The Mentality of Consumerism and individualism

Celebrity Influence

Younger generations tend to look towards influential people to decide how to act, and in some cases, what to buy. Therefore, many companies use celebrities in a tactic known as the "lifestyle solution." According to Professor Reeves, this is when advertisements falsely tell consumers that buying their products and services will change the person's life for the better. If marketers target people with an empty self, then the individual will allow the celebrity to become their justification for indulgent spending. This type of marketing heavily influences a person's individualism, which then impacts their consumer decisions.

Title Slide

A study led by Dr. Monle Lee of Indiana University South Bend defines consumer societies as a group of people being driven by the collection of superficial products. Consumer societies have many factors, two major ones being individualism and consumerism. The relationship between individualism, consumerism and their combined effects on consumer mentalities and behaviors is the main topic of interest. While on their own, they may yield positive behaviors and mentalities, together they counteract their individual effects. This topic has been derived from topics found in the article, "Ultra-fast Fashion is eating the World," by Rachel Monroe as well as "Democracy in America" by Alexis De Tocqueville.

Social Media

According to Rachel Monroe, the author of the stimulus article "Ultra-Fast Fashion is Eating the World," it was concluded that with increased social media usage, online consumerism has increased. For clothing brands, young girls between the ages of 12 and 22 are bombarded with advertisements all over their social media, which impacts their consumer behaviors and decisions. With the advancements in technology, marketing has increased in reach, and therefore advertisements have seen an increase in access and views. Social media was a revolutionary creation that allowed companies to increase their number of consumers, especially that of children and young adults.

Marketing

According to a study led by Dr. Lee, marketing and advertisements have caused the American middle class to become more consumerist. Advertisements blatantly target people's internal wants and desires. Therefore, the middle class in America has become privy to this manipulation of spending. Of course, advertisements have changed with an ever-developing society to become more persuasive to the public.

Marketing Graph

As this graph depicts, the online brand Pretty Little Thing saw their annual sales increase from $23 million in 2016 to around $510 million in 2019. This shows a 516% increase in annual sales for the company, and it was due to social media and celebrity influence.

Self-Identity

Dr. Matthew McDonald of RMIT University defines consumer culture as a culture that is motivated and unified by the want for leisure and material goods, and it can influence a characteristic of individualism known as self-identity. This prompts the possibility of the relationship between consumerism and individualism being a circular casualty or a positive feedback loop, since one effect causes the other to increase in strength, and vice versa.

Neoliberalism

Dr. McDonald then brings in the term neoliberalism, which describes the processes of promoting self-identity in consumer culture without the restraints of society. Neoliberalism is often used in consumer culture to affect people's personalities, so they can appear more attractive and distinctive. Influence on personality would then ultimately affect how a said person acts and behaves in consumer culture, which again proves why self-identity is such an important aspect to consider when viewing the relationship between individualism and consumerism. For, if someone is lacking self-identity, it can cause unhealthy behaviors to form regarding consumerism, which then relates back to the empty self.

Materialism and status Consumption

In a study conducted by Jing Zhang of San Jose State University, and Dr. Michelle Nelson of University of Illinois, individualism has been proven to increase materialism and status competition. Therefore, people aligning with vertical individualist values would tend to become associated with materialism and status consumption. The Cambridge dictionary defines materialism as "the belief that having money and possessions is the most important thing in life." This value can disrupt healthy behaviors as a consumer. According to Dr. Jacqueline Eastman of Valdosta State University and Dr. Ronald Goldsmith of Florida State University, status consumption can be defined as the motivation to buy socially valued products to communicate and improve one's status. Therefore, vertical individualists might insist on purchasing Louis Vuitton, a well-known designer brand, over a small business whose social importance might be unknown. In this sense, vertical individualists are more likely to fall victim to insensible materialism and impulsive status consumption.

Empty Self

In a study led by Robert Reeves of Augusta State University, the contemporary empty self is described as the yearning and working towards individualism and self-capability. The empty self is often seen when people do not have autonomy or individualistic behaviors. This continuous yearning for individualism can create a mindset that is vulnerable to mental illnesses taking form; for Dr. Reeves also states that increasing materialism and impulsive buying is a sign of an empty self. So, therefore, this can prove that there is a correlation between vertical individualists and the empty self, with materialism as the common factor.

Solution

One of the most viable solutions for the prevalence of negative consumer behaviors and mentalities in consumerist societies, would be to place age restrictions on advertisements for children. Certain advertisements, specifically ones that are presented on social media or use celebrities for support, are often seen by mentally vulnerable children and young adults. Putting a regulation on the ages to which advertisements are allowed to present themselves would be incredibly beneficial to consumer societies since people would not develop early habits of negative consumer behaviors.

Negative Consumer Behaviors

Purchasing simply for the act of purchasing does not coincide with healthy consumer behaviors, therefore vertical individualists often display more negative consumer behaviors than others. Dr. Zhang and Dr. Nelson's study has also stated that Americans were more likely to identify as vertical individualists, since they tended to value individual products that showed status. This can lead to the prediction that there is a prevalence of negative consumer behavior found in the United States, since a sizable proportion of its citizens identify as vertical individualists or align with their values.

Vertical Individualism

Studies have discovered that there are four dimensions of socio-economic societies. According to a study led by Dr. Barbara Czarnecka of London South Bank University, vertical individualists (which is one of the dimensions) are distinguished by their craving for personal accomplishments and competition. Those who are vertical individualists can often be seen pushing the limits in consumerism and individualism, due to their need for achievement.

Individualism and Consumerism

The Cambridge dictionary defines individualism as the idea that freedom of thought and action for each person is the most important quality of society, rather than shared effort and responsibility. It then defines consumerism as the state of an advanced industrial society in which a lot of products are bought and sold. The relationship between these two can be contingent on the type of person that it is affecting, and that limitation should be noted.

Limitations and Implications

understand the true effects of this solution, most parental guardians would need to allow their kids onto social media and other online websites to see whether there is a change in consumeristic tendencies. The apps and websites which the children use would also need to allow this type of regulation to be implemented. For, these apps and websites are often paid by the companies to show the companies' advertisements, so the online platform might lose revenue. One implication of this regulation would be the loss of annual sales for online companies. If an online company is only able to advertise online, then this regulation can greatly impact their number of annual consumers. This could then possibly cause the company to lay off employees, downsize, or even shut down because of bankruptcy. Another limitation of this solution would be the possible political divide created between citizens in the specific society. In the United States, specifically on the government's role in private business. Since this regulation would have to be one passed by the federal government, private companies might feel as though their rights have been violated in a free market society. This regulation also regards the mental development of children, which could be another sensitive debate for certain politically affiliated individuals and societies.