Mountains of used clothing pile up in landfills in countries like India and Ghana. Overcrowded sweatshops swarm with young women and children paid three cents an hour to sew used textiles. Nearby, garbage washes up onto the beach with each wave that rolls in. Halfway around the world in the Global North, shoppers buy the products of this labor in a mall. They wear the shirt a few times, give it away and the cycle repeats. 

Consumerism manifests itself today as excessive purchasing of products. The culture of influencing shoppers to purchase products that provide short-term benefit translates into the neglect of wasteful practices like gift bags and spirit rally gear, which are frequently offered at events like birthday parties and conventions.

“I have two boxes of plastic swords,” Spanish teacher and environmental activist Diana Moss said. “A Latin teacher bought these for a Latin convention. What [was the school] going to do with these plastic swords when he retired? And yet 200 of them we bought with school money. I’m going to retire in a couple of years. What am I going to do with these? Can you think of a use for plastic swords?”

For many Americans, wealth largely correlates with increased happiness. Purchasing power establishes a sense of security as well as social status. Flare leggings from Amazon, multi-colored plastic water bottles from Target and items 50% off through Black Friday sales are all products that today’s economy readies for consumers’ instant purchase.

From online fast fashion to bulk packages of junk food, the practice of conspicuous consumption pushes buyers to purchase in a manner that flaunts wealth.   

“Do I make a certain amount of money, do I have this car?” United States history teacher James Tate said. “The concept of conspicuous consumption –– people that are wealthy, they are buying certain things. So naturally that must mean we want to buy those things. The real danger is that this is very reflexive and thoughtless on the parts of Americans.”

Online technologies and today’s corporations that garner millions of users through platforms like social media and TV exacerbate industrial age consumerism. 

Advertising that directly appeals to shoppers’ insecurities or their belief in short-term benefit is one of consumerism’s greatest drivers. From selling shapewear items that ‘easily hide’ body insecurities or emphasizing the profound necessity for a phone case that can also carry lip gloss, advertising in media influences spending decisions. In 2023, digital ad spending reached $601.8 billion. Retail, consumer packaged goods and financial services make up a majority of U.S. digital ad spending. 

“Consumerism creates problems,” middle school English teacher and advocate against fast fashion Marjorie Hazeltine said. “Is there anything wrong with having wrinkles on your face? No. Is there anything wrong with having hairy legs? No, but consumerism has told you that these things are bad and wrong so that they can sell you goods and services.”

The United States’ history epitomizes the success of capitalism, and the current capitalist economy vastly differs from its rural beginnings. In America’s early days, social status intertwined with land ownership, which ensured that an individual could provide for themselves and earn their own profit. The industrial revolution rolled around in the 18th century, popularizing machine and labor-powered mass production as well as middle class citizens’ demand for access to material goods. Throughout the U.S., more and more citizens wanted purchasing power in order to better their lives. 

“The country was originally envisioned as an agrarian one, one in which your citizenship in the country was based around being a farmer,” Tate said. “By the time the Gilded Age rolls around, the mindset changes from ‘I’ve got to work the land,’ to ‘I want things that are produced in factories and made in workshops.’”

During the 19th century in the U.S., the Gilded Age allowed the rise of industrial corporations. Mass production at the hands of millions of laborers became the norm. Government-championed manufacturing during World War II led to the growth of an economy that supported a middle class who enjoyed access to manufactured goods. WWII augmented America’s ability for production, and post-war consumerism dominated the U.S.’s economy. 

The success of today’s consumerist economy largely results from the conditioning of American minds to pursue material items. Studies find that the physicality of swiping a credit card correlates with impulsive spending habits that lead to reward processes in the brain. Consumers are also more likely to purchase when using credit cards. 

“It’s about wanting joy, wanting acceptance,” Hazeltine said. “Consumerism does a really good job of always getting your next fix and as soon as you get that one thing, there’s always something better. The biggest ‘c-word’ that’s a danger to consumerism is contentment. That is consumerism’s worst fear: somebody who is content and happy with what they have.” 

Consumerism’s success also relies on labor from developing countries. Tate cites dependency theory as a term that encapsulates the economic relationship between developing countries and the U.S. Advanced economies use resources produced by underdeveloped countries to produce goods that are eventually recycled back into these countries. Such countries can never improve their economy as it becomes hugely dependent on the larger economy. 

“Not only are [other economies] having to support [consumerism] by making these things, but once the product’s life cycle is over, it all gets shipped off to these countries and ends up on their beaches or landfills,” Green Team co-president Siddhi Jain (12) said. “They don’t even get the chance to develop or work on their own economy because they’re saddled with the waste of ours.” 

The cyclical relationship of textile waste represents the larger issue of consumerist production. Such dependent relationships not only hinder the economic growth of developing countries but also devastate the environment. The fast fashion industry, for example, consumes 79 trillion liters of water every year, making the industry the second-biggest consumer of water. It also releases around 10% of the world’s carbon emissions each year since it utilizes energy-intensive processes. Large, underpaid labor forces in developing countries fuel these industries, and such places often witness land degradation and microplastic pollution.

“On Instagram and TikTok, [fast fashion brands] make themselves seem very appealing, and they are because they’re cheap and always with those micro-trends,” Siddhi said. “They start working with influencers or they do massive promotions. People flock to these companies, but what they don’t realize is that [these products are] made in sweatshops, they’re full of harmful dyes and they use up crazy amounts of water.”

The U.S. stands as a leading country in exports of used clothing, and in 2021, $834M in used clothing from the U.S. was transported to other countries. Exporting waste out of the country is a lower cost method of dealing with an abundance of materials in comparison to developing local recycling procedures. 

The U.S. exports 700,000 tons of clothing annually to developing countries like Ghana and India and most textiles pile up in landfills. The average American citizen sends 81.5 pounds of clothing to landfills. With the size of recent years’ exports, countries’ landfills have been unable to hold these amounts of textile waste, damaging their environments. 

Compounding environmental degradation, the rapid production of an excess of goods harms workers in countries like India, Bangladesh, Brazil and Vietnam. Forced and child labor serve as proponents of rapid production, and the working conditions of the workers take second priority to boost profits. 

Sweatshop workers can be paid as little as 1 cent an hour, and even children may be forced to work up to 16 hours a day in shops with poor air quality and extreme heat. Commonly produced goods that come out of sweatshops include clothing, coffee, toys and chocolate. 

“It’s the connection between American consumerism and where those goods that we like are being produced,” Tate said. “We like our coffee, we like our cheap manufactured goods, we like our avocados. We like our trendy foods and very likely those trendy foods are coming from someplace that is not seeing much economic benefit from our consumption.” 

Consumerism ultimately intertwines the average, possibly unaware U.S. citizen with a snowballing effect that has globally harmful consequences. Advertisements and influencers light up users’ screens and use visual appeal to encourage compulsive spending. Such spending drives environmental damage and the mistreatment of developing countries’ resources and laborers halfway around the world. 

One individual cannot resolve this crisis, but taking a step back from online influence in the form of social media posts and ads can raise awareness of a lifestyle of instant gratification with long-lasting consequences. 

“I like the trend of de-influencing,” Green Team public relations officer Joelle Weng (12) said. “It’s good to take a moment when you feel like a product is being sold to you and you feel the urge to click on the link and buy it. Sit back and think, ‘Why do I want this? Is it because this looks really good on this person, or is it because I actually want this shirt?’” 

Moss takes small steps in menial tasks like grocery shopping to avoid consumerist production. 

“You can buy your food from a community-supported agriculture source, or from a farmers market,” Moss said. “You can avoid packaging when you shop. That’s not easy, because everything’s packaged. I bring my little mesh bags and I buy individual potatoes. You can consume but with care.” 

Consumerism draws laborers, corporations and the environment’s finite resources into a constantly-running machine. The root of the issue stems from a broader mindset of cultural acceptance of this damaging method of production. Joelle contends that it is the U.S.’s consumerist culture that the public must reflect upon. 

“I don’t think it’s so much of an individual issue,” Joelle said. “It’s very normal to buy a shirt for a single day, and you wear it once and you throw it away. It’s very much an overall mindset of how we normalize the amount we consume and the rate at which we go through products.”