Consumer society
Consumer society
by Julie Bray
“There is enough on earth for everybody’s need, but not for everyone’s greed.” Gandhi
If we only bought things we needed, there would be enough for everybody. What do we need? What you need depends on how old you are and your way of life. Rearrange the list of things you can buy and put the things you think we most need at the top of the list.
- A coat
- A pair of trainers
- Levi’s jeans
- Water
- A CD player
- A pair of jeans
- A dental check-up
- Paper
- A restaurant meal
- A telephone
- Jewellery
- Gold-coloured laces in your trainers
- Food
- An appointment at the hair salon
- Paracetamol
- Shampoo
- An iPod
- Beer
- Toothpaste
- A packet of M&Ms
- Cushion covers
- Table mats which match the curtains
If we don’t need to buy so much, we don’t need to work so much. We can take part-time jobs or reduce our working day from 8 hours to 6 hours. Some people are leaving very well-paid jobs to live a healthier life in the countryside or a more exciting life abroad. This is called ‘downshifting’. Parents can spend more time with their children and the unemployed are given more opportunities to work.
If we start to respect saving the earth more than spending money, we will become ‘conservers’. When we are conservers, we try to choose environmentally friendly products which are durable and last a long time. We may find growing our own vegetables or making our own clothes more rewarding than buying them.
What was the best thing you bought last week?
Could you choose from lots of different types? We like having a choice of what to buy. People who buy things are called consumers. Consumers have choices. We usually choose the colour, taste, smell or size of what we buy, but there are other choices we can make. The following questions will help you to consider these choices.
Where was it made?
If you don’t like the place it was made, you might decide not to buy that particular product. A lot of people don’t buy products from certain countries when they don’t like the way the country is run. Was it made in a factory or on a local farm? If the product was unbelievably cheap, the people who made it might not have been paid much.
Who made it?
Do you know? If a friend made it, you probably like it more and you will want to keep it for a long time. If it was made by somebody who enjoyed making it, the quality and the design are probably better. Or does it look like it might have been assembled in a large factory?
There are children in Asia who make Santa Claus dolls for European children to play with. The children who make the toys don’t celebrate Christmas because they are not Christian; they think of the dolls as work. Would it be better if the children in Europe made their own Christmas dolls?
What is it made from?
One of the places where we want to buy expensive luxuries is at the airport’s duty-free shop. Next to the chocolate and cigarettes, there are beautifully shaped bottles and compact boxes full of perfumes and creams which promise to make you look and feel more beautiful. If you look at the ingredients you will find that the perfumes are mainly alcohol and the creams are mainly made of petroleum!
Almost all products are sold in packaging. Some products have too much packaging, creating more rubbish and using up resources. Some use recycled packaging, which is better for the environment.
Next time you go shopping, think about what you really need to buy. Don’t deprive yourself of things you like, but decide what you should buy before you go out, so that you won’t be influenced by advertisements or promotions. If it is more expensive to buy goods which don’t have much packaging and things which are more durable, buy less. If you can choose to work less, decide which things you would like to make, do or grow yourself. Even though you have less money, your life will become richer!
Preparation
Select the best answer for each of the questions.
Task
We suggest you do the vocabulary activity below before you read or listen. Then read and/or listen to the article and do the task to check your comprehension.
Comments
The content talk about important things wich we have to consider in our lives. The consumer society is one reality and maybe we can change this more fast than we can imagine, just changing our minds about the products and the form that they are made.
it is not a very interesting article but i had to read it.
now is the moment
I think downshifting is a great idea. Many times ago I had lost my job and than I had to do this. After I realize that something I usually bought was not necessary. I focused what I was really need. I was not be unhappy my new choises. After finding a new job, I promise to don' t forget my experience. I am saving a part of my salary to do useful things especially my hobies.
But we don' t ignore social pressure. If you have a job in a big company and you are in a important position, all needs are changing. You feel have to buy sth:(((
Thanks for good article.
This article is very interesting and informative for me. I think that "downshifting" is fantastic idea. It will help us to keep our time, money and health and of course environment. In my opinion, we must appreciate our nature. Such way of life is better than life in a huge city with bad ecology. In future I will live by this principle.
This article is very informative, I enjoyed reading it. In my opinion, downshifting is a great idea to save environment as well as money and health. Living in the countryside provides us with clean air and environmentally friendly products and calm which protects our nerves - isn't it great?
Such way of life is much better than life in noisy city with its rush and bad ecology.
I think it is very important to choose the right purchase. Really, we often don't think about our new clothes when we go shopping. This text helps us don't make mistakes when we are buying new things, there are many tips for choosing shopping.
Very interesting article.I`m partly agree with author`s position , because we should work hard to give our family all that we need.And it`s very important to buy what we want.And sometimes what we want and what we need is very similar.
An article gives us an important information about consumer society which protects the rights of the customers. The customers like to know the place the product was made.They are also interested about people who produce the product. The customers want to know about the ingredients of the product. It is very important for customers and their health to get more information about the product. They want to be sure that the product will have a good quality and design. The consumers want to enjoy the product they bought.
I agree with the content of this article. I think the problems with our environment are very important and we should try to change it. We can do some simple things for this, for example we should buy only that things what we need. We should try to choose environmentally friendly products which are durable and last a long time.