Old and Beautiful

This is my father's mother's Singer sewing machine, made in 1935 in Scotland. It's still in excellent condition and fully functional. A beautiful item, isn't it? 

It's an example of the fact that in times past utility tools were cherished items that were kept well and mended if they broke. They were valued and valuable possessions. As such, the tools were manufactured to last - and they were frequently made not only functional but also beautiful to behold, like this sewing machine. This was before the mass production of consumer products eradicated that way of thinking. Now it frequently feels like products are made to last only until the warranty expires, and if they do last longer, they already feel hopelessly antiquitated - and this is frequently true with things like computers because technological development is so fast. Don't get me wrong, I don't yearn for some "good old times" when everything was supposed to be better. I quite like digital cameras, smart phones, laptops and the WWW. But I often feel it's a shame that the mentality which produced items like this sewing machine seems to be gone now.

In fact, it often feels like in the modern consumer society "good citizen" means  only A) a good tax-payer and B) a good consumer. You should make sure to choose a field of study that gives you qualifications for a well-paid job and you should graduate quickly, in order to start benefiting the state in the form of the taxes you pay. If you indeed have a well-paid job, your responsibility is to consume for the wealth of the fatherland. 

And the advertising industry does its best to keep people consuming and to increase consumption. Anyone who thinks the role of advertising is simply to inform customers of the availability and pricing of products they already know they need is a simpleton. If that was the case, why are children often specially targeted? Children are the easiest to influence, so if you get them hooked to your products, chances are good that they'll stay as loyal consumers. My brother mentioned an especially bad example: the hugely popular, Japanese pokemon stuff. The pokemon cartoons on TV actually have a ditty which directly tells the listeners that they have to obtain the entire range of merchandise. And if ads were simply to inform customers, why would they keep bringing out new products and items accompanied with advertising campaigns which use imagery that is designed to make the products as appealing as possible? Apple started selling the iPad in Finland a couple of weeks ago, and the advertising really annoyed me. The morning's paper was full of full-page ads by stores that sell the thing, all calling it 'unbelievable' and 'incredible' and 'revolutionary'. You could almost think that they were trying to brainwash you to believe that you actually need it!

I'm not for banning consumption. If you've got money, it's your business how you spend it. But I do think there's something not so slightly wrong in the overly emphasized consumption mentality. As always, it's particularly visible before Christmas when you can't escape ads basically telling you that you have to get our products or your Christmas will be a complete failure. I think there are many people who actually buy into it, whether or not they can afford it. It's especially true with the new, expensive gadgets. iPads, smart phones, playstation 3's and so on fill Christmas wish lists, and parents, wives, husbands and relatives feel obliged to buy them so that they are not worse than all those other people who surely have them. Many actually can't afford the things and buy on credit or with one of these 'buy now, pay after 12 months' plans (why, that almost feels like you don't have to pay at all!), and consequently are in debt after Christmas.

Christmas rant over. Hope everyone has lovely holidays, however you spend them!