The consumption cycle is spinning – the Netflix documentary Kuluttaja-ansa reveals why

The consumer trap. Netflix. ★★★

In the year In 1924, light bulb manufacturers got together to decide the future of their business. At that time, the so-called Phoebus cartel was founded. Its members agreed to limit the lifetime of light bulbs to 1,000 hours, while before that the lifetime had been up to 2,500 hours.

Of course, the restriction had one goal: to sell more light bulbs to consumers. The strategy worked.

Since then, so-called planned obsolescence has become the cornerstone of many product manufacturers’ business, says the Netflix documentary The consumer trap (2024).

Scheduled Expiration is of course just one of the manufacturers’ ways to sell more and more of their products. The documentary also talks about, among other things, marketing through influencers, influencing with images and creating needs, as well as investing in an online store that serves faster and faster.

Nic Staceyn directed and scripted by the documentary, it doesn’t make direct revelations, but it quickly puts cats on the table. Its most central idea arises in the viewer’s head: The problems of a lifestyle revolving around consumption have been known for a long time, as have the sales gimmicks of product manufacturers. Why is it that the pace of consumption keeps accelerating?

Document does what it has to: wakes everything up to nonsense by slapping facts on the counter. And there are enough of them.

Like, for example, the fact that around 13 million phones are thrown away every day in the world. Even if the device doesn’t stop working, new versions, updated features and design still create a need for the consumer to change to a new one. Important are, for example, the spectacular product launches of electronics giants, which the media often report quite uncritically.

and when you have to get a new one, you have to shove the old one somewhere. It is worth noting that in the marketing of products, the entire life cycle of the device is very rarely discussed. The documentary brings out many ugly facts in terms of the life cycle.

Repairing devices has been made very difficult if not impossible. For example, in electronics, screws have been replaced with glue, which means that opening the devices often breaks them even more. Electronics giants also try to keep potential repair manuals out of reach of consumers.

Even more incomprehensible is that very often it is more profitable to destroy or dump unsold but unused products in a landfill.

Numbers we also get faces, because – as product manufacturers and sellers know very well – stories are the most appealing. In the documentary, several boss-level people who worked in large companies are heard, who tell how they had enough of the business world that aims to constantly increase consumption.

They are a small glimpse of the possibility of change. Of course, at the same time, one can ask why most of them participated in organizing consumption parties for such a long time and with such devotion.

One of the critical ones has worked at Amazon for a long time Maren Costawhich is currently in the hands of Microsoft.

At Amazon, his work included, among other things, honing the usability of the online store to its peak. “The purpose was to shorten the time to think critically about the purchase that the consumer thinks they want,” says Costa.