Planned Obsolescence, Consumerism Culture and Advertising

The idea of planned obsolescence, an idea with which many aren't conscious but affects us all. It's what we can call it “the expiration date effect” known in business terms as planned obsolescence. Planned obsolescence could be a business strategy during which the obsolescence (the process of becoming obsolete) of a product is planned and built into it from its conception, by the manufacturer. This negative business strategy is rarely off from the minds of companies, which believe they have to evolve by continuing to provide and ensure annual manufacturing of the identical product with minor changes to retain their customer base. Planned obsolescence could be a business strategy during which the obsolescence (the process of becoming obsolete, that is, unfashionable or now not usable) of a product is planned and built into it from its conception, by the manufacturer. This can be done so that, within the future, the buyer feels a requirement to buy new products and services that the manufacturer brings out as replacements for the old ones. The Economist cites a classic case of planned obsolescence, the rayon stocking. The inevitable “laddering”6 or “running” of stockings made consumers buy new ones and for years discouraged manufacturers from trying to find a fibre that failed to ladder. The rag trade, in any case, isn't inclined to such innovation. the style of any sort is, by definition, is deeply committed to built-in obsolescence. Last year's skirts, for instance, are designed like the one shown to get replaced by this year's new models, as are last year's pants or shoes or whatever you'll consider. the various samples of planned obsolescences are everywhere.

Consumerism is that the concept of increasing consumption of products and services purchased within the market is often a desirable goal which somebody's wellbeing and happiness depend fundamentally on obtaining trade goods and material possessions. In an economic sense, it's associated with the predominantly “Keynesian concept” consumer spending is that the key driver of the economy which encourages consumers to spend could be a major policy goal. From now of view, consumerism may be a positive phenomenon that fuels the economic process. In common use, consumerism refers to a bent of individuals living in an exceedingly free enterprise to have interaction in an exceeding lifestyle of excessive materialism that revolves around reflexive, wasteful, or conspicuous overconsumption. During this sense, consumerism is widely understood to contribute to the destruction of traditional values and ways of life, exploitation of consumers by business, environmental degradation, and negative psychological effects. Early uses of the term within the mid-20th century were intended to own a positive connotation, which might emphasize the advantages that capitalism had to supply consumers in improving standards of living and a policy that might prioritize the interests of consumers, but these meanings have fallen out of general use.

In the Planned obsolescence, we must understand it a bit deeper as customers are now aware of it, and if you understand it, then you can use advertising to overcome this awareness, i.e fast fashion (eg lawn collections), hence you need to show that product quality is important and it will last longer. Impulse buying is a product that is not necessary, you can use sales or limited time offers (eg this coupon expires next week) to make people buy things impulsively. Use ads to create a "perfect lifestyle". Perceived obsolescence - using "fashion" or how it "looks''-like how new cars look different but are the same thing inside. 3000 tv ads a day. Now youtube ads, Instagram ads, magazine ads, billboards, SMS, LED light market is worth 51 billion USD. “Batteries” are a big example of planned obsolescence, throwing away products. Right before world war 1, the big invention that changed things was the “LIGHT BULB”. Edison's genius was to take it from lab to marketplace just like steve jobs did with apple computers and later the iPhone. So mostly rich people and cities got electricity and bulbs, the masses got it only later. The tube light came later for offices and public places using less energy. Then came LED lights. The man who invented the blue LED on the NOBEL prize for physics, Shuji Nakamura (2014). LED bulbs are capable of lasting 20 years. Mostly everyone has faced the situations where it is easier to throw away the old model and buy a new one rather than fix an older broken product i.e a smartphone, printer, scanner, camera. The first recorded example of price-fixing through a cartel was Phoebus organization which controlled how long a light bulb would work for how many hours. an average bulb lasted 2500 hrs, the committee made technical laws and rules to make sure the bulb does not work more than 1000 hours, fining lawbreakers.

The concept of "shopping for fun" or "window shopping" is because of current sociological promotion by advertisers to make it a fun leisurely activity, almost aspirational. We are a "consumer society" and the American society was the first to be that way. Product Lifecycle is what they call it now, the 2020 word for it is "product manager" who designs products and services to always have new offerings to customers. There are direct co-relations with advertising, as the GenZ and millennial consumers are fully aware of planned obsolescence. For instance many textile brands in Pakistan, they deliberately designed their cheaper law fabric not to last after even one wash and the colours would fade. If anyone complained they would give them a replacement if available. The way they promoted the designs was to have famous designers design fabrics with them and print lookbooks/magazines. Another example is PAK FAN and their silly claim that some "parts" of their fans will run 100 years well the company is not selling those older models anymore and is selling cheap Chinese battery-powered fans now. The famous youtube/influencer Casey neistat explained why some smartphones only have a non-removable battery eg iPhones or iPods, it is because of planned obsolescence. Many "second hand" electronics and old computer parts and monitors come to Karachi too, they move on to Africa then, they end up at Naz plaza in Saddar near Karachi grammar school Saddar where the Africans buy them. This is called a "waste economy" which is now being replaced by something called "circular economy" where all is recycled. This is why advertising also acknowledges that our current/new product is environmentally friendly/sustainable and this is very important to millennials and GenZ consumers. The "de-growth" movement has failed, replaced by "circular economy" where everything is now recycled. Programmer Obsolescence means it is designed to be replaced by a newer version with more features (e.g. smartphones with new software or apps).

A very useful word “Captive market”, forcing consumers through monopolies to buy the new version. A captive market is one where the potential buyers have a very limited choice. In other words, unless they buy from just one or two suppliers their only other option is not to buy. Not giving people the chance of choice by limiting the options available, manufacturers play with the human mind to force them to buy whatever products they are offering to the consumers, every industry in the market in offering limited offerings to the consumers and they are controlling the lifespan of the product and materials they are willing to sell, they want the consumers to buy, again and again, that is the reason why they are coming up with new models from automobile to the home category every single product is in planned obsolescence. Playing with the subconscious mind of the consumer, many brands use the recalling approach in advertising to make them realize that they need every single newly launched product by them, companies are creating needs for people. These are not actual needs like food or water but desires and wants that are turned/shaped into consumer needs. For instance, the elite brands play the tactics of fashion, new fashion, old fashion. And such words as a limited edition to make the consumer instantly buy it. These 3 factors play a huge role in consumer buying planned obsolescence, advertising and consumerism culture because all these factors make the subconscious to buy again. Few samples of planned obsolescence are practised in gaming consoles in such the simplest way that whenever firms launch a more recent version of their console the games which then are developed for the newer version of consoles aren't compatible with an older version of consoles which forces consumers to shop for the newer version of consoles. Same like the Mobile phone manufacturing companies also practice planned obsolescence because on every occasion firms launch their new models of the cell phones with slight changes but those slight changes are highlighted in such the way that the effect is amplified and consumers are perceived that changes made in an exceedingly new model of the cell phone are drastic.