Giant corporations and companies invest yearly in advertisements, encouraging consumerist behaviour among consumers worldwide. This mechanism certainly aids companies’ revenues and the world’s trade, but there are also negative effects on the environment and labour exploitation.
The benefits of consumerism are mainly economic both for companies and global trade. Take, for example, Amazon, who spent 10 million dollars last year in captivating Black Friday ads to ammaliate shopaholic consumers. By the end of 2023, this company invoiced a three times higher revenue than the previous spending, compensating the investments. Moreover, the unbridled shopping of useless goods also increases economic growth on a large scale. This mechanism starts a process where the consumers’ demand for goods leads to more selling from producers, contributing to the GPL of countries, flourishing their economy first and growing the global trade then.
On the other hand, there are apparent drawbacks of consumerist behaviour that primarily affect our planet. Firstly, it implies production processes where carbon dioxide emissions are constantly involved, and once the product is wasted by the consumers, plastic and other harmful disposal materials are released. This procedure endangers the environment, exacerbating air and soil pollution and ultimately aggravating global warming. Secondly, the frenetic shopping of useless goods supports forced labour and exploitation in employment. Clothing online shops, such as Shein and Temu Chinese, are now known for exploiting workers who are undegoing lousy work conditions and are compensated with extremely low wages.
In summary, while there are plus points to consumerism, we must not underestimate the impact of this mechanism on planet Earth and on forced employment in certain parts of the globe. Tackling these issues through collective efforts should be prioritised to mitigate climate change and to stop the labour exploiting.