by Rob DeVore

Created on: September 23, 2009

Breaking the cycle

I recently wrote an article about the concept of Minimalism and how we have strayed from it, where consumerism came from, my opinion about it , and why I choose to live as a minimalist.

To know how to live a minimalistic lifestyle, people should know what they're up against.

In this article, I'll look at the industry at work behind the scenes that discourage us from wanting to live this type of lifestyle, additional history about how the industry got to where it is today, and what we can do to break through all of the barriers within our control and embrace minimalism.

Equal Rights Movement

In the late 1960's, and 1970's, the trend moved from one income families to two incomes. Women went back to work. This was necessary due to folk's need for more money to be able to do more things due to a bad economy. Our moms were working as hard as our dads. With the extra income available plus the transportation need for both men and women, car manufacturers marketed to families with the intent of selling another vehicle....and it worked.

Advertising increases

As we've progressed through the years, we can now see that there are ads in schools, airport lounges, doctors offices, movie theaters, hospitals, gas stations, elevators, convenience stores, on the Internet, on fruit, on ATMs, on garbage cans and countless other places. There are ads on beach sand and restroom walls. All of these influence us in one way or another. The advertisements attached to watching sporting events has increased 100 fold. ....think about all of the commercials associated with NFL Football, the Super Bowl, World Series and NCAA Final Four.

All of this DOES influence us in what we want and desire whether we want to admit it or not. And there is a good reason why.

What started as a small way to get your business name to the people who live in your city or town, has turned into a worldwide multibillion dollar industry. As more competition for disposable income increases, so do the advertising tactics to get you to buy a product.

Advertising is the key to whether a product takes off or fails.

According to the PBS news magazine Frontline series "The Persuaders", These companies have a way of finding out ways to advertise to us...... psychological "codes". One highly successful market researcher has become the "go to " source in finding out how to get into the base thinking subconscious that makes humans want to buy. This is an example of how he goes about getting the information.

Clotaire

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