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What is Consumerism?
Consumerism is an economic policy that states that the market is shaped by the choice of the consumers. It outlines the fundamental rights of the consumers including right to safety, right to choice, right to information, etc. Consumerism is a phenomenon that has existed since the earliest of civilizations and continues to shape the modern market.

Consumerism basically describes the inclinations and tendencies of consumers towards various products and brands. This is mainly shaped by what the people perceive as a status symbol. For instance if a car is advertised as a luxury vehicle, then consumers will tend to buy it simply for the status it seems to offer. It is the same with designer labels in the clothing industry. Consumerism basically involves proper marketing of various products so that it appeals to a particular group of consumers.

In a market that is largely capitalistic in nature, sellers aim to increase their sales by using proper advertising campaigns. Also in such a society, the sellers try not to fulfill the wishes of the buyers completely so that they keep coming back for more. This is done by making products with a short shelf life or limited usability.

It has now become common practice to make such products that are designed especially to break after a fixed amount of time thus requiring the consumers to invest more in them. Another practice that sellers in such societies use is to constantly keep updating the market with newer models that seem more fashionable thanks to proper advertising. In this way they can exploit consumerism to get the maximum possible profits.

Many critics claim that overexploitation of consumerism has lead to economic degradation, increase in debts and even stops progress in many cases. Many environmentalists have also blamed consumerism for the degradation of the environment. Over consumption and wastage of products have led to dwindling of natural resources that has in turn sparked off a huge array of problems for the earth’s natural environment.

Consumerism in most countries increased mainly due to industrial revolution. This led to the development of luxury products that have become status symbols. Also, some of these products such as clothes tend to go out of fashion very soon and therefore they are underused and a waste. This has led to many socio-economic as well as environmental problems.

In Canada income disparity is less with the wealth more or less equally divided. This means that status struggles are not as bad here as the rest of the world. Also consumerism has been found to be less in Canada with people opting to buy products that they need rather than what is important for status although it is difficult to make a generalized statement.

Consumerism has seen a small decline in the recent years largely thanks to widespread education of the consumers. However markets still continue to flourish with buys overindulging themselves. It is a practice that consumers will continue to practice unless they are given some incentive to stop.



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