I was conducting a survey in my neighborhood as a part of my volunteering project with an NGO. While talking to many, the most prominent issue turned out to be the parking & traffic issue. People parking their cars alongside the road confining the traffic movement. Most of the premises were built with an assumption that, not ALL of the house owners would be owning a car, which lead to inadequate parking space.

 

          That cast my mind back to the time when the same happened with the two wheelers. Suddenly, every household had started buying the product. Every now and then got to hear, somebody bought one. And now we see oodles of two wheelers parked in a parking lot in front of every other railway station in Mumbai. I can’t think of any family, I know of, which don’t own a two wheeler. Earlier, for the typical middle class of India, the multitude, it was supposed to be something expensive, only those people used to buy who used to have occupational necessity. But now, people buy it just for the sake of feasibility, which in the earlier times, could have been considered luxury. History is repeating, this time, just with little more expensive product: Car. 

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          It all goes back to the industrial revolution. It enabled the industrialists to mass produce, creating the need for mass consumption. Which then was facilitated by them in many ways. It started with the shift of depiction of factory workers from merely ‘workers’ to consumers. Earlier, production of goods at minimum cost and profit margin achieved by selling them, was a the basis and priority of any ordinary company.. So, longer working hours and minimum wages were imposed on workers. Even the women, teenagers and children were employed as they were easier to control and could be paid less. But now the priorities were shifted. The pressure from worker unions started getting positive response in the wake of technological advancement which had given the company owners one less thing to worry about.

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          As the owners wanted to expand the market, they started considering their own employees as customers. Owners could affort to make the goods available at a cheaper rate as production costs had reduced. This way it was more affordable even for workers. Working conditions were also improved so that the workers would find comfort at the working place. Also, as they could see stuff almost affordable, so their time spent on leisure got reduced and started getting converted into overtime at the workplace. The worker unions’ demands about shorter week also took the edge off.

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          The old utility theory comprised of factors such as need and wants. Marginal utility of $100 could be less for a rich fellow than that compared to the needy homeless person. Why? Because, it was assumed, the needs of the homeless person were important to get fulfilled than the so called ‘wants’ of the rich fellow. Over a period of time, turned out, wants and needs can’t be distinguished from each other. It is a subject matter of personal views. (Just couple of days back I heard of a schoolboy drank toilet cleaner as his parents denied him a smartphone). What is ‘required’ for a person could vary person wise. Person might not be aware of the best possible use of the money he has, invalidating the argument of ‘need.’ Or people could be happy even with inadequate (either they are not aware or merely the contentment) whereas people even with abundance might crave for more. 

So now the task is easier. Create a desire strong enough, you have a consumer. No matter whether he can afford, people should long for your product. That itself will keep it as a top priority for purchase than so called ‘needed’ things. 

I happened to come across a talk delivered by Hans Rosling. In which he was talking about global poverty.

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The graphs clearly illustrate the potential rationale behind increased purchasing power of people (As multitude. NOT the elite few) Which means more number of consumers, hence greater marginal utility (for mass produced items) leading to more probability of larger sales volume. 

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          One more reason behind people consuming more, could be ease of the availability of consumer credit. A competitive environment has emanated in the commercial banking industry which gave rise to a smooth as well as alluring road towards various banking services for the customers. The backbone of the commercial banking i.e. mortgages can very well reflect the same. Mortgage procurement is easier than ever. This was coupled with introduction of credit cards. The amount of debt per person has increased drastically over a period of time.

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          With each new feature getting introduced in smartphone market, people wanna buy that phone with that feature. We rarely think of the past where we were living happily without that feature having at our disposal. Not using that phone may or may not have direct impact on our productivity but it has definitely affected our happiness barometer which doesn't come back to its position unless and until we own that gadget. 

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          Earlier there was no such thing as bottled water. People never felt the need. Suddenly some company started marketing the product, made sure its available easily and people started buying it. Now, one can’t live without bottled water, if away from home or office. 

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          Water purifiers are also the kind of product which is being used in ample amount. People who grew up drinking tap water everyday, now don’t drink water unless its bottled or from a water purifier. 

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          Air conditioners, although this product in a country like India have always been admired a lot, it was rarely considered to be 'a necessity' to have it installed at home. Let alone be having a separate one for each room. The product has now become a commonplace among the middle class.

  

          Earlier, existence of decently equipped health clubs were earmarks of town-side. Today even semi urban areas have surged with gyms at every corner, along with compatible specialized services like cross-fit training, Zumba, massage, over the counter supplements and personal trainer of our choice echeloned by expertise. 

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          One more crucial element which can be mentioned here is Supermarkets.

One might think its merely the mass buying of the a distributor/retailer which leads to the cheaper rates giving a strong reason for customers to shop at supermarkets. But if you think, shopping at supermarkets helps you to save more, then you might wanna reconsider the perspective. One thing a layman might miss out is that, the whole retail management notion that has emerged out in the recent decades (in case of developing countries, in recent years). Weilded with tools like planogramming & visual merchandising, companies are full fledge ready to make consumers spend more. According to Daniel Kahenman’s Nobel Prize winning illustration, our mental processes are of two types. In lay man’s terms, conscious and sub-conscious. If we were to give conscious thought for every action we take inside the supermarket, we might take long enough to starve to death, before we reach to the billing counter. For the most part, its our sub-conscious which helps us to take decisions quickly and act in autopilot mode. That’s where we are tapped and influenced. Which lead us to our irrational choices, purchasing the products which we might have not purchased otherwise. These are the choices we are seldom aware of, but are beneficial to the influencers.

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          There are many repercussions of continuing to be a consumerist society. Carbon footprints, pollution, exhaustion of natural resources and what not… The technological advancements and other tools which enabled us to achieve the development we've attained now, could also be turned back and used for the betterment of the deteriorating Mother Nature, making it more habitable. 

What we precisely need, to make it practically happen is the favorable public proclivity. Advertising is a tool to fabricate people’s quotidian reality. The tool which created this ‘desire to acquire’, the same tool could be used to set up societal paradigm in which conspicuous consumption is despised.