Made to Break

With the transformation of man made products to the industrialized revolution where machinery and technology made mass production possible, the need to solve overproduction rose. The solution was simple- create a demand. Companies began alluring consumers through branding and packaging and the distribution of disposable products that created an endless demand.  For men these disposable products included razors, paper clothing, Yankee pocket watches and condoms. For women products were pads, Kleenex and other hygienic products. This created repetitive consumption. Furthermore, America learned to throw products away easily and became a wasteful society where the new was extremely fetishized. The competition between Alfred Sloan and Henry Ford represents this notion of psychological obsolescence. Ford was an American icon dedicated to durability whereas Sloan was more concerned with style. The notion of aesthetics and beauty of a car proved to prevail with Sloan’s success of LaSalle and their outdating of Ford’s T Model. This can be explained by women’s interest in automobiles and their role as consumers. This becomes the foundation of the automobile industry and an important  marker of this phenomenon is Ford changing the style of its cars regularly on an annual basis like GM. Americans begin to become addicted to products when advertising and marketing become concerned with selling values and statuses through products and in turn people used these products as symbols of wealth, desire and pride.

The notion of shame was also used to manipulate consumers from throwing away  "out-dated" products. During depression people became concerned with technocracy, emphasis on use and prosperity of technologies rather than profits.

At first I thought past marketers attempts to manipulate the American public were ridiculous. Then I began to realize we have not improved much from our history. As a female living in 2010 we are the main targets of advertising. There is always something newer and better to make us beautiful, skinny and “happy.” Slade does a great job explaining America’s roots in advertising and product fetishism. Today we are more concerned with a product’s aesthetic beauty and psychological appeal rather than its functionality and usefulness. I find this psychological obsolescence to be apparent in today’s product market. Cellphones and ipods are changing so rapidly to the point where I find it pointless to purchase one knowing it will improve in a few months.