When was the last time you moved one of your hidden talents to a 'Forced Obsolescence' state. It was not long ago right. You were always a good artist and you finally end up in becoming a banker, you were always a good athlete and you end up in becoming a manager, you were always a good investor and you end up in becoming an engineer. In retrospect it was you who made all those obsolete. Yes ‘Forced Obsolescence’ has become a major problem of the 21st century youth. The surprising factor is that most of the time it’s inducted in you even without your knowledge or more precisely there is always an external factor.
Your personal circumstances or change in priorities could act as the villain and I am not going to talk about that. But I am going to talk about those who make deliberate attempts to induct the same in you. Villain is none other than the marketing strategies used by corporate or these established conglomerates.
During the first half of 20th century the businesses were mostly dominated by the so called monopolies of the time. But the massive spread of entrepreneurial benefits and the prospects of massive profits led many small and medium players to enter into the business that was dominated by these monopolies for decades. These small players of the time were able to provide goods and services of better quality at a very competitive price. The fierce competition prompted mega business empires to come up with a marketing strategy that would always force people to consume. They came up with a strategy that would induct a feeling of obsolescence in consumer and prompt him to consume more. I have a question for you? Will you ever consider buying a new mobile if a new version of the existing one is not released? Yes this is the strategy that made you feel that your consumer durable is obsolete even if it’s just six months old.
Lets consider an example here, it was stated in a newspaper that last year alone 30 million mobile phones became obsolete in India, most of which are in perfect working condition. I own a very good mobile phone which is just 2 years old. Last week I was considering an HTC phone that was released in last winter. It is as powerful as a computer of the previous decade but I still didn’t consider it just because the phone was carrying an Android 1.6 version. I was informed by one of the Google website that new version is due for release by the mid summer. Just two weeks back I considered the phone to be the best in the market. But in no time it became obsolete for me. Was the phone obsolete? No. It’s still the foremost in the market but since I was more informed I moved it a ‘Forced obsolete’ state.
And the weakness is still the reason why you see that new version of iPhone or iPad every spring. There is always something which is left unnoticed, the environmental impact. Even though these consumer durables carry a recycle tag, data is not available to state the exact figure that is recycled. These conglomerates are capable to tide over all the protest that could arise by lobbying the so called Super officials of the states.
‘We all are dead in the long run’, as Keynes stated this, he knew where we are heading for. The road would lead either to the complete destruction of environment or an unrecoverable burst of the economic policies. I would always ask you to keep this in mind the next time you go for a new product, ‘the world has enough to satisfy everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed’.
Your personal circumstances or change in priorities could act as the villain and I am not going to talk about that. But I am going to talk about those who make deliberate attempts to induct the same in you. Villain is none other than the marketing strategies used by corporate or these established conglomerates.
During the first half of 20th century the businesses were mostly dominated by the so called monopolies of the time. But the massive spread of entrepreneurial benefits and the prospects of massive profits led many small and medium players to enter into the business that was dominated by these monopolies for decades. These small players of the time were able to provide goods and services of better quality at a very competitive price. The fierce competition prompted mega business empires to come up with a marketing strategy that would always force people to consume. They came up with a strategy that would induct a feeling of obsolescence in consumer and prompt him to consume more. I have a question for you? Will you ever consider buying a new mobile if a new version of the existing one is not released? Yes this is the strategy that made you feel that your consumer durable is obsolete even if it’s just six months old.
Lets consider an example here, it was stated in a newspaper that last year alone 30 million mobile phones became obsolete in India, most of which are in perfect working condition. I own a very good mobile phone which is just 2 years old. Last week I was considering an HTC phone that was released in last winter. It is as powerful as a computer of the previous decade but I still didn’t consider it just because the phone was carrying an Android 1.6 version. I was informed by one of the Google website that new version is due for release by the mid summer. Just two weeks back I considered the phone to be the best in the market. But in no time it became obsolete for me. Was the phone obsolete? No. It’s still the foremost in the market but since I was more informed I moved it a ‘Forced obsolete’ state.
And the weakness is still the reason why you see that new version of iPhone or iPad every spring. There is always something which is left unnoticed, the environmental impact. Even though these consumer durables carry a recycle tag, data is not available to state the exact figure that is recycled. These conglomerates are capable to tide over all the protest that could arise by lobbying the so called Super officials of the states.
‘We all are dead in the long run’, as Keynes stated this, he knew where we are heading for. The road would lead either to the complete destruction of environment or an unrecoverable burst of the economic policies. I would always ask you to keep this in mind the next time you go for a new product, ‘the world has enough to satisfy everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed’.
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