#consumerism

#consumerism

The artwork, painted on a train signalling box in Croydon in 2019, depicts a rat hanging onto the arm of a clock and is now displayed at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden.

The bright digital displays feature rotating advertisements that follow traffic patterns throughout the day, maximizing exposure to captive audiences stuck in their vehicles.

Light pollution, energy use, and street safety are just the surface-level problems. These trucks are part of a bigger system - one that tells us to always want more, even when our planet can't keep up.

In the 1980s, the world's largest producer of shoes was the Communist Soviet Union, turning out 800 million pairs a year, yet queues formed for foreign shoes.

Vance Packard identified "planned obsolescence" as a sales tactic that encouraged consumers to buy more by making older products seem outdated or intentionally short-lived.

The Federal Reserve's reduction of 0.50% in interest rates this year will encourage borrowing, potentially boosting consumerism and affecting stock market dynamics.

"Materialists" winds up turning romance on its head to explore some of its unseemliest unspoken truths, marking the emergence of a new genre: the rom-con.

This ongoing struggle is taking a toll. A 2023 study published by Frontiers in Psychology found that materialism is consistently associated with mental health problems like depression and anxiety.

In his new book 1999: The Year Low Culture Conquered America and Kickstarted Our Bizarre Times, Ross Benes explores one fateful year and its impact on everything from network television to consumerist mania.

This is the first of two articles exploring a fundamental shift I believe entrepreneurs have a responsibility to embrace - one that frees consumers from unprecedented levels of debt.

"I can't sit home any longer" reflects the concern of individuals like Todd Katzman about the Trump administration's policies that marginalize LGBTQ communities, immigrants and others.