Have you heard of planned obsolescence? It is one of the factors leading to over consumption & environmental pollution.
Planned or built in obsolescence:
‘A policy of deliberately planning or designing a product with a finite lifespan, so it will become obsolete or non-functional after a certain period. Planned obsolescence is often used to tempt the customer to purchase again. Cars, computers, and software are good examples of products with built-in obsolescence.’
(Oxford University Press: Oxford Reference. Source https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095534506)
Now we know why our washing machine dies a month after the warranty period!
Recommended Listening:
The first ‘planned obsolescence’ was born in 1924 by the world’s lightbulb manufacturers. They formed the Phoebus Cartel to control the world’s manufacture of lightbulbs and to engineer a shorter lifespan for lightbulbs.
An interesting podcast telling the story of the Phoebus Cartel: https://www.npr.org/2019/03/27/707188193/the-phoebus-cartel
The podcast also discusses the development of marketing in the 1920s- the idea that the consumer wants/needs to update new each year!
Listen here, or on Apple Podcasts or Spotify:
