Blog 6

The main argument that would be made from Jess Worth would be that although the Vietnamese seem as though their lives have benefited from the Nike factory jobs, it's only putting them in to where we are today in over consumption and inevitably pollution. The first point made in the Nike essay is that they're able to buy bikes and extend their houses. Although it's nice to pamper yourself, these should be the furthest things being worried about. The workers are still making $54 a month and working horrible hours being forced to work at times. They may be able to afford a new bike but at what cost to their human dignity? He also talks about how working in the field is an awful job to be doing but in reality that's how many cultures have survived for centuries and sustained themselves as well as society. When consumption comes in to play it leads to all kinds of other issues that America is facing already which destroys society.

Over Consumption

It's known that over consumption has effected our country and even the world environment. Although the environment is being harmed day by day from this over consumption, there is a deeper issue that needs to be solved in order to solve that one. The issue im speaking about is the reason why people are over consuming and the effects it has on us. Everybody always wants the newest product out. I'm try type of person that will refuse to buy something just because everyone else has it because i dont want to become one of many, my individualism is important to me. Even though i feel this way, i cant help but want it too for that same reason, everyone else has it. In order to stay on top people feel like they need to keep consuming products that come out and get them before everyone else. In the video it talks about a key selling point for people are their neighbors. They see what their friends or neighbors have and want it too. This plays in to the role of over consumption and aslo speaks volumes on their identities. When they are constantly trying to keep up with their neighbors in material objects it says that they arent one hundred percent with themselves. They are repeatedly buying new things to try to define themselves and by doing so they are losing themselves. No longer would someone plainly be that funny guy George, they would be "that guy with the Lexus and big house. I think his name is George." Over consumption clouds who we are and we become people of products. In Faustian Economics it speaks of the idea of limits. Wendell Berry says," improvement by outward expansion may no longer be a good idea." People have to know their limits and by constantly buy new products indulging in over consumption you are constantly testing your limits as well as the worlds.

All of the most successful advertising campaigns seem to be selling an idea rather than a product. If a product has a touching and relate-able story behind it then people are more inclined to buy it. Advertisers spend millions just on research to find out what appeals to each consumer and with that research they design their products so the masses will buy them.Companies such as Cheese Itz have begun to create a story behind how their products have been created as well as many others in order to build a relationship with the consumer. Companies have also created a lifestyle behind their product in which people identify themselves to be. One person can me this name band type of person while another is that band name type of person. In "Television, Advertising, and Identity"  there is one part that speaks upon this idea which says,"commercial television is predominately governed by the aesthetic of representational realism, of images and stories which fabricate the real and attempt to produce a reality effect." This means that advertisements attempt to make their product as real as possible by making up a story find it. Lets take a pair of shoes for example. If the pair of shoes were just shown people wouldnt be as inclined to buy them. If there was a story behind the shoes with a high school athlete beating a school record because of the shoes, people would remember it and want to buy them more. Advertisers manipulate the consumers by making them relate to the product being sold.