Communication in the Service of Waste

The dictionary definition of "consumer" discloses much about the nature of commercial communication. The consumer is the one who destroys or expends by use, the one who devours all. ¹⁴³ In a highly advanced capitalist world, with seemingly endless supplies of goods and services and a communication network to promote them, this definition takes on an unexpected and even darker meaning. Whatever earlier connotation there may have been, today's idea of consumption refers more to gratifying countless impulses than to meeting central needs. "[L]uxury is a necessity of life" reads the full­page department store ad. ¹⁴⁴ This idea is legitimated by an advertising system that feeds the voracious mass appetite with the promise of delights in "new and improved" ways of life.

"New and improved" and "distinction with a difference" have become the maxims for an economic regime that relies upon the replacement of products to stimulate its markets. Since World War II, America often has practiced a "dynamic obsolescence" that goads consumers to reject today what was satisfactory yesterday. ¹⁴⁵ That goods are often substituted today for yesterday's functional equivalents is of little concern to a commercial system governed by disposability. The primary concern is that the consumer not seriously doubt "the live­for­the­moment ideology that primes the market and avoids the question of the future, except insofar as that future is defined by new, improved items for purchase." ¹⁴⁶ Advertising's "live­for­the­moment" mindset may temporarily be confined and subdued during periods of economic, political, ecological, and natural disasters. ¹⁴⁷ Yet, even in hard times, the marketing message remains largely unchanged. Says retail consultant Carol Farmer, "The marketing challenge of the 90's will be to sell more in an era of less." ¹⁴⁸ Visions of yachts, penthouses, and high fashion that once graced the settings for advertising products may yield to more commonplace pictures of public transit, the family home, and rugged outdoor wear; the stress on value may replace the earlier message of luxury; and advertisers may wrap themselves more in the environmental "green" flag than in overt images of waste. ¹⁴⁹ Still, in the end, the rule is not conservation, but continuous consumption.

Mass advertising both reflects and fuels the process of dynamic obsolescence as it prods consumers to define and redefine their desires. The only constant in mass advertising is the message to change products and services constantly. "Beyond encouraging us to dispose of that which we have and replace it with that which they are selling, 'the commercial message' itself ... embodies the ideal of conspicuous consumption." ¹⁵⁰ This is not the discourse of conservation; rather, it is discourse in the service of waste.