Consumer

behaviour
Critical essay
Consumerism and
Materialism

Virgilio E. Crespo
G.
In this modern world, the apogee of the consumerism produces more impact than
any warm developed in the planet as well as the materialism meets more people
than any Carnival in the World history. This scourge seems to obscure the vision of
the consumers removing the limits established during periods of time already gone.
Consumer culture is a huge echo with empty voice. The accelerated increment of
the demand produces an impact with the rules developed by the political system.
The political systems need markets with a very big capacity to breathe as well as
they require establishing very low prices as the human forces and the main
implements for products are. The world civilization is the voice of everyone sending
the dogma to consume between different compulsive classes. That voice starts by
the social media ways such as social network, television, facebook, etc. In this
manner, it is converted in an enigmatic virus to get a loan due to the fake need to
buy what consumers believe to need for buying what is not needed. This sad reality
does not finish at this point, the loan gotten by consumers finishes in delinquency
due having money when the loan produced another one bigger. The biggest
privilege in the world is the right to consume and privilege has been confused with
freedom standardizing a fake equal statement. In this manner, the value of
everyone is determined by what is consumed by privilege. The impact of the
materialism in the real world added to the consumerism does not allow the nature
to take a rest during the nights and humans as well. Small plants receive light for
twenty four hours in order to increase their tall in shorter time. Consumers are
destined to be awake because of the anxiety to consume which finishes in the
insomnia for paying. A healthy life is not the heritages of this process, the heritage
of this process are the medicines which define as a happy person somebody who
does not compare to another. The sadness of not having is produced by the
disconsolately of not being so poor people are recognized as an outline of people.
The equality takes the control in terms of the diversity because the profitability is
not a good friend of the diversity. This system seems like a dictatorship which is
looking for reproduce one example of consumerism as the same life prototype for
everyone. The real food has been faded by the chemical food. According to the
consumerism and materialism culture seems like to swipe the credit card is more
effective than doing exercises; the junk food is indispensable as a new habitant
when the bellies are homes and the non-alcoholic beverage is the ticket to return
your youth back. The advertisements used to be the way to communicate and now

advertisement is the artistic name of the life submission with a false value of
freedom. The free time became a jail when it is a consumption time. The
Consumerism has educated us the importance of having a television instead of a
bed in a house, because the television has the verb that beds cannot say to replace
the loneliness with medicine shop. According to the consumerism culture, the
products can touch the consumers and relieve the feeling of loneliness. In a few
words, the loneliness is the most enigmatic and profitable market. Which world
could feed the consumerism culture when this one finished because of it?
Consumers buying products to belong to a part of the society, when will they belong
to themselves?

Identity in the consumerism

Nowadays, Identity is very global definition in the psychological world which does
not allow us to understand properly its mean. One of the most relevant definitions
related to identity is the fact of the purport of somebody today, but this definition
involves the sense of somebody tomorrow according to the perspective of life. The
need of having a personal identity is focused on the understanding of the identity as
a human being and its duration in the future. That identity is a very enigmatic
characteristic that allow us to recognize the variety in what is constant accepting us
as a constant factor through different variable aspects. The definitions have a
relevance gotten by the abstraction because it contents the common features of a
particular prototype within that definition. The importance of the conceptual factor
is that humans could be understood as a part of themselves understanding their
different abilities. (Zepf, 2010)
The products are bought depending on the products longed for to buy; the value of
a merchandize is the same of another one corresponding in the same category in
terms of the substance what literally means the consumers buy for another reason
different than value. They buy due to the perspective of having the product not just
for the value. The advertisements work with the experience developed by using the
product instead of its value how it was in the past. That is why brands such as
Chevrolet offers cars with certain specification for the extreme conditions of the
environment but consumers buy a car with those conditions even when they will
use in asphalt. Through the advertisement is offered something unlimited when the
limits just exist. The advertisements are reflected on the psychological requirements

because if a product or service is constant in terms of features with other there is

not a point to be bought. The advertisements focus on establishing the needs
without satisfaction in previous time instead of an evident value. (Zepf, 2010)
During ages the most recognizable aspects in the society were established by the
ego and identity. However, the paradigm has changed starting to be focus on the
manipulation and the degradation of the character without separating the ego and
the identity. In this manner, consumers think that they are what they get because
what they get build their identity as a validation mechanism. The feeling of having a
false freedom is concentrated in the replacement importance not in the use
importance. The manipulation is a very specific tool to acquire the objectives
because of the lack of identity lost through the years. (Zepf, 2010)
The idealization is produced by certain of characteristic previously discovered by a
specific identification and later established as a wish. The identity becomes an
interaction with different products or objects in general thus the identity becomes
also a need to be recognized. The personal identity is programmed by the emotional
connexion with actors or heroes come from the movies in children cases. In this
manner, it is more than clear that consumers are recognized for seeing life
members as competitors due to the capitalism system. Misunderstanding the real
mean of human and society compared with products, which reduce the importance
value playing an important role with the narcissism as a lack of identity and
approval due to they do not have. For those consumers the present is just the past
in a continuously recycling process due to the treatment gotten by their family who
treated others in the same way. The consumerism has became a dogma with
prevent people to realize that they experience loneliness letting them know their
power for being narcissistic. In this way, the culture of consumerism defines love to
manipulate consumers with the fear of being alone with modern products believed
as human feelings. For instance; a car outside of the road represents the car does
not have any limit thus the driver neither. The campaign of cigarettes seems like the
smoker could overcome all the phases planned. Finally, this process educates us for
feeling fear of being rejected in the sense of giving consumers a fake power to
delete that sensation affording the product. (Zepf, 2010)
Psychology of Materialism
Materialism is well known for its capacity to penetrate in the consumer decisions
through two different aspects such as the behaviour gotten by the need of the
product and the weight of others opinion. The materialism is directly related to the
standardization of social status through the product brought as well as the
dependency of establishing services with minimal attention on the rules of the
consumers and high attention on fulfill their personal requirements. Materialism
measures the importance of the services and products to consumers that depend on
the status positioned by the article bought understanding their worry about the
materialistic environment. Frequently, this scourge is distinguished as a main

difference in personality statements with a huge impact in the personal value. In

this way, materialism is mainly concentrate on the achievement of social status
depending on how the values are driven by the material goods. The impact of the
social network and the television stimulate the compulsive behaviour which
produces loans to get a product. This effect is highly increased by the lack of
identity of the younger generation which is feed by the desire of reaching it
comparing with different artist. Materialism is highly related to the genders, but
there is no doubt that one of the most fundamental characteristic of the materialism
is to serve as an instrument to fulfill the false need to reach the happiness getting
the product offered. The victims of the materialism are consumers with anxiety
frame or immeasurable sadness. (Earl & Ronald, 2011)
Centralizing the materialism as an idea in a consumerism society is very clear that
the products act as a personality dispatcher allowing any consumer being a part of
a social circle. For consumers the social status is understood as the most effective
way to improve the quality of life which is gotten by the service or product offered.
The consumerism culture is an effect of the materialism using the envy as a
relevant symbol, while the consumerism is related to the interpersonal emotions,
influences and control of the consumers to buy a product. Materialism is related to
the fulfillment of the needs when a product is bought as a proof of this is the huge
variety of products and strategies in the market, which produce empirical and cyclic
levels of esteem. (Earl & Ronald, 2011)
Two theories were obtained considering two studies applied to United States
students and Malaysia students. The first theory talks about the impact of the
materialism in the status taking in consideration the fact of consulting products
before buying it in order to decrease the possibilities of having a bad experience.
This phenomenon is driven by the influence of the information through interpersonal
information produced by human relationships. Consumers got the influence of
having what is shown in order to generate empathy with others. Thus, consumers
could react in different ways, they can take the influence of others, and they can
reject the influence of others or simply to counter the influences being independent.
Showing in this manner a lowest importance to the rules standardized to the
consumers for being a part of their own preferences even though the orientation of
the rules established by the consumption standards. The second theory refers to the
opposite impact of independent consumers establishing the relationship between
the society and the consumption, consumers wishing to improve the quality of life
by buying a product are related to the comments. However, understanding the
consumer independence there is lower probability to happen establishing a
correlation between the higher levels of segmentation with the lowest level of
segmentation. The particular philosophy of the materialism is to create a relative
connexion between those segmentations. In this manner, it is understood the
materialism role as interpersonal connexions in the market consumers. (Earl &
Ronald, 2011)

Consumerism and ethics

Consumers have an important role in the decision mechanism in the market as
opposed to the previous years. This phenomenon was highly developed due to the
increment of the social network and the technology implements. A lot of
corporations have ensured their forces with the facility of the market without
restrictions. The clients exist because of the market structure, the social
development and the technology. The increment of the clients is related to the
increment of the consumerism in the world and the opportunity to take advantage
of the opportunity of reducing the worries through the will to buy. The consumerism
has increased with the years because in the past consumers were not seen with
capacity to think and take decisions through the ethical behaviour in social aspects.
After ages the consumerism is seen as way to get products or service in order to
enjoy the life due to the increment of the commercialisations in the world and the
transfiguration of values. In a few words, through the consumerism communities are
looking for their identity obtaining wealth facing the leisure. The consumerism
started being a scourge to protect the consumers right due to the manipulation
developed by private capitals in the market. In this manner, prices standardization
and the quality were some on the main factors for being leaded to defend to
consumers interest avoiding for Capitalist systems that never protect the clients.
(Ali & Wisniesk, 2010)
Another factor related to the increment of the consumerism is the fact of being a
support of the tendencies of the personalities. The companies do not have another
choice than recognize the reality so companies have incentive the advertisement
industry during years in order to increase through the products the consumerism. In
this manner, consumerism could be extrapolated as a way of identity and politics
ideal. The connexion between the market and the society allow us to clear the point
of view of the consumerism globally speaking. However, consumerism is highly seen
as a big connexion of materialism and objection against companies with unusual
use of ethic. It is important to distinguish between the ethic and consumerism as a
conduct. The ethical beliefs are related to the conduct because it is explained by
elements different than attitudes because the relationship between the ethical
respond and materialism is more often to see in the ethic of the consumers. In the
study were taken students from United Arab Emirates separated by gender
considering different social status and positive and negative aspects in the market
consumerism. According to the result demographic appreciation is not important
role but beliefs influence are more determinant than social status. (Ali & Wisniesk,
2010)

Works Cited
Ali, A. J., & Wisniesk, J. M. (2010). Consumerism and ethical attitudes: an empirical
study. International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and
Management, 36-46.
Earl, G. R., & Ronald, C. A. (2011). The Journal of Social Psychology. Materialism,
Status Consumption, and Consumer Independence, 43-60.
HERBERT, R. (1998). The Philosophical Quarterly. Dualism/Materialism, 145-158.
Smart, J. (1963). The Jorunal Of Philosophy, Inc. Materialism, 651-662.
Zepf, S. (2010). Consumerism and identity: Some psychoanalytical considerations.
International Forum of Psychoanalysis, 144-154.