JAMES A. ROBERTS
The Treadmill of Consumption
Onsumer
etplace
Once, “keeping up with the Joneses” was a neighborhood affair; now,
thanks to modern mass media, it's a matter of “keeping up with the
Kardashians” – that is, competing with the rich and famous in a
never-ending spiral of status consumption. James A. Roberts's analy-
sis of the compulsion to signify “social power through conspicuous
consumption” is a sobering read for anyone who has ever gone into
debt just to have a snazzier cell phone, like GoldVish's million-dollar
white-gold and diamond offering. A professor of marketing at Baylor
University, Roberts is the author of Shiny Objects: Why We Spend
Money We Don't Have in Search of Happiness We Can't Buy (2011),
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Using material possessions to exhibit status is commonplace in today's con-
sumer culture. We may not know our neighbors, but we feel compelled to
make sure they know that we're people of value. As humans we rely on
visual cues such as material possessions to convey our status to others and
to ascertain the status of people we don't know. The quest for status sym-
bols influences both kids and adults, although the objects we choose to dis-
play may differ with age. (Cell phones may be an exception that spans all
age groups.)
For young people, cell phones are seen as necessities, not luxuries. A teen
or even preteen without a cell phone feels set apart, on the outside looking
in. This is in part because cell phones are a way to stay tightly connected
with others (text messaging “blind,” with cell phone in the pocket, is one of
my favorites); however, cell phones are also important fashion statements and
social props. For young people, cell phones are second only to cars as symbols
of independence. Many teens see cell phones as an extension of their per-
sonality, and phone manufacturers and service providers, knowing this, give
them many options to express their inner selves – ways to personalize their
ringtone, change their “wallpaper," and customize their "skin," for example,
as well as add many apps and accessories.
Adults, especially men, are also susceptible to the status appeal of cell
phones. Researchers in the United Kingdom studied the use of cell phones
after reading newspaper stories about nightclubs in South America that
required patrons to check their phones at the door. Club managers found,
the stories reported, that many checked phones were props - not working
cell phones. To learn more about whether and how people were using their
cell phones as social props, the researchers studied cell phone use in upscale
pubs in the UK. What they found is most interesting: men and women used
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CHAPTER 1 CONSUMING PASSIONS
124
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their cell phones in different manners. While women would leave their
phone out of their pocket or briefcase and place it on the counter or table
phone in their purse until they needed it, men were more likely to take their
in view of all. Furthermore, like peacocks strutting with their plumage in
playing their phone when the number of men relative to women in the pub
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As long as consumers attempt to signal their social power through conspicu-
ous consumption, the levels required to make a visible statement of power
will continue to rise. If person A buys a new car, person B has to buy a bet-
ter car to compete; and then person A has to buy a boat as well--and so on.
But once basic needs are met there's no additional happiness with additional
satisfaction is often called "the treadmill of consumption.” That treadmill is
a barrier to raising your level of happiness, because it causes you to quickly
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adapt to good things by taking them for granted.
Research has shown that humans are very flexible. We tend to get used to 5
new circumstances in our lives — including financial circumstances, both good
and bad — and we make such mental shifts quickly. Economic gains or losses
do give us pleasure or pain, but the effects wear off quickly. When our situ-
ation improves, having more money or possessions almost instantaneously
becomes the new “normal.” As our store of material possessions grows, so do
our expectations.
Many researchers have likened this process to drug addiction, where the
addict continually needs more and more of the drug of choice to achieve an
equivalent “high.” This means that acquiring more possessions doesn't take
us any closer to happiness; it just speeds up the treadmill. I regret to say that
there is a great deal of evidence supporting the existence - and potential
harm- of the treadmill of consumption.
If the treadmill didn't exist, people with more possessions would be hap-
pier than those “less fortunate” souls who own less. But this simply isn't the
case. The “less fortunate” are, for the most part, just as happy as those with
more stuff. Big purchases and the piling up of material possessions hold lit-
tle sway over happiness. Probably the most discouraging proof for this state-
ment can be found in the study of lottery winners. An integral component of
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past your neighbors than to strike it rich with the lottery, right? If you fore-
the shiny-objects ethos is quick riches. What better way to catapult yourself
see nothing but a lifetime of fun and sun for lottery winners, you're wrong.
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bought their winning ticket. 2 If the lottery can't pull us out of our currention
,
their good fortune; in fact, some were even less happy than before they
por, what hope is there for a raise at work, a flat-screen (plasma) television,
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James A. Roberts / The Treadmill of Consumption
125
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One important reason that consumers buy products is to satisfy social needs.
Many of us spend a large proportion of our disposable income on so-called
status items, and this trend is on the rise as we continue to embrace the
shiny-objects ethos. “Wait a minute,” some of you might be saying; “hasn't
the current economic crisis stemmed the tide of status consumption?” My
response to that question is that it never has in the past. Sure, we might mind
our financial p's and q's during the actual crisis, but we have always returned
doldrums.
to our profligate ways once we've navigated our way through the economic
You need look no further back than the early 2000s, when the Internet
bubble burst and the stock market tanked. It wasn't long until our spend-
ing picked up again, and with a renewed vengeance. That’s precisely what
brought us where we are today. Similar economic corrections in the 1970s,
'80s, and '90s produced the same results: we tightened our financial belts
only to loosen them when the clouds receded. It's really a lot like yo-yo diet-
ing. Each time after we fall off the financial wagon we're a little worse off
than the time before. Apparently as consumers we tend to suffer from short-
term memory loss!
Pursuing materialistic ideals is a competitive and comparative process - 10
hence the expression “keeping up with the Joneses.” And today, with daily
twenty-four/seven media coverage of the lifestyles of the rich and famous,
our competition is no longer limited to our neighborhood. Bill and Melinda
Gates and the sultan of Brunei have replaced Joe and Irma down the street as
our points of reference. To achieve a position of social power or status, one
must exceed this expanding community norm. Even the superrich aren't
happy. There's always someone with a bigger home or fancier yacht - or,
heaven forbid, a prettier wife. Yes, we even use other humans as chattel
in our attempt to secure our position in the social hierarchy! The result of
all this social posturing is no end to our wants and little improvement in
our satisfaction, despite an ever-increasing consumption of goods. And
Madison Avenue knows it: after price, status is the principal theme of most
advertising
Status consumption has been defined as “the motivational process by
which individuals strive to improve their social standing through conspicuous
consumption of consumer products that confer or symbolize status to the indi-
vidual and to surrounding significant others."3 It is our attempt as consumers
to gain the respect, consideration, and envy from those around us. Status con-
sumption is the heart and soul of the consumer culture, which revolves around
our attempts to signal our comparative degree of social power through con-
spicuous consumption. If you don't buy into status consumption yourself, you
certainly know people who do. They go by many names, but "social climbers”
and "status seekers" will do for now. Climbers and seekers work to surround
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Can You Hear Me Now?
I thought I had found the ultimate status symbol when I came across
Motorola's new $2,000 Aura cell phone. The avant-garde Aura sports
700-plus individual components, a stainless-steel housing, and a front
plate that takes the manufacturer a month to create. Add to this list
the world's first handset with a circular display (great color and resolu-
tion!), a sixty-two-carat sapphire crystal lens, a multimedia player, ste
reo Bluetooth, and much, much more.
My amazement over Motorola's Aura was short-lived, however. I
lost interest when I heard about the $1 million-yes, $1 million cell
phone from Goldvish (a Swiss company). The phone is made of eighteen-
carat white gold and is covered with diamonds. Bluetooth? Of course.
How about a two-gigabyte memory, eight-megapixel camera, MP3
player, worldwide FM radio, and e-mail access? Not to worry if a
million is a bit rich for you: Goldvish has made available several other
phones for around $25,000 — no doubt delivered in plain brown-paper
packaging to avoid any embarrassment associated with buying a
cheaper model.
4
themselves with visible evidence of the superior rank they claim or aspire to.
Most of us, to some degree, are concerned with our social status, and we try to
make sure others are aware of it as well.
Status consumption began in the United States as a way for members
of the upper crust to flaunt their wealth to each other. Over the past century
the practice has trickled down to the lower rungs of the economic ladder.
People are willing to go into debt to buy certain products and brands -- let's
say a $2,500 Jimmy Choo handbag - because these status symbols represent
power in our consumer culture. Cars, for example, are an expensive but easy
-
model as well, so no real increase in status occurs
way to tell the world you've made it; there's no mistaking which are the most
expensive. The problem is that nearly everyone else is upgrading to the latest
treadmill of consumption. Fortunately - note the irony there - our consumer
confer status upon ourselves. Media mogul Ted Turner put it this way: "Life is
culture, with its vast array of products, allows us many other opportunities to
Status consumers are willing to pay premium prices for products that
are perceived to convey status and prestige. A high-end Patek Philippe watch
quintessential status symbol. One of Patek's advertising slogans is, "You never
is a good example of a product that is - and is blatantly marketed as-a
»5
a game. Money is how we keep score.
The Treadmill of Consumption
127
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really own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation.”
Trust me; you're buying it for yourself. Despite the manufacturer's claims to
the contrary, a Patek Philippe does not keep better time than the myriad of
cheaper alternatives on the market; on the contrary, it serves primarily as
an unambiguous symbol of status. To many people, owning a Patek signals
that you've made it. To me, however, it sends the signal that you've forgone
a golden opportunity to do good with the money spent so lavishly on a very
expensive watch. It's a zero-sum game no matter how much money you make.
And, of course, Patek Philippe watches are only one of a myriad of exam-
ples I could use to document our preoccupation with status consumption. What
about Lucky Jeans, bling (it's shiny), Hummer automobiles (maybe one of the
more blatant cries for help), iPhones, fifty-two-inch plasma TVs, $3,000 Chi-
huahua lap dogs (think Paris Hilton), McMansions, expensive rims for your car
tires, anything couture, Gulfstream jets, Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister
clothes (for teens and preteens) — even drinking water! No consumer product
category has been left untouched. Even the most banal, everyday products
have been branded — think $2,000 fountain pens.
Today, status is conveyed more often through ownership of status products 15
than through personal, occupational, or family reputation. This is particularly
true in large, impersonal metropolitan areas, where people can no longer depend
on their behavior or reputation to convey their status and position in society.
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NOTES
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John E. Lycett and Robin I. M. Dunbar, “Mobile Phones as Lekking Devices
among Human Males,” Human Nature 11, no. 1 (2000): 93-104.
2 Philip Brickman et al., “Lottery Winners and Accident Victims: Is Happiness
Relative?” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 36, no. 8 (1978): 917-27.
Jacqueline Eastman et al., “The Relationship between Status Consumption and
Materialism: A Cross Cultural Comparison of Chinese, Mexican, and American Stu-
dents,” Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Winter 1997, 52-66, 58.
4 Darren Murph, “Motorola Intros Avant-Garde $2,000 Aura, Markets It Like a
Rolex,” October 21, 2008, www.endgadget.com, accessed October 21, 2008.
5Ted Turner quote, www.quotegarden.com, accessed November 15, 2009.
Jers
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READING THE TEXT
est
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ID
1. Define in your own words what Roberts means by “the treadmill of con-
sumption."
2. How have the mass media affected the desire for status symbols, according
to Roberts?
3. What explanation does Roberts give for his claim that economic downturns
have a minimal effect on the pursuit of material goods?
4. In your own words, explain Roberts's concept of the "shiny-objects ethos”
(para. 7).
is
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