Quotes About Consumerism

To possess possessions, a man will "sell himself" to have what another has, but it never dawns on him ~ that the more he gets, the less he keeps of himself.

Idolatry is Living for the Product instead of living for the Producer.

What you buy doesn't make you cool, it makes you the opposite. Stop buying stuff just to have more stuff. Most of us have enough of everything already. Let's care for what we've got, instead, and dispose of our disposable society.

The customers, mostly well-to-do vacationers with little knowledge of turquoise, were using a standard principle—a stereotype—to guide their buying: "expensive = good.

The aim is to get someone to want to buy quickly, without thinking too much about it.

such cases it is vital to remember that scarce things do not taste or feel or sound or ride or work any better because of their limited availability.

Compared to the customers who got only the standard sales appeal, those who were also told about the future scarcity of beef bought more than twice as much.

higher price typically reflects higher quality.

The renowned British philosopher Alfred North Whitehead recognized this inescapable quality of modern life when he asserted that "civilization advances by extending the number of operations we can perform without thinking about them." Take, for example, the "advance" offered to civilization by the discount coupon, which allows consumers to assume that they will receive a reduced purchase price by presenting the coupon.

Advertisers love to inform us when a product is the "fastest-growing" or "largest-selling" because they don't have to convince us directly that the product is good, they need only say that many others think so, which seems proof enough. The

foolish purchase decisions,

Os clientes, em sua maioria turistas endinheirados com poucos conhecimentos sobre a pedra turquesa, estavam usando um princípio padrão – um estereótipo – para orientar suas compras: caro é igual a bom.

If the answer is that we want it primarily for the purpose of owning it, then we should use its availability to help gauge how much we want to spend for it. However, if the answer is that we want it primarily for its function (that is, we want something good to drive, drink, eat, etc.), then we must remember that the item under consideration will function equally well whether scarce or plentiful. Quite simply, we need to recall that the scarce cookies didn't taste any better.

just envisioned themselves moving toward (rather than away from) a container of snack food came to like it better and were willing to pay over four times more to obtain it.16

In 1914, Henry Ford announced he was paying workers on his Model T assembly line $5 a day—three times what the typical factory employee earned at the time. The Wall Street Journal termed his action "an economic crime," but Ford knew it was a cunning business move. The higher wage turned Ford's autoworkers into customers who could afford to buy Model Ts. In two years Ford's profits more than doubled.

America is one of the few advanced nations that allow direct advertising of prescription drugs to consumers.

The modern world is turning people into package purchasers with no control over things that can deeply affect their lives and health. We are losing touch with the world of nature and with ourselves as humans.

Is it my imagination, or does shipping and handling settle a box of crackers more than it used to?

Everything we possess that is not necessary for life or happiness becomes a burden, and scarcely a day passes that we do not add to it.

They come to accept things that are made cheaply and quickly. The idea that they might have to expend much effort to get what they want has been eroded by the proliferation of devices that do so much of the work for them, fostering the idea that they deserve all of this—that it is their inherent right to have and to consume what they want.

As a result, the American Dream became extremely useful in pitches for consumer products that encourage potential purchasers to feel better about their purchases, such as a new home or a second car. In fact, ProQuest News & Newspapers shows that more than half the use of the phrase American Dream has occurred in advertisements rather than articles.

American people, always in search of a bargain in the name of saving money, send the money they earn to countries that produce these low-cost bargains. That money costs them their jobs and as well as our country's wealth.

People think that working hard for money and then buying things that make them look rich will make them rich. In most cases it doesn't. It only makes them more tired. They call it 'Keeping up with the Joneses.' And if you notice, the Joneses are exhausted.

The retailers want you to shop and browse.