Why do people want and buy: large TVs, fast cars etc?

[clv101]

What's the attraction - why do intelligent, rational, informed people bust a gut working in jobs they don't really like to be able to afford a ?600 HD TV when a 10 year old ?30 TV does the job fine or get brand new ?15k car when a ?5k car, again, does the job?

Anyone have links to decent papers/articles addressing this issue?

[eatyourveg]

Oh yes, shiny glittery things!

I think you will find this is largely to do with chemicals flooding the brain, and overcoming rational decision making. I have read a study on this, will try and locate it again but it was a while ago.

Apparently the only cure is to smoke lots of really high quality hash to counteract the effects - you can't be bothered to get up and buy things.

[WolfattheDoor]

It's the "keeping up with the Joneses" syndrome. I don't understand it myself - as long as something does the job, I don't particularly care what it looks like but many people do.

There's nowt so queer as folk!

[eatyourveg]

Dopamine - that's the one!

http://www.mindfully.org/Health/2005/Sh ... 6dec05.htm

This isn't the original study I read but you will get the picture.

[oilslick]

You can't put something like that down to any one thing.

As you might have seen from my thread about petrol / diesel, I've just bought a 6 month old car, more than I absolutely needed.

For the past few years I've happily driven around in an old banger which got 3.5k when I traded it in. It didn't bother me that there were bumps and scratches all over.

My reasons are many - Chris, you can take some of the blame for convincing me that we'll burn whatever oil there is no matter what. I've gone into a bit of a sod it mode, I'm not really bothered about keeping up with the Joneses as I don't really respect their view of the world. I have a good job which has been fortunate to me - I can make up my hours so I don't slave, money has been reasonably easy and I never spend any of it other than on rent and the kids and food.

[Keela]

Old banger? ... mine is not an old banger. Cost me ?900 ... and it's a lovely little car.

It's all relative isn't it. You say a ?5k car "will do" etc. I say why pay that much?

ETA - I should admit I spent more on my new polytunnel than on my car... - so we all have our failings.....

[oilslick]

Well, I've got 2 kids and live in Devon so when I say banger, I mean banger capable of doing 500 miles in a day every now and then and with all the bits and bobs you need with them.

Obviously I recognise one man's banger is another man's Roller

Edit: can I just point out when I say Roller, I wouldn't want to suggest they're desirable, just a figure of speech. Wouldn't want anyone to think I'd gone totally over to the other side!

[Erik]

What's the attraction - why do intelligent, rational, informed people bust a gut working in jobs they don't really like to be able to afford a ?600 HD TV when a 10 year old ?30 TV does the job fine or get brand new ?15k car when a ?5k car, again, does the job?

Because they are bombarded 24h a day with apparently very efective advertising campaigns which tell them that they NEED these things?

EDIT: I just realised you were referring only to intelligent, rational and informed people rather than the other 99,9% of society. In that case the answer could be that intelligent, rational and informed people do not, by definition, buy all that crap.

[PowerSwitchJames]

I've just finished a book called 'Enough' which is about this. I can lend it to you on Tuesday if you are coming along Chris.

[clv101]

I've just finished a book called 'Enough' which is about this. I can lend it to you on Tuesday if you are coming along Chris.

Thanks James, that would be great!

[UndercoverElephant]

Apparently the only cure is to smoke lots of really high quality hash to counteract the effects...

Ah! That will explain why I haven't suffered from this afflication for these past 20 years.

It's crazy, of course. Thirty years from now people will look back at the mountains of assorted useless trash from our era and wonder what on earth was wrong with us.

[UndercoverElephant]

What's the attraction - why do intelligent, rational, informed people bust a gut working in jobs they don't really like to be able to afford a ?600 HD TV when a 10 year old ?30 TV does the job fine or get brand new ?15k car when a ?5k car, again, does the job?

Because they are bombarded 24h a day with apparently very efective advertising campaigns which tell them that they NEED these things?

Bill Hicks had it right when he instructed all sales and marketing people to commit suicide for their own good. I hate the lot of them.

Dr Pepper: "What's the worst things that could happen?"

Me: "I'll waste 70p on some foul tasting chemical concoction that rots my teeth."

The most obnoxious of all are the Gillette adverts, which appear to be trying to define what a "real man" is in terms of which brand of razor he uses. The "real man" in question is the male equivalent of Pamela Anderson.

[Adam1]

I agree that it is the appeal of the shiny and the new. Plus, just plain old materialism - in particular, the belief that if you buy that new, shiny thing, you will be slim/more intelligent/have more sexual partners/emotional security/be happier (delete if applicable). There can be a lot of peer group pressure too. Or it may just be habit.

In my last job, which was in the corporate world, most of my (IT) colleagues talked constantly about the stuff they were buying: mostly new, shiny stuff; sometimes techy stuff, sometimes not. I was part of that world but since my "peak moment" in Sept 2005, I have been moving away slowing from that world. Not that I don't still have "pangs" for new, shiny stuff. I am learning to like old, familiar stuff. It is nice knowing how something works and behaves because you've had it for a long time.

While my colleagues were dashing off to buy their 32"+ HD TVs, which were replacing their five-year-old 28" CRT TVs, I was talking about my OH wanting us to get rid our our nine-year-old 28" CRT. My colleagues all had "do not compute" expressions on their faces when I discussed our dilemma with them: "Oh Adam is trying to send us an eco-message again", which of course I wasn't particularly. We still have the TV and probably will until it stops working, when we will probably re-visit the question.

[Erik]

While my colleagues were dashing off to buy their 32"+ HD TVs, which were replacing their five-year-old 28" CRT TVs, I was talking about my OH wanting us to get rid our our nine-year-old 28" CRT. My colleagues all had "do not compute" expressions on their faces when I discussed our dilemma with them: "Oh Adam is trying to send us an eco-message again", which of course I wasn't particularly. We still have the TV and probably will until it stops working, when we will probably re-visit the question.

Yes, the " do not compute " look.
I get that a lot lately.
Despite the fact that, just glimpsing through the news (energy, climate, food issue articles on EVERY page) it seems so damn obvious that we're in trouble and need to be scaling down and restructuring/rethinking our lifestyles, people still look at me like I'm the weirdo if I mention anything about saving energy, growing veg, recycling, not buying useless crap etc.

I'd love to get rid of the TV precisely because of all the offensive advertising, product placement etc. And when I say "offensive" advertising, I'm not referring particularly to the use of sexual, racial or other stereotypes (you should see Spanish TV!), I'm simply referring to the disgust that I feel when someone shouts at me via the telly in order to convince me that I need to buy something. Gggrrrr
But getting rid of the TV is a family decision... and it seems that collectively we ain't ready for such a leap!

[skeptik]

What's the attraction - why do intelligent, rational, informed people bust a gut working in jobs they don't really like to be able to afford a ?600 HD TV when a 10 year old ?30 TV does the job fine or get brand new ?15k car when a ?5k car, again, does the job?

Why? Same reason.