by Donna Marie Gray

Created on: August 06, 2008

As Consumers, We Are Obsessed With Consuming...
If It's Offered for Sale, They will come:

This article depicts how we, as consumers, are addicted to buying whatever is offered to us by way of marketing experts, whether or not we need it.

Chances are, that against all odds, any product introduced into the marketplace for consumer use, convenience, recreational entertainment or super "to die for" purpose, will draw huge crowds the day it appears in the store. And, it will sell out that very day, regardless of the price (usually astronomical).

This phenomenal scenario should serve as an indication to where our priorities are placed in the scheme of things. On any given day when a product is offered for the first time, the news coverage is almost hilarious, if not for the irony of it. There are lines of people waiting at the door for hours before store opening just to ensure the purchase of the very first of this new product. A close look at the folks who have camped out to be "the very first" usually depicts parents with a child or two in hand, teenagers, and various young adults, all of whom appear to be chomping at the bit to dash through the door into the store at the designated hour to spend perhaps a few hundred bucks on this item. And, of course, the media is there to film it all, details at 11:00 p.m.

I don't know about you, but quite a few questions come to my mind.

For one, I have to ask if all of these folks can really afford the product right this minute?

Is this product something that is being offered only today, and will never again be available to the public?

If so, why would you want to spend all that money for something that you could never fix or replace?

Does the maker of this product expect it to be the greatest thing since sliced bread and, therefore, will continue beyond this one day to produce and sell it at a lower price? (That answer is usually a resounding "yes"!)

I also wonder if these people have friends and relatives who are watching the news and saying, "Oh, look! Wouldn't you know "so and so" would be dumb enough to stand there all night just to buy one of those?"

Perhaps my priorities are screwed up, but if I were Sally, I would have set that money aside to fix my front tooth. If I were John, I would have gotten that leaky faucet in the kitchen sink fixed first. If I were Sheldon, I would have paid back that $75.00 loan dad advanced. And, if I were Jennifer, I would have stayed home with that infant she's carrying because she couldn't

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