The culture of consumerism became an official part of American identity after World War II. It wasn’t until the Industrial Revolution that consuming went beyond the necessities of life.
The creation of the middle class was the birth of consumerist culture. Consumerism has now become the filler to the hole capitalism leaves. Consumerism is defined as “a mass-production and mass-marketing system that imagines an ever-widening abundance of goods within a culture that emphasizes buying and selling, desire, glamour, and flexible, purchase-driven identities” (Rosenberg, Cambridge University Press).
The laborer has become less important than the final product itself. The United Nations recorded that in the last 20 years there has been a 400% increase in the consumption of clothing. Social media has given birth to a new strain of over-consumption. On sites like TikTok, consumerism has been tied with a pink ribbon gifted as a present.
The recent rise of the ownership of Stanley cups is one of the many examples of how something as mundane as usable water bottles has become an exclusive collector item. The previous star of the water bottle market was Hydro Flasks. The start of the popularity of the Stanley cups can be traced back to a TikTok of a woman’s Stanley cup still containing ice after her car exploded. The CEO of Stanley saw the TikTok and proceeded to pay the cost of the replacement of her car. Individuality is one of the key principles of the United States, but the lack of community present has caused a loneliness epidemic. You have a more emotional connection to the products you own than with the people around you.
The loneliness epidemic started before the start of COVID-19. The widespread of loneliness is not the aftermath of quarantine, rather the product of alienation capitalist society makes. Capitalism does not care about humans, at its core profit is the upmost priority. Why do so many have felt the need to consume when experiencing loneliness? American overconsumption is not the fault of the individual themselves but a culture that exploits the darkness aspects of human nature. Grind culture does not leave time for the development of personhood and relationships. Climbing the corporate ladder or any hierarchal work system has been taught to be the goal of life. Mental health is always taught to be an individual issue instead of a societal issue. The solutions for the mental health crisis is individual when it is the flaws of the society they are force to participate in.
Materialism is the main dish in the American diet. The term “money cannot buy happiness” is disregarded as an untrue statement, what you desire is not a grotesque amount of wealth but stability. Love and happiness are not things that can be achieved from a material object, love and happiness is found within. The endless stream of products you consume will never produce lasting happiness, but a never-ending cycle of binging the material.
