Are we consumers or are we consumed?

After a tiring day at work, we got home and turned on the TV. Without realizing it, a commercial for a new iPhone goes live, showing the technological wonders we can have on hand if we have one.

The commercial ends, and after a while we turn on the computer, and we will look for more information about the product, value, form of payment, and there is already installed the desire to buy, and consequently the dissatisfaction of the mobile phone model we have.

The next day, a coworker picks up his iPhone and when we see it, we think: how cool, if it is, it's worth it, I'll buy one too!

Okay, the TV message got the desired effect. And so it happens every day, several times, when we listen to the radio, look at a magazine, or come across a billboard when we are driving our car on the street.

Many professionals have warned about the consumerism, the importance of developing values ​​in our children, teaching them to value what they have at home, to value human values. But even so, we are bombarded with information all the time, clothes, shoes, trendy cell phones and food.

We hear about the need for physical exercise, healthy eating, but we see that the opposite comes food advertisements with attractive toys. In the rows of drugstores, markets, and gas stations are crammed with strategically placed treats next to the cash register, drawing the attention of children and many adults, leading to the desire to buy and consume. All very easy.

Statistics show that obesity is growing alarmingly in Brazil, and according to Health Minister José Gomes Temporão, if growth in overweight rates in the country continues at its current rate, obesity could reach two thirds of the Brazilian population in the United States. next 10 years. "If we don't change that now, in a decade we will face the same problem that Americans face when it comes to obesity," he said. He classified the overweight indices in Brazil as? Worrying? (ABESO website)

Frankly speaking, we are not mere consumers but we are consumed by marketing strategies, by strategically thought out ideas, and we are led to believe that we have to buy, try, and are literally consumed.

It is worth thinking to stop and reflect: Are we just compulsive consumers or innocent victims of this process?

HISTORY: CONSUMERISM (April 2024)