Vance Packard (1914–1996)

The US economy, and the continued happiness and prosperity of its citizens, rely almost completely on the promotion of wasteful consumption by the ad-men, the corporate executives, and the keeping-up-with-the-Joneses mentality of the super-size-me American Dream. Or so goes the narrative of leaders of the mid-century US economy that comes under the razor-sharp analysis of Vance Packard. It runs us through the consumption patterns of its citizens, and the ongoing foot-on-the-accelerator efforts of advertising industry to make turnover of goods ever faster.
Planned obsolescence of goods as a business model is something difficult to justify either morally (mainly in terms of its damage to the environment), or to the consumer on a value-for-money basis (so this relies on them not fully realizing what’s happening). Yet the number of types of obsolescence or encouraged waste (Packard counts nine) employed by the big corporations to boost spending, is staggering, and illustrated in concise yet bountiful detail here. Let me run through these briefly:
1. Encouraging people to buy more of everything (examples – two exhausts on a car that needs one, two cars to a household that needs one, his and hers versions of an item that they could share, two-household homes (with two of every appliance of course),
2. The throw-away spirit (fast-fashion, planned obsolescence of style, single-use or disposable items, non-recyclable food packing etc, goods cheaper to replace than repair)
3. Planned obsolescence (goods designed to break just after expired warranty)
4. Planned obsolescence of desirability (styling cycles)
5. Prevention of economical repair (often by design)
6. Planned chaos
7. Instant money/cash loans (to oil the wheels of spending)
8. Hedonism for the masses (everyone expects more out of life, erosion of spartan/protestant ideals)
9. Proliferation of people (encouragement of reproduction)

The only major things that have changed since this book was written are the exact monetary figures (they’ve only got bigger), that what was said about the US now applies to most of the developed world, and that a proportion of more educated citizens are railing against the wasteful behaviour described herein. This book was ahead of its time in calling out the excesses that were draining the world of its non-renewable resources, and now we are in the metaphorical hangover stage..
Read this. Don't be fooled!… (more)