That 20% is us! We buy, we throw and we buy again. We don’t ask ourselves where we are buying from or where we are throwing to. Is this because we are a nation who are constantly being told the only way to be happy is to keep spending?
I went to Oxford Circus the other day for gloves and came back with 3 t-shirts and the urge to go back and buy a pair of jeans. What makes me spend all this money and think about buying something I don’t really need?
It could be campaigns like Coca Cola who market products with slogans such as ‘Open happiness’ suggest that if we don’t use their products we won’t be happy. Stores such as Selfridges use slogans like “Buy me, I’ll change your life” make us think that buying their products will make us happy and content. As a result we are buying excessively without seeing the repercussions of our actions.
In 1997 the average woman bought approximately 17 items of clothing a year which is a little over one item per month. In 2007 the average woman bought 35 items of clothing a year. With the figure growing it is worrying to wonder what impact this demand will have on the people producing the goods. Did you know it only takes six weeks for clothes on the catwalk to be bought on the high street. Think about the pressure the workers must be under to be producing so many clothes so quickly.
We as consumers need to pause before making a purchase and ask ourselves:
1. What effect the production had on individuals making it?
2. How the environment was effected to make and distribute it?
3. Who influenced your decision to buy it? Poster? Celebrities? Friends?
4. Are you buying it because it is a necessity or a luxury?
We need to start thinking for ourselves and buy only what we need to live not what we might think will make us happier.
Image Credit- Ell Brown on Flickr at Creative Commons
No comments:
Post a Comment