Marketing.... useful or harmful?

Marketers are scarring people into buying “needed” items and basically threatening the public by displaying ads that essentially say, use this product or else you’re life will be shortened and the quality of it will be poor. The public is gullible and believes what they are told, when it is done repeatedly. This all ties into the need to shop, shop, shop; shopping to fit into society, shopping for protection from the sun, air, water, grass, food products, etc., shopping because it’s what we are told to do over and over again; it is seen as the right thing to do. Maybe if someone opposes these thought processes and provides the public with new ideas, then people will listen and follow.

Nancy Folbre comments that, “Many scholars today argue that we are experiencing a decline of civic virtue and public commitment ….Our culture has almost certainly become more materialistic.” Meaning people today care much more about what they can get with the money they have; and how much more money it is going to take, to get whatever else it is they want.

People are becoming much more selfish in our day and age. Many people don’t do things for free, even for family members. This is a little shocking to me. I grew up helping family members and seeing to it that everyone gets what they need, not necessarily what they want. Since I have grown up and can now afford pricier items (brand name materials), sometimes I do. Many are better quality then, say Wal-Mart clothing, or do we just think and believe they are? Folbre also states, “We are moving from a system of providing care for children, the sick, and the elderly primarily through the family to a system that relies to a large extent on purchased care. In other words, we are increasing the role of markets-individual decisions to buy this or that, or sell this or that.” People are taught from other peers, society, and recent culture that having more is better. And having more expensive is even more superior. We, as a society need to help redirect others ways of thinking in a healthier way. The idea of the planet not being able to hold much more stuff and how stuff can just pile up, overwhelming our homes and dumps, needs to get out there to the public. Students also need to realize this and work towards the reuse of items and the making of their own items.