Consumption and Materialism

Journal of Behavioral Studies in Business

Consumption and m

materialism:

Marketing’s interface with consumer responsibility

responsibility

Charlene Pleger Bebko

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

In a frequently cited statistic, 80% of the world’s resources are consumed by 20% of the

population. We are told that if everyone in the world were to consume at this rate, the Earth’s

ecosystem would collapse. Frequently, capitalism and the role of marketing are cited as the

marketing

cause. But is it the ‘system’ that needs reform, or the human? What drives people to consume?

Is there a need for self-reflection and self responsibility in consumers that can be more powerful

reflection

self-responsibility

than the economic systems that are blamed for the crisis? Can the marketing strategies that some

blamed

blame for creating this Behemoth be used to tame the beast?

Anti-consumption, consumerism, materialism, social responsibility

consumption,

Consumption and materialism, Page 1

Journal of Behavioral Studies in Business

INTRODUCTION

,

In America, the average family has much more material possessions such as cars, clothes,

and a house twice as big as 1950. And yet happiness, as measured by National Opinion

Research Center at the University of Chicago peaked in 1957 (DeGraff et.al.,2001). Figure 1,

Appendix, illustrates this relationship.

,

Many are now asking, ‘have we become, irrevocably, a Feel Good Society---a society in

Feel-Good Society

which instant gratification pervades (Hutton, 2005).” Are we, as Hutton proposes, on a path of

“unbridled consumerism---gorging on self

ing self-gratification, short-sightedness and an inflated sense

sightedness

of ourselves?” All signs seem to point to this, while the earth’s ecosystem suffers. Who

amongst us can say that there is not at least one commodity they have more of than ‘needed?”

We are told, that at this rate, the Earth’s ecosystem could not support Americans’ standard of

e...