Holiday Consumerism: To Spend or Not to Spend
The holidays have been commercialized to no end, causing shoppers to impulsively spend on unnecessary products and damage the environment through pollution.
December 5, 2021
When the holidays roll around, most people have food, family, and friends on their minds, but the driving force behind the modern-day American concept of holidays is consumerism. Walk into a Target the day after Halloween, and every inch of the store is decked in wreaths and shiny decorations, urging you to spend on yet another holiday. Though being in the shopping mentality is easy this time of year, the negative effects of American consumerism during the holidays outweigh the alluring qualities, as it has irreversible damage on our self-control and impulsivity while harming the environment.
Holidays have been commercialized to the point of no return, as companies rely on the vulnerability of the consumer to gain profit. According to Michael Soloman, the director of the Consumer Research Center at St. Joseph’s University, “The official Thanksgiving date has been carefully orchestrated by leading retailers to ensure that it maximizes the number of shopping days before Christmas.” Each holiday has been perfectly engineered by companies to maximize consumer spending and warp our perception of how much we buy.
The existence of Black Friday, the day that marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season, especially incentivizes consumers to impulsively spend, as prices appear lower, and bold signs beg them to buy. According to Adobe Analytics, during 2020, approximately $9 billion was spent online on Black Friday–an increase of 22% from the previous year. When companies have this much control over the consumer, they are able to influence their spending habits, leading to impulsive consumption. Marketing stimuli such as discounts, advertisements, and the visual layout of a store cause 62% of in-store purchases to be impulsive. These methods of direct marketing are to blame, as they exploit consumer vulnerabilities.
In addition to being harmful to the consumer, this excessive holiday spending has detrimental effects on the environment, and how we, as a society, view our relationship with the Earth. A study done in the U.S. proved that each person produces around 1,400 pounds of additional carbon dioxide during the holiday season due to an increase in consumption. This number is alarmingly high, yet we continue to follow this pattern of living. Black Friday produces a massive amount of pollution that continues to grow each year, with an estimated 80% of purchases being discarded shortly after purchase.
Shopping is encouraged as a way to celebrate holidays, yet the continuous increase of spending and wasting is destroying our planet, pumping out more pollution each year. After all, nothing says “holiday spirit” like environmental degradation!
While it is easy to fall victim to American consumerism, mindful shopping can reduce the urge for impulsiveness and overindulgence. An unnecessary amount of pressure is placed on buyers rather than companies to be in control of their carbon footprint; however, the most important factor of reducing your consumption is personal awareness. Before you go shopping for this holiday season, ask yourself: will this be useful in a year? If the answer is no, there is a good chance that what you are buying was designed for quick consumption and will end up in a landfill too soon after its purchase. Keep in mind that during the holidays, although retailers and advertisements say otherwise, meaningful connection with family and friends is more important than what is bought for them.