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UK Documentary Series: The Men Who Made Us Spend


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I really liked this UK documentary series I saw on the Knowledge Network- The Men Who Made Us Thin and The Men Who Made Us Spend.  This is Episode 2 of The Men Who Made Us Spend.  There a big segment on marketing by drug companies, which is quite eye-opening.  The focus is on statins and medication for GERD, but of course applies to all prescription medications.

 

 

From the Knowledge Network:

 

Why do we buy what we buy? Who created our world of rampant consumerism and how did they do it? Investigative journalist Jacques Peretti investigates what keeps us hooked on spending and confronts some of the men behind the bestselling products and sales strategies that get inside our head.

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Looks very interesting, thanks, Bohno!  :hug:  Watched the first eight minutes, will be watching in installments.  :P
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Wow, this was very interesting! I will certainly view shopping for anything in another light!

 

Thanks for this, benzohno!

 

No wonder there's so much anxiety in the world - we're constantly being bombarded! I was just reading the news and suddenly thought of the video. There are so many ways social media has of grabbing our attention by using a fear tactic. And of course Big Pharma is always playing on our fears.

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You're welcome Terry!  It does bring a whole new awareness to the consumer experience doesn’t it?  Yes, no wonder there’s so much anxiety in the world!  They have us shopping in a fear-based way, that is by design. 

 

In episode one, it was said that now on average people bring home a new article of clothing every 5 days!  :o

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A new article of clothing every 5 days? I'd better get going then. I'm FAR behind. Seriously, we're so geared to seeing new things all the time - online, in stores. I read this: "The fashion industry is designed to make you feel “out of trend” after one week. Once upon a time, there were two fashion seasons: Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter. Fast forward to 2014 and the fashion industry is churning out 52 “micro-seasons” per year." Aug 19, 2014

 

It's crazy!!

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That is just craziness!  52 micro-seasons?  It’s no wonder I can’t tell what the fashion is these days.  It looks like everything is in style and has for awhile.  When you’re younger you don’t know that clothing will come back into style and if people would just hang on, they might see no need to keep re-buying. It's hard though I guess, with all this outside pressure, they want you to feel chronically dissatisfied.  If I have to get something, I mainly go to the Value Village and it’s easier and easier to come home with what seems to be new clothing.  It must be because people are discarding so much more quickly now and are getting rid of what they haven’t even worn. 

 

 

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Well, thrift stores are big business. Maybe people will drop their almost-new clothes off there. The thrift store by my place is busy all the time!

 

I had to laugh when you mentioned that you can't tell what the fashion is these days. Neither can I. There seems to be such a mishmash of different styles of clothing. I wish there was such a thing as biodegradable clothing. It would help the planet, anyway. Unfortunately, it would be outrageously expensive.

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Oh good Terry!  I'm glad I'm not the only one who can't tell what the fashion is.  I think it's all over the place.  I do like the idea of the biodegradable clothing- just put it out with the organic waste.  :D
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I really liked this UK documentary series I saw on the Knowledge Network- The Men Who Made Us Thin and The Men Who Made Us Spend.  This is Episode 2 of The Men Who Made Us Spend.  There a big segment on marketing by drug companies, which is quite eye-opening.  The focus is on statins and medication for GERD, but of course applies to all prescription medications.

 

 

From the Knowledge Network:

 

Why do we buy what we buy? Who created our world of rampant consumerism and how did they do it? Investigative journalist Jacques Peretti investigates what keeps us hooked on spending and confronts some of the men behind the bestselling products and sales strategies that get inside our head.

Thanks for posting this video.  Just finished watching it.  We all need to remember that from the moment we open our eyes in the morning to the moment we close them at night, we're going to be assaulted and manipulated by the men and women who make us buy.  Fear, greed, ego and sex are the levers.  Pull three out of four of these levers and you can sell anything to anyone at any time.  Pull all four of these levers and your target will be more anxious to buy than you are to sell.  Your target will beg you to sell to them.

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Welcome! :thumbsup: Glad you watched it Photobug.  Couldn't agree more with your comments.  I think we all could use a clear reminder like this, that we are constantly being bombarded, assaulted and manipulated by these messages to spend.  If we do not stay on guard to what is really going on, we can become unconsciously and obliviously complicit, not to mention more anxious and fearful.

 

For anyone, who is interested, all of The Men Who Made Us Spend episodes are worth watching, and the same goes for The Men Who Made Us Thin.  I think they're all available with a little online search.

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I was in an upscale women's clothing store with my wife a few days ago, a store called Anthropologie in Palo Alto.  While I sat there waiting for my wife to finish pawing through racks of 40%-off items (still priced 100% above cost), I looked around at the product arrangements, the lighting, the shapely mannequins, listened to the beats of the cool music and great vocals being piped in from the rafters, watched the young, rich, fashionable lovelies moving from isle to isle.  Just soaked up the whole environment.  It felt invigorating, fun!  I had to smile.  This was the whole point, to make me feel so good that I'd buy something.  But I was a man in a woman's store and there was nothing there for me to buy.  Finally my wife said she was ready to leave, with her arms full of stuff, thrilled that she saved so much money.  Saved so much money?  She spent nearly $500.  Sigh.  Oh well...I gave up a long time ago.
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:laugh: Happy wife, happy life!  I've seen their catalogue for furniture.  Found it downstairs.  Simply eye-candy.  In fact, it's the only catalogue for stuff I kept, it's so beautiful to look at.
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  • 4 weeks later...

This is very interesting too.  I saw this, which is Episode 2 of a two-part series,  The Super Rich and Us, also by Jacques Peretti, same guy as above:

 

 

From the Knowledge Network:

 

Never before has money been so polarized in Britain: the richest 85 people now own more than half of the world’s population. In this two-part series, Peretti investigates what caused this seemingly unstoppable rise of the super-rich. Peretti also meets the super-rich themselves - from those buying football clubs to the billionaires who are breaking ranks to criticize the decisions that made them richer at the expense of everyone else.

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