The video “The Story of Stuff” and the essay “The All-Consuming Self”

The video “The Story of Stuff” and the essay “The All-Consuming Self” both depicts and reveals the reasoning behind people’s actions of buying things. Both sources show that the idea behind people’s consumption of products is directly related to psychology. People buy goods because they feel like something is missing from their lives. However, as people buy one thing, they have to buy more in order to keep themselves satisfied for a long period of time.

One aspect “The Story of Stuff” video and “The All- Consuming Self” essay focuses on is the psychology behind corporations and the use of advertisements. “The average American is exposed to about 3000 ads a day” (The All-Consuming Self 81). Similarly, the video would support this quote. This means that advertisements are the factors that influence people’s minds into thinking that a person really needs the product even though they do not. What further contributes to a person buying something is the factor of people’s personal life and feelings.

“The Story of Stuff” video describes the ways in which corporations and people that make products persuade the buyers to buy more through planned obsolesce and perceived obsolesce. Planned obsolesce is the making of a product to seem useless so the buyer would buy more of the same product. While perceived obsolesce is changing the way things look in a product so that if something is wrong a buyer would have to buy another one. In addition to these methods, advertisements are just another enhancement to push the buttons of people to “shop till they drop”, and more even though they may not need everything they buy.

“The All- Consuming Self” essay focuses on the fact that these advertisements and methods that corporations create are ways in which to manipulate people into buying products. This is like brainwash in the sense that many people buy products that they want or think they need, but they do not know how to operate them. Therefore, the fake behind advertisements will have to stop in order to promote conserving the environment. Corporations should advertise instead, about all the factors that increase global warming so that people could become aware and make a difference in saving the planet.