Saturday 11 August 2012

THE LIGHT BULB CONSPIRACY

 
I cannot recommend this film enough.

Once upon a time products were made to last.

To truly understand how things have changed and staid America morphed into its current state as a consumer society endlessly fulfilling the infantile needs of a brainwashed populace it is necessary to understand the input of Edward Bernays.  Bernays who, with assistance from his uncle Signund Freud, created manipulated social change and brought about the happiness = consumption mantra. He began his work around 1918.


Then, at the beginning of the 1920s, a group of businessmen were struck by the following insight:
A product that refuses to wear out is a tragedy of business' (1928).
Thus Planned Obsolescence was born.

Shortly after, the first worldwide cartel was set up expressly to reduce the life span of the incandescent light bulb, a symbol for innovation and bright new ideas, and the first official victim of Planned Obsolescence.

This is also the time when ""Keeping up with the Jones" became part of the consciousness of the average consumer. Born was a sort of consumption one-up-manship and a need to not fall behind. One had to be the coolest, most up to date of the crowd.

During the 1950s, with the birth of the consumer society, the concept took on a whole new meaning, as explained by flamboyant designer Brooks Stevens: 
'Planned Obsolescence, the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, a little sooner than is necessary...'.
The growth society flourished, everybody had everything; the waste was piling up ~ preferably far away in illegal dumps in the Third World ~ until consumers started rebelling...

The current throwaway climate ~ where the latest technology is outdated after a year and electronics are cheaper to replace than to repair ~ is the basis for economic growth.

But infinite consumption is unsustainable with finite resources: With the economy crumbling and consumers becoming increasingly resistant to the practice, has planned obsolescence reached the end of its own life?

Combining investigative research and rare archive footage with analysis by those working on ways to save both the economy and the environment, this documentary charts the creation of ‘engineering to fail’, its rise to prominence and its recent fall from grace.

3 comments:

  1. Hello Noor

    I see you saw my post about it..
    and my torch logo (feel free to reference it) :-)

    There is a longer 1hr 15 min version there also, and a video interview with the director, and more documentation, if anyone is interested:
    Cosima Dannoritzer's Light Bulb Conspiracy Film
    .

    ReplyDelete
  2. Peter, thanks for dropping by.

    And THANK YOU for the original but absolutely essential point of view you have.

    I see myself exploring your site in some depth because, having grown up in a home where Dad fixed things down in his shop, I find a lot of common sense in what I have found.

    Personally, my cupboard space is being eaten up by old fashioned light bulbs that I buy whenever I come across them.

    Let us also apply this common sense to batteries! I have a zero personal tolerance for batteries unless there is an emergency, otherwise it is rechargables all the way. Even so, I know there is a more efficient system out there.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks Noor

    Good point about batteries!
    They get thrown away everywhere.

    I think there should be a small
    surcharge of say 20-40 cent (equivalent) when people buy batteries and say 50 cent on fluorescent light bulbs (which also should not be dumped).

    This money is repaid in the shop or special collection centers (they do this with bottles and tins in Scandinavia)

    But would people bother with such little money in "reward"?
    Yes they would, look at how people use coupons in shops, and schoolkids and others would organize local collections and make pocket money for themselves.
    In Sweden, some people even look in thrash cans to collect bottles etc ;-)

    ReplyDelete

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