In 1925 the Phoebous cartel was formed.
In a streak of capitalist genius a group of
wealthy business owners found a way to increase
sales and revenue - without introducing anything
new to a product.
What they opted to was quite the opposite
- they realized that if a good’s lifespan
was actually shortened - people would have
to buy it more often.
They were the pioneers of what came to be
known as planned obsolescence.
So - what better way to test this business
theory than with a product which was bought
off the racks more than anything back in 1925?
The lightbulb.
They sliced the lifespan of a single bulb
from the standard 2500h to 1000 hours.
The Phoebous business group managed to increase
the need for lightbulbs by 250% - by making
the product quite literally - worse.
Through mutually agreed upon terms they harmed
nobody in the industry - while playing a cruel
joke on the consumer.
The idea of market-based economics - and Capitalism
- creating the best possible goods through
competition died that day.
Thank you for watching, I’d like to thank
my patrons for…
Oh - you want more information?
Ok sure, I am here to serve drug tovarisch.
So, where were we, oh yes - the lightbulb.
Well - Nobody could really do anything about
the lightbulb situation up until the beginning
of WWII, when things got a bit more complicated,
but nonetheless the practice of planned obsolescence
expanded to all industries.
Let’s take a look at shaving razors for
example - where instead of selling you one
part which you can maintain for a while you
are given the option to just replace the blade
all the time.
Sure, this made the long term use of the product
a bit more convenient but the original purpose
of this idea wasn’t your comfort - but to
continuously increase profit and revenue for
the company that had made it.
While not necessarily defined as planned obsolescence
- the 2 part pricing system, as we’ve come
to call it can be also seen in coffee machines
and the need to buy specific branded capsules,
video game consoles that make money out of
every new game purchased or the goddamn printers
making you cash big bucks for what is inherently
just a branded brick of paint.
Speaking of which - special jebite se to H.P Because of you guys back when i was a kid  I got my ass  whooped by my dad
because I thought it was going to be a completely acceptable to idea to print-out at least  a 100 pics
of naked girls from his
computer and his printer- not realizing afterwards that it costs as much as month's rent.
Another excellent example of planned obsolescence
is NYLON - back in the day this material was
about to revolutionize the clothing industry
- specifically women’s stockings.
Everyone wearing stockings nowadays knows
that they aren’t really considered a long
term investment, as they rip and tear all
the time - and therefore need replacement
all the time.
What if I told you the brilliant market system
found a solution to that a long time ago - through
nylon stockings which could hold together
two running cars without ripping in the slightest?
But THEN - the same market chose to abort
this idea before it got any larger meaningful
traction - why?
I think you’ve got it at this point - Because
if stockings don’t rip - people will start
buying them less and less - a scenario where
quite literally - the profit motive - the
driving force of capitalism is at odds with
what it presents as it’s greatest strength
- competition based progress.
Dupont, the maker of nylon stockings soon
told it’s scientists to go back to the drawing
board, and the same people who made this revolutionary
product intentionally dumbed it down.
If we looked at more modern examples and jump
to the 2000s classical planned obsolescence
was still far from dead.
The ipod, if you remember those ugly little
overpriced mp3 players, had an irreplaceable
battery.
And guess what?
It was intentionally made to last a set amount
of time.
It was proven in court.
Apple, while espousing it’s green, hip,
edgy aesthetic and a new frontier of just
HOW much music you can listen to - put a timer
on just how much music you can listen to.
You gotta love capitalism.
Now, there are plenty of cheap products out
there, which do break inherently due to the
necessary cost cutting which allows for their
price to be where it’s at.
It’s important to note that that isn’t
the point of this conversation - hell it’s
good that a lot of affordable options exist
in an economy such as this one because most
people wouldn’t be able to afford anything
otherwise.
One of the USSR’s biggest flaws was it’s
somewhat conscious choice to lack in consumer
goods, which made the west seem as a far shinier
world than it ever really was.
Now - these examples should give you a bigger
picture of just how little we know about the
products we buy on the daily,, but to understand
planned obsolescence further - we must engage
in some historical digging on our relationship
with the non living world - and no, not the
undead - but objects, items, trinkets and
so on.
According to Kamilla Pope - in her very insightful
book linked below We divide the reasons for
planned obsolescence in 3 categories:
Anthropological and ethical reasons
Sociological reasons
Economic reasons.
In more primitive societies there was a far
closer and mystical relationship between nature
and us - while today all items - created out
of nature - only carry as much value as it’s
use value in said societies.
In the past items were buried with people,
a practice which continues today - because
all items had a spiritual weight to them - connecting
humans and the natural world.
hunter-gatherers resisted for a long time
to switch to an agricultural mode of living.
But something else happened - when we entered
agro-pastoral living , living off of the land,
you see we were no longer a part of nature,
a simple member, but it’s master - molding
and adapting it to what we wished.
This led to competition over the best lands
and the first unification of multiple villages.
Also many were relocated from agro jobs to
defensive or offensive soldier-like jobs.
Once that system was intensified and we entered
“intensive modes of production” like irrigation,
changing crop mixes and more intense farming
- life turned from simple survival into something
a bit more complex.
Many centuries past and after the development
of modernity - three types of needs were slowly
created:
Basic, irreplaceable and wholly needed, like
water
Cultural, linked to a sense of belonging or
identity
Of the production system, used to maintain
categories of at that time’s primitive industries.
Both basic needs and cultural needs have existed since the dawn of history.
Whereas needs related to the system of production  only began to demand a specific type of consumption
with the onset of modernity. It is, therefore, possible  to state that material culture and consumption
are fundamental aspects of our society. However only societies principally Capitalist and western societies have been characterized as consumer societies.
The need for material well being, and indirectly
the consumption of what your tribe, your village,
your town, your nation, your country or your
whole world economy creates is perfectly natural
and fine.
The issue with modern consumer societies is
that they quite literally push consumerism
as not only the dominant cultural force - but
the very pillar of our identity.
I’ve touched on this before - but I’ll
repeat it here again - in order for the market
system to survive it requires literal eternal
economic growth.
This can only be assisted with massive, unending
amounts of consumption - both of large industry
goods, but also small every day items.
The very nature of our system has trickled
down to our every day lives - turning us into
not much more than garbage dumps for whatever
the economy wants to dish out.
When we pray to our Gods the conversation
is unending.
When we raise our children or look up to our
parents - the relationship unfolds throughout
a lifetime.
But with purchasing culture it ends the second
we buy the item.
The thrill of acquiring a new gadget or house
appliance is very real - but as old slavic
grandmothers like to say - all too temporary.
Therefore marketeers and advertising gurus
- in their eternal drive to make us think
of consumption as a never-ending process introduced
a new type of planned obsolescence: Perceived
obsolescence.
As the consumer became far more informed on
everything they bought - and as they inquired
more on the longevity of items the option
of cleverly making your toaster or washing
machine die after exactly 5 years couldn’t
quite cut it - when it came to screwing over
the customer.
And while many insidious but intelligent engineers
still manage to intentionally cut a product’s
life a bit shorter in the pursuit of more
sales - through software updates or non-backward
compatible hardware - the main money nowadays
is in perceived obsolescence.
The main aspect of the human experience most
corporations proudly pray on is our need for
self expression - so what they did was introduce
self-expression through consumption.
The item no longer needs to break - when we
as the working people of the world - have
decided almost unanimously that buying the
same product with the slightest of tweaks
year in and year out is the way to go.
Consumer credit offered by banks for people
with no more than 400USD in their bank account
removed every excuse for the modern human
to not buy into the latest and greatest trend.
As our interpersonal experiences dwindle,
and as we have less and less to talk about,
when we have less time to dive into our deepest
interests and passions - the market is here
to provide.
It will give you a conversation point - about
the new features of the latest tesla.
It will give you cultural identity - by selling
you clothing brands nichely designed by big
data analysing clothing companies for your
specific - and oh so original and not in any
way created by brands - aesthetic of choice.
It will fill that inevitable void brought
on by a life of meaninglessness which most
of us lead - with a few dopamines rushes whenever
you buy a new fucking pair of kicks.
But not everyone can possibly be buying into
this?
Well - we’re on the internet right - and
the internet is ruled by the most oppressed
class of people in the world - GAMERS.
And gamers, my tovarishchi, are a perfect
example of an audience so happy with re-consuming
an incredibly similar product year in and
year out.
I mean how do you explain the endless releases
of COD for the past decade, or Assasin’s
Creed games before everyone stopped buying
them and they had to slightly rehash the concept
of the franchise.
It’s not just white american housewives
buying new lawn decorations each year that
are the victims of what is inherently propaganda
disguised as advertising - it’s you.
It’s me.
It’s everyone.
So don’t blame yourself for liking shiny
things - the issue is systematic my tovarischi
- and so is the solution.
So - what’s the alternative?
Well - my grandmother has a washing machine
that’s lasted 33 years.
My other grandparents have the same fridge
they bought in 1975.
If you don’t know - I’m from an ex Socialist
country of Yugoslavia - and those products
were developed during a time when production’s
main goal was not selling more - but selling
better.
In the DDR for example, a country I am very
critical of, but a state with undeniable successes
in certain fields sanctioned the minimum lifespan
of fridges at at least 25 years.
In 1981 DDR created an ultra-long lasting
light bulb.
And when they went to an international trade
fair their western colleagues told them you
will make yourselves unemployed.
The engineers replied - no actually by saving
resources and not wasting money we will keep
our jobs.
Two societies - with two different outlooks.
With two ideologies and with two different
fucking fridges.
Westerners like going to cuba and photographing
themselves in supermarkets filled with the
same looking goods.
Well - gentlemen - your supermarkets ar*+-e
the same - you just put 5 different animals
on your cereal boxes and call it diversity
of choice.
I have a business degree and worked in Marketing
my friend - trust me - your wealth - is a
tv ad.
Now, there are differing perspectives on the
idea of obsolescence , some of them not as
ill-meaning as others.
For example during the great depression in
Newyork a gentleman had an idea on how to
kickstart the economy - Bernard London suggested
making planned obsolescence compulsory by
law - allowing eternal motivation for capital,
and an eternal source of labor for others,
this would in turn create more money overall
- and give people the jobs they needed.
Now I have to admit this idea would be brilliant
- if we lived in the fucking Rick and Morty
universe.
Back here - in reality mr Bernard there are
LIMITED RESOURCES ON A LIMITED PLANET.
So unless we want to commit societal suicide
even quicker than we are doing now - we might
want to leave that idea for 4500 AC
Another Capitalist - BROOKS STEVENS was a
post-war industrial designer and ideologue
of planned obsolescence.
All his items were very interestingly designed,
and actually quite cute.
But he always kept in mind planned obsolescence.
Rejected the idea of items lasting forever.
Design and marketing always created the need
for having the newest thing in consumers.
It’s thanks to people like him that we have
terms like product lifecycle, which is a polite
way of calculating the estimated longevity
of the item you’re selling.
No matter the perspective - whether your argument
comes from a place which wants to get people
jobs - the way Bernard’s did, or just make
more money the Way Stevens’s did - an unavoidable
cloud hangs over the idea that consumption
can and should be unlimited - a little thing
called the waste.
So much waste.
World ending amounts of waste.
So, where does the excrement of capitalism
actually go?
It would take 5 videos and a budget far bigger
than mine to fully dive into this global issue,
so I’ll stick to one type of waste - electronic
waste.
Hundreds of millions of electronic devices
are dumped weekly on the shores of developing
countries.
Thousands of cargo ships move tons of waste
in giant containers from one part of the world
- to another.
Corrupt governments take their payouts from
corporations as well as Ministries and politicians
from the capitalist west, and east - and in
return they turn their countries into literal
massive piles of garbage.
It would be incredibly interesting to hear
from Capitalist libertarians on how’d they’d
solve this issue in a non-regulated market
- because even in one where there are laws
prohibiting the export of electronic waste
- it’s still happening.
So if we have created this dystopian reality
behind walls of regulations what would happen
if we’d just let anyone and everyone do
what they wish - with their material piss
- with their waste.
And yes, exporting electronic waste to developing
countries is illegal - but these businessmen
use a simple trick - they define the trash
as “second hand goods” - manipulating
their way around any potential limiting legislation.
All they need is the people on the ground
to close their eyes and allow the ships to
keep coming in.
The only good news in this whole situation
is ironically very bad - because you see the
waste economy, as it’s called, is coming
to an end - as there’s almost no space left
for our garbage.
So the next time you see a corporation branding
itself as green - and transforming it’s
products into recyclable and so called sustainable
modes of production - they’re doing it not
out of the kindness of their own hearts - but
out of material need.
Now dear tovarischi let’s wrap this one
up.
We learned that the profit motive leading
to the best products is a mythical fabrication
used to motivate us to support a world fueled
by nothing more than petty greed.
We’ve also seen that the market is incompatible
with our planet, as limited resources would
never sustain the idea of unending economic
growth.
And most importantly - and somewhat selfishly
- when removed from any and all ideological
weight - capitalism - is unironically - bad
for consumerism.
Who would have thunk?
Thank you guys for watching, especially you
guys that stuck through the whole thing.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank
my lovely patrons - especially:
If you like what I make and would like to
become a Patron - I would be very grateful
- for the price of a half a can of beer a
month you can help me keep this channel up
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