Americans have always been persistent consumers. It is such a huge part of their lives that present day Americans can just be characterized by how they make choices in what they buy. Americans looks far beyond the necessities but more of the aesthetics and pleasure of what their purchases bring. American consumers are encountered with a diverse selection of goods and designs for which they buy. Instead of just a plain appliance, they look for the “glistening” one (Blaszczyk, 204). They take their time choosing what colors match their furniture or what style gives a sense of individuality. In the present day America, they care for aesthetics.
People in modern day America, to an extent, care more of the look and feel of an object as opposed to the actual functions it brings. Realistically speaking, the initiative to get consumers drawn into the good is what catches their eyes, which is the design of the product. This became so evident that car designers became to get “free reign…(to create) fantasies of luxury and power” of the cars that they designed (Blaszczyk, 206). Producers understand the value of excellent design in products. That is the first thing that consumers notice, regardless of what the actual product is. If it’s eye catching, it draws the consumer in.
Apple products have always been known for their sleek and fashionable design. It looks well with anything and comes with a variety of accessories to make it even more pronounced in its aesthetical quality. Although there are a myriad number of brands that produce electronics for mp3, laptops, and tablets, most Americans would prefer to have the Apple brand. Even if the Apple brand does have better quality in performance of their products, the look and feel of the iPod, iTouch, iPad, etc. is the main incentive that drives consumers to buy them and greatly overshadows the other reasons.
This trend is evident in the sales of Apple products over the last decade. Every year, Apple would alter the design of Apple products to make it more fashionable with maybe a few improvements in functionality, release it, and see exploding sales. This practice has mostly been successful. Furthermore, in the near future, Apple plans to release a white colored iTouch (black being the other standard choice) along with a new design of iPod nanos, giving it a more watch-like feel. Apple will also launch six new watch faces for the player, allowing consumers to accessorize it as they please. Even if Apple gives the iTouch and nanos little tweaks of functionality improvements, it is clear that their main goal is to make it more fashionable and likeable in the physical sense.
Does it seem that modern day American consumerism is more about the fashion sense than the actual practicality of the item being bought?
Extra Link: Future fashionable iPod nanos
Sueyon Kim 01
RE: Style over Practicality
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this piece. I think that there is an obsession with aesthetics in main stream culture. As you pointed out the variety of current products is only surpassed by the rumors about the release of the new line. This fixation on appearance is, in my opinion, a consequence of abundance. Without a great quantity of goods, it seems less important to think, “How does this make me look? How do I look in this? Does this match my eyes?” When times are tough, we almost always focus on making ends meet first, instead of aesthetic preferences. Blaszczyk surmises, “Boomers had to watch their wallets and pocketbooks…focused less on accumulation…’the status and novelty of car ownership are long gone. So they look at their auto as an appliance-to get them economically from place to place and to be replaced when it wears out.’” (210-211) This l970’s mentality is similar to the mindset our current financial woes are creating. Generally people are “tightening their belt”, watching spending habits and being prudent about novelty purchases.
But do these budgetary adjustments have to completely sacrifice our affinity with aesthetics and style? I think that like the Victorians we can make do with what we have and make it pleasing to the eye. Movements to raise awareness about reusing, refurbishing, and reinventing our possessions and living spaces can give them freshness and a new feel.
M.Ciccone: Section 01
I too enjoyed your piece. Fashion and aesthetics have been at the centerfold of consumerism these past few years. Perhaps Apple is mimicking society and our focus on aesthetics. Magazines, media and fashion have all focused on beauty and less about function and Apple probably knows that its not all about function in society anymore.
ReplyDeleteThis can be seen as well in terms of how things break much faster now then they used to. We have discussed multiple times in class how things are built to look nicer and not to last longer.
Aesthetics have always been important in product design, even before there was mass marketing and factories to make uniform products. People are concerned with how things look, and even though group aesthetics change with the year, group involved, location, and class we can see that there are trends that people always enjoy. Apple loves to take advantage of these trends, the smooth natural lines of it's products, almost organic forms. It's very pleasing to the senses rather than some other blocky products. People are always attracted to some combination of 'new' and 'different' these apple I pods are an example. Their attraction revolves around how small they can get rather than the actual practicality of the device. They can only hold about 10 Gigs of songs/movies which is NOT a lot in terms of matiral but people will buy them because they look attractive. An i pod classic (new versions and models they still make today) is about the size of about the palm of your hand, a little thinner than it as well. It can hold 50 gigs, the screen is bigger, it's price is low, and it's even less vulnerable to breaking with it's sturdier materials and programming. Yet I never see it advertised, nor do I see people who have one (well except the musically and technology savvy). The classic is clearly better in every way and yet what people buy is the flashy nano. It makes no sense, but yet it's quite telling on how people act in this day and age.
ReplyDeleteYet, there are examples of people relying on how a product looks even a few decades ago. In Blaszczyk sewing machines are mentioned to be in many many households, and to fit with the decor there would be hoods installed on them, side tables, lamps, whatever made it fit in and look nice with the living room. These instillations were most likely borderline comical on a tool that is meant to fix garments, but what people were attracted to was the ability to display the thing to others. Not the tool in of itself.
I can identify a lot with your post. I definitely agree that modern consumer America is more focused on fashion than the actual practicality of a product. Apple is a perfect example of this observation. It seems that many Mac users consider themselves to be part of a fashionable social movement than just consumers of technology. Any avid Mac enthusiast will go on and on about how the OS is better and easier to use, but what probably attracted them to the product in the first place was its aesthetic. I will admit that Macs are much sleeker and more futuristic looking than PCs, but from what I've heard Macs contain programs that most people find unnecessary. For a much cheaper price the average consumer could buy a PC that gets the basic job done just as well. Besides a computer, phone, or mp3 player consumers are purchasing the clout and social recognition that an Apple product comes along with.
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