An example of how marketing based capitalism seeks to shape consumer demand. Here we have a fantastic development towards US energy independence in youth disinterest in cars undermining capitalist growth and corporate profits. What force ultimately wins out?
http://www.cnbc.com/id/46834644
Programmed for consumption....
Moderator: Global Moderator
Programmed for consumption....
All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone. - Blaise Pascal
Re: Programmed for consumption....
It may be that the youth disinterest in cars is because the car companies are just not making cars that young people are that excited about.doodle wrote: An example of how marketing based capitalism seeks to shape consumer demand. Here we have a fantastic development towards US energy independence in youth disinterest in cars undermining capitalist growth and corporate profits. What force ultimately wins out?
http://www.cnbc.com/id/46834644
If the car companies make more interesting cars, this trend might change.
Q: “Do you have funny shaped balloons?”
A: “Not unless round is funny.”
A: “Not unless round is funny.”
Re: Programmed for consumption....
Or maybe they just aren't interested in throwing away 25% of their income to sit in gridlock traffic to get to someplace that should be located at walking distance in their neighborhood to begin with. The car commercials featuring drivers skidding through turns in a 300 horsepower car without another vehicle in sight aren't fooling anyone. There are much more entertaining ways to spend your cash than locked in a metal box in stop and go traffic.
It's hard to impress this viewpoint on the older generation who saw a bitchin' set of wheels as the ultimate possession.
It's hard to impress this viewpoint on the older generation who saw a bitchin' set of wheels as the ultimate possession.
All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone. - Blaise Pascal
Re: Programmed for consumption....
The auto companies don't seem to consider effects of some recent changes in driving regulations. Most (all?) states now have some sort of gradual and provisional licensing for people under age 18. Unlike the case 15 or 20 years ago, a 16 year old cannot have a full drivers license in those states. The provisional license requires teens to drive only with an adult in the car for a certain period of time, usually months, and also restricts the time of day they can drive as well as the number of passengers in their car. Different states may have variations, like where exactly the person can drive on a provisional license when they no longer have the requirement for an adult in the car. Get caught violating the restriction, and they revoke the license. The provisional features last until age 18 or so, when the full license goes into effect.
All this cuts out a lot of the social purpose of automobiles during high school, a developmental time in a teenager's life on the road to autonomy. ($4.00 and $5.00 per gallon gas cuts out a lot of it, too.) No possibility for backseat rocking and rolling with Mom or Dad sitting in the front seat. No weed-smoking or experiments with malt liquor while parents are in the car. No cruising--Mom and Dad have to go to work or to bed, and besides, there's a curfew and the cops are hanging out in all the favorite spots. If you miss that developmental stage for automobile glorification, there's the possibility that automobile ownership won't have the same powerful influence that it had for previous generations. By the time they're 18, a lot of the impetus for doing the kind of fun but silly stuff we used to do with our cars is long gone.
All of this transforms an automobile from a way for teenagers to establish and enforce social relationships and hierarchies, to simply one of several practical ways of getting from Point A to Point B. The big deals in life for a lot of teens--sadly, the kinds of things now worth dying over--are your Facebook reputation and Twitter feeds, not what kind of car you drive. Mom and Dad have been chauffeuring their kids all over town since babyhood anyway; they might as well continue it until they're out of high school.
And also, don't forget the effect of years of "stranger danger" training, excessive scheduling of extra-curricular activities (outside lessons in ballet, tennis, soccer, art, music, etc., and shuttling around town by parents: Many young people are not accustomed to being in public places on their own, and that may affect how they view car ownership. (BTW, I'm not saying that stranger-danger training, extracurricular activities, and parental shuttling are wrong, just that they are now facts of life today.)
And others pointed out, with Internet access, cellphones, wireless connections, there are so many ways to communicate with friends and make new ones that don't involve a car. Web communicating and phone texting and talking involve lots of time (just look how much time we individually spend on just this one forum), leaving no time for extraneous activities like driving. Add Netflix, cable, the latest iPod/Android apps, interactive ebooks, the ability to make Jackass-type home movies in the backyard and upload them to Youtube, etc. to the mix, and who has time to learn to drive? Many schools eliminated drivers ed and other "optional" programs when they had to focus on teaching to the test, which means even fewer easy opportunities to learn to drive.
And besides, many of the cars they make now really so ugly, one wonders who would even want to be caught dead behind the wheel.
All this cuts out a lot of the social purpose of automobiles during high school, a developmental time in a teenager's life on the road to autonomy. ($4.00 and $5.00 per gallon gas cuts out a lot of it, too.) No possibility for backseat rocking and rolling with Mom or Dad sitting in the front seat. No weed-smoking or experiments with malt liquor while parents are in the car. No cruising--Mom and Dad have to go to work or to bed, and besides, there's a curfew and the cops are hanging out in all the favorite spots. If you miss that developmental stage for automobile glorification, there's the possibility that automobile ownership won't have the same powerful influence that it had for previous generations. By the time they're 18, a lot of the impetus for doing the kind of fun but silly stuff we used to do with our cars is long gone.
All of this transforms an automobile from a way for teenagers to establish and enforce social relationships and hierarchies, to simply one of several practical ways of getting from Point A to Point B. The big deals in life for a lot of teens--sadly, the kinds of things now worth dying over--are your Facebook reputation and Twitter feeds, not what kind of car you drive. Mom and Dad have been chauffeuring their kids all over town since babyhood anyway; they might as well continue it until they're out of high school.
And also, don't forget the effect of years of "stranger danger" training, excessive scheduling of extra-curricular activities (outside lessons in ballet, tennis, soccer, art, music, etc., and shuttling around town by parents: Many young people are not accustomed to being in public places on their own, and that may affect how they view car ownership. (BTW, I'm not saying that stranger-danger training, extracurricular activities, and parental shuttling are wrong, just that they are now facts of life today.)
And others pointed out, with Internet access, cellphones, wireless connections, there are so many ways to communicate with friends and make new ones that don't involve a car. Web communicating and phone texting and talking involve lots of time (just look how much time we individually spend on just this one forum), leaving no time for extraneous activities like driving. Add Netflix, cable, the latest iPod/Android apps, interactive ebooks, the ability to make Jackass-type home movies in the backyard and upload them to Youtube, etc. to the mix, and who has time to learn to drive? Many schools eliminated drivers ed and other "optional" programs when they had to focus on teaching to the test, which means even fewer easy opportunities to learn to drive.
And besides, many of the cars they make now really so ugly, one wonders who would even want to be caught dead behind the wheel.