Negative Effects of Consumerism

Consumerism is a process that people engage in by buying unnecessary and wasteful products. Many people agree with the argument that this system is fueled by businesses using ads and commercials that make people feel like they need to buy products they don't need. People may think that they don’t pay attention to ads or commercials, for example, anyone can walk away from the TV when it goes to a commercial. However, there are some many forms of advertising that we encounter on a daily basis and we don't even realize how much impact it has on us. Other forms of advertising include radio commercials, billboards, labels, coupons, magazines, newspapers, and the Internet. It only takes one person to look at one of these advertisement and buy the item, which can later cause peer pressure on everyone else to purchase the same item. Buying and consuming is an unacceptable system that affects our everyday lifestyle and the environment in which we live in. The big corporate businesses have a negative impact on human lifestyles. We have a government that makes laws to protect us, but lately the corporate businesses have more control over the economy. In fact, in Leonard’s video, it currently states that corporate businesses have a 51% ownership of the economy compared to the government's 49%. In other words, our economy falls into the hands of what the business wants. Therefore businesses are influencing people to buy products they don’t really need, which can only benefit the businesses. For example, the car dealerships spend so much on advertising and can make people feel that they need to purchase three cars when there are only two drivers in the family. According to Leonard, the houses we are buying are two times as big in size as what they were in 1970s. She also found that “In the United States, people spend 3–4 times as many hours shopping as our counterparts in Europe do.” All of these examples prove that Americans are feeling compelled to spend their money,