing new items and altering the pop culture. Somewhere along the way, the habit of waiting and thinking about what we really want to spend our money on has turned into a habit of overconsumption. But it’s not the fault of the consumer.
It’s hard to conceptualize that anyone in their right mind would publicly post a haul from SHEIN and encourage others to use their discount code for something that already costs less than $10 and probably 40 cents to make. Many of us are already aware of how poorly constructed, and unethically things are made, and why they are so cheap. So why do we keep buying them?
When you surrender to marketing, there’s an immediate sense of satisfaction from your ownership. You get what you want exactly when you crave it, and that feeling replaces the slower and less exciting satisfaction of saving money. There’s real positive reinforcement built into spending, whether it’s on coffee, clothes, or something else that delivers instant gratification.
Big companies know exactly how to convince people to buy their newest product. Whether seeing the same ad fourteen times on Snapchat until you finally give in to it, or hearing your favourite Instagram influencer explain why you “need” a product before casually mentioning that it’s sponsored.
I too, have fallen prey to these kinds of marketing, but that’s exactly why I find it so interesting and why I know we can’t blame the individual for all the small purchases they make. Even when I think I’m being mindful or intentional with my spending, I’m still not immune to it. It’s uncomfortable to admit how easily the line between being thoughtful and impulse buying can blur, especially when marketing is designed to feel like it’s doing you a favour by telling you how it will benefit you.
When self-esteem is shaped by trends, it becomes dependent on external sources of validation. There is no end to the comparison based on what others own, there will always be a new product promising control over how our lifestyles are perceived. The trend falls out of relevance, and so does the feeling it brought. Therefore, something else must take its place. This instructs people to believe their worth is based on their material goods, creating a hollow sense of identity.
This thinking is compounded by overconsumption as its marketing feeds into a desire for adequacy. Having more products in trend keeps someone attractive and confident although actively contributes to overconsumption. The marketing discreetly gives the consumer a choice, indulge in our products at the behest of the environment or be left behind.
The products themselves make this worse by being built to break. All garments will tear and degrade over time, but fast fashion constructs its products in a way that makes them last just long enough for it to release the newest model. It’s not in the best interest of companies to make products that last because consumers won’t use the product long enough for durability to matter to them.
At the extreme, celebrities are criticized for re-wearing the same piece of clothing more than once. This shows how deeply class is woven into overconsumption. Famous people can afford constant novelty and are even paid to wear the newest trends. Their lifestyles are presented as something to aspire to, perpetuating the view that this is a lifestyle to strive for and that it’s okay to buy into the next “big” or micro trend. This creates the illusion that buying new things all the time is normal and even expected.
On a broader scale, the consequences are impossible to ignore. Overconsumption’s a systemic issue, but every small purchase contributes to a massive accumulation of waste, over 39,000 tons of clothing are transported to a landfill in Chile every year, alone. Sure, you may donate it and feel better, but most of those things will still end up in the landfill due to an oversaturation of unwanted clothing in second-hand stores.
Resources aren’t infinite, especially water, which is necessary to produce almost everything we consume. It takes about 2,700 litres of water to produce just one t-shirt, so it’s a shame to only wear it a few times. When everything is disposable, waste becomes an afterthought rather than a responsibility, and just a necessary byproduct of our everyday lives.
This mindset influences more than physical waste, but also how we consume media. The more we consume, the more mindless our consumption becomes. We become more susceptible to marketing, while also having more products suggested to us.
None of this means consumers are powerless. The responsibility shouldn’t be felt entirely by the consumer, but there are meaningful ways we can be more mindful. Like buying fewer things of better quality and pausing to make sure that our purchases match our own preferences rather than an idealized image we see online. It should take us longer to think about whether we want to invest in a product than the time it takes for the trend to pass.
Overconsumption wins when we fall into the same habits, letting instant gratification rule our day-to-day decisions. It’ll take a new kind of trend, this time a long-term trend of people resisting these marketing schemes and taking responsibility for their actions to make a big enough impact for big companies to change and make a real difference.
Tags
Enviroment, Opinions, Over-consumption
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