Analysis of My Purchases from a Consumerism Perspective

I bought a pair of Vans because I liked them a lot and I have been wanting to buy them since I got here, as it is cheaper than in Portugal When I was buying the Vans, I felt pretty excited because I have been wanting them for a while. For a while however after the purchase I questioned myself if I was necessary and worth the money, doubting I made the right choice.

Bubble Waffle – I bought this because I had never seen it nor tried it before. Bought it because I love sweets and out of curiosity. While eating I felt in heaven and delighted. But when finished and with belly full I felt bad for the calories I had just ate and for the money I spent to be happy for 5 minutes and feel fat for another hour.

Apple Battery replacement – I paid for this service because my battery was broken as it only lasted 2 hours. I had to change it or else my phone was useless. I felt really outraged with this purchase, as I feel I shouldn’t have to pay anything as I already paid a lot of money for the IPhone and Apple is responsible for building valueless batteries. They should have changed it for free.

Sweater –I bought this sweater because it was very cozy and I loved it. I felt okay when buying this sweater. It will be great for when it gets cold. In sum, this week, with the purchases described above, I spent 145$ in total.

If we do an in-depth reflection about if the money was well spent I could start with the fact that I bought the sweater because I love it, true. Nonetheless, I only bought it because I saw it. Otherwise, I would not have bought it, because I wouldn’t have seen it and I wouldn’t have thought I needed it. I don’t need an extra sweater. And this is exactly what consumerism is all about. We have that incentive to spend money on things we don’t need but we think we do because society makes us think so, as we don’t have that exact same model or product. It is an expanding and vicious never ending cycle linked with an ever-rising intensity of desires

Consumerism is a philosophy rooted in every member in the contemporary society who is able to afford it. One thing is to consume our natural resources wisely to improve our lives with intentions of sustaining them. Another thing is how we consume these resources. Consuming them irresponsibly and wasting them, that is when consumerism comes to life. Consumption occurs when we are hungry. Every human being is hungry. It’s a natural trait. Consumerism is about being greedy and gluttonous, it’s about buying just because you can afford it, it is about over-consumption and about consumption as the central aspect in the daily life of many people. And that was me when buying the sweater. Luckily, I understood how I acted and I will be giving the sweater back next week.

Finally, it is important to discuss the purchase with Apple. I believe everyone, including me, is aware of the planned obsolesce strategy Apple follows. Apple designs and produces its products with a limited lifetime, so it becomes no longer functional, obsolete and unfashionable, after a certain period of time. This shortening of the useful life of products is a strategy to generate long-term sales volume by reducing the time between repeat purchases. Apple does this to benefit and profit at the cost of its consumers’ income, completely disregarding the impact it has on consumers. I was angry at myself not for spending money on the battery replacement, because that was an urgent necessity and I had no other choice. But because, even aware of this, I continue to buy from Apple because they make it seem like it is supposed to be so. I am supposed to have an IPhone or else it seems like I don’t fit in society. As a consequence, I end up getting hurt by incurring in more additional costs.

In sum, I felt outraged first because I believe Apple should incur the costs of changing batteries and secondly because I should have known better and should not give in to these appearances of society.