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Some Perverse Effects of Commercialism |
By "commercialism" I mean an attitude or ideology that puts market share and sales above everything else. It is adopted by some people who don't care what they promote or sell, as long as they derive enough income from that promotion or sales activity.
Commercialism does not take into account the needs of the customer, indeed, it will try to convince the customer that he/she needs something even if that is not the case. Commercialism sells a lifestyle instead of a product.
Because commercialism relies heavily on advertising it will sometimes transform the functions of products perversely. See some examples below.
There is an interesting article by W. Brian Arthur in the February 1990 issue of Scientific American. He shows how it's not the best product that wins, but the one that is first to market and pushed by a positive feedback.
"No Logo" is a book written by Naomi Klein, arguing against commercial identity.
The Free Software Foundation and the Linux community similarly argue that commercialist pressures result in bad quality software. (although personally I think the open source guys often produce rather unfriendly software even if it is very robust).
| Memory Flash cards are now upside down. Flash cards are made with a label on one side and a little ridge: | |
| The label is intended for the user to write a note, for example what the purpose of the card might be. The ridge is there to hook your fingernail on so you can pull the card easily out of the device: | |
| But the other side of the card carries the commercial logo of the manufacturer: | |
| Most digital cameras and flash card readers are now made in such a way that the card slides in with the logo visible, but not the user's notes! The ridge is therefore on the wrong side, totally inaccessible for use: | |
| This is the reason for the clumsy eject button: commercialism dictates that the logo is more important than cost and ease of use. | |
| I found a few items that do it right: my PSION-5 and my sister-in-law's Minolta camera used the cards correctly. Maybe that's why PSION and Minolta went down the drain... |
The implications for the environment are actually the worst: because it is impossible to remove the card using the ridge and you nail, the camera now has to incorporate a button and associated mechanism to push the card out. Extra costs, extra materials and diminished reliability.
I bought a set of cable clamps (2006-08-23) in a hardware shop. The package presented the clamps like this:
How many different sizes of clamp do you get? I asked a few people, including the salesperson in the shop. All examined the package, suspecting a trap question. But everyone said "three".
There are in fact only two. The first impression is "four": a large one, a medium one, two small ones and another small one of a different colour and perhaps slightly larger.
Surely this arrangement was laid out on purpose to trick the customer. It is impossible to prove this intention, and it is also not very important. But is it entirely honest? Surely not. And it is only one small example, we all know of many more.
