A very real conspiracy and how 'Victor Lebow' made you a victum!

What, you say you never heard of Victor Lebow
Lebow's best-known words were published in the Spring 1955 issue of the Journal of Retailing.

From Wiki

Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfactions, our ego satisfactions, in consumption. The measure of social status, of social acceptance, of prestige, is now to be found in our consumptive patterns. The very meaning and significance of our lives today expressed in consumptive terms. The greater the pressures upon the individual to conform to safe and accepted social standards, the more does he tend to express his aspirations and his individuality in terms of what he wears, drives, eats- his home, his car, his pattern of food serving, his hobbies.
These commodities and services must be offered to the consumer with a special urgency. We require not only “forced draft” consumption, but “expensive” consumption as well. We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced, and discarded at an ever increasing pace. We need to have people eat, drink, dress, ride, live, with ever more complicated and, therefore, constantly more expensive consumption. The home power tools and the whole “do-it-yourself” movement are excellent examples of “expensive” consumption.

His quote was taken to heart with the result that he has turned us, you and I, into a consumer society. Today this extreme has reached an apex where 99% of all goods bought today will end up in a landfill six months from now, if not sooner.

I will leave you with a video that explains all this much better then I.
the story of stuff.

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever

To low on badwidth to watch the vid at the moment but this constant "you must buy more!!!" mentatlity thats being pushed is probably my main argument about global warming/climate change.

The very same people who push the GW bs are the same people who tell us we must consume more, but the two do not go together!
If GW were real and being caused by our consumption then I'd be expecting them to be all out trying to slow consumption, but they do the exact opposite!

They must hate me, I consume hardly anything but what I need to survive

reply to post by HardCorps


It goes back even further to John B. Watson in applied Behavioral Psychology to drive people toward programmed compliance.

in less than two years Watson had risen to a vice-presidency at Thompson. His executive's salary, plus bonuses from various successful ad campaigns, resulted in an income many times higher than his academic salary. Watson headed a number of high-profile advertising campaigns, particularly for Ponds cold cream and other personal-care products. In addition, he is credited with popularizing the "coffee break" during an ad campaign for Maxwell House coffee.

... driving social opinion, habits, actions, and even rituals like the coffee break through advertising!



Your purchasing habits have been the interest of Psychologists and Market drivers for near a Century.
How effective is a psychological driver on social networks?

Keeping up with the Jones', what popular sport star is wearing what name brand shoe, and several other ploys toward building propinquity with the those that aren't already eager and easily programmed followers have been telling you what to do for a very long time.

It's all very fun stuff.

Awesome video, easy to follow and to the point. Good find, hope this gets viewed by many

These commodities and services must be offered to the consumer with a special urgency. We require not only “forced draft” consumption, but “expensive” consumption as well. We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced, and discarded at an ever increasing pace. We need to have people eat, drink, dress, ride, live, with ever more complicated and, therefore, constantly more expensive consumption. The home power tools and the whole “do-it-yourself” movement are excellent examples of “expensive” consumption.

I agree with him, especially the DIY thingy. DIY is expensive and consume a lot more than non DIY. Just browse to Youtube and lookup DIY videos, they all claim DIY, but after few minutes, you will see the pattern, "You can get this XXX from WalMart or Hobby Shack just for ..."

If its really DIY, why should I bought anything ? Better say its "Buy It Yourself" or "Assemble It Yourself". We consume and introduce new comlexity which require us to consume more.

To make a DIY solar panel, you need a drill, wires, plywood and more complex tools, we consume more than needed, just buy the solar panel and I think we consume less. DIY = expensive, which beat its purposes.

Next time I watch DIY video, I'll close the moment he said "Walmart"

reply to post by HardCorps


Awesome subject but I hated the video. I actually shut it off after 4 minutes because it was too infused with certain things that had the vague stench of propaganda (like the tank thing? why'd she do that? to show what an American she was). That depresses me because, as an accountant, I've been trained in both cost accounting and logistics management and as a biologist, I know we're screwing up big time.

It's a hugely important subject and one that should not be politicized. That kind of stuff can trigger rejection even in the most steadfast supporter of sustainable living on the basis of the environment, psychological health, and the economy (including personal!) like me and I turned it off.



Here's 5 reasons why we should buy less stuff:

1. Last I checked, the average household in the US was spending over 1400% of their monthly income in credit. That's not sustainable on a personal financial level and that kind of debt load has got to be truly depressing.

2. Competing socially by having the latest and greatest *insert super awesome new toy here* is actually pretty empty. At the end of the day, you're really not defined by your material goods but by who you are and your relationships with others and there's no hiding from that.

3. Our planet has finite resources and way too many landfills. That pollute our groundwater.

4. We should be selecting our goods based on quality and longevity over whether it's shiny and looks awesome. Doing the latter just guarantees that more efforts will be on the immediate presentation of a product and allows for manufacturing for obsolescence (which, btw, is already happening).

5. My grandfather wore the same boots for 40 years and they still look brand new. If you think about it, that's kind of bad a$$.

Sometime, I think, the Amish lifestyle probably is the correct one.
but then again....maybe not.