What is consumerism? Well, consumerism is the act of consuming and wanting to consumer more. Consumerism is a growing fad in today's society. People consume and want to consumer more everyday. Consumption makes the world go round. Transnational corporations rely on consumption as a source of income. Typically, transnational corporations utilize cultural diffusion as a way of pushing forward the consumption of their product. Cultural diffusion, or the voluntary change of culture, is one of the main methods of transnational corporations. For example, Apple has advertised its products to the extent that it is one of the most easily recognizable items in the world. An Apple product is the "in" thing to have as cultural diffusion has altered our perception of what is normal. Now, people consume Apple products like Iphones as each new model comes out because consumerism has been ingrained into the minds of people. There is an incessant need to have the newest model because that is the current culture. The reason why the current culture requires the newest model iphone is because cultural diffusion has set in.
Would you say that Apple has intentionally spread consumerism to countries that weren't consumers before?
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree with your point about how having an apple product is the popular trend now for people around the world but how have they done this? I would say that Apple has made having an iPhone a symbol of someone who is wealthy and who is up to date with the social trends. People follow these trends to be seen as popular and because they want social acceptance, so they become consumers as the trends are constantly changing.
I definitely agree with Nick's analysis. I would also add that the trends we're all talking about are marketing trends which equate to big bucks. In terms of economics, a company can grow by 5%/year just by entering a new market. Any examples?
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