'' There’s a lot of bad isms floating around this world, but one of the worst is commercialism. ”
- George Seaton
Today’s society has become too materialistic. People have changed their priorities about the products they would like to have. People now focus more on what they want than what they need. The main reason for this is the massive advertisement campaigns that are fed to us through television, newspapers, billboards and the internet. We get to see scores of advertisements through these media on a daily basis. So, unconsciously we are attracted and inclined towards buying the products with the sparkling, glittery ad [login to view URL] advertisements indirectly control our choice of brands and the products we buy.
If we notice, due to all these advertisements and high consumerism, we end up buying stuff we do not even require in the first place. The high sales of popular consumer goods basically reflect the power of advertising and not the real needs of the society. For example, in a developing country like Pakistan where a noticeable section of the society lives under the poverty line, popular items include mobile phones, cars and camera etc,. People are inclined towards buying latest cell phones after watching the ad campaigns on their television sets even when their budget doesn’t allow them to. While the fundamental needs of any society include basic food items such as wheat, oil, rice, and clothing items etc,due to high commercialism of luxury products, people are attracted towards wanting more of unnecessary items even if they are short of basic consumer goods and utilities.
To conclude, excessive advertisement campaigns of popular luxury items projects negativity in a society which can be eliminated by the government by introducing high taxes on the luxury products and relieving taxes from the basic utility goods, which are the real needs of the society.