Consequences of Planned Obsolescence for Consumer Culture and the Promotional Self

Essay from the year 2004 in the subject Sociology - Communication, grade: 1,7, University of Leicester (Centre for Mass Communication Research), course: Avertising, Culture and Communication, 5 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: During the 20th century, the industrialised countries have developed an extensive amount of obsolescence. It has become clear that nations in the developed world over-consume, while the poor in the developing world pay the price of our increased consumption with their lowered standards of living and increasing environmental damage . When did obsolescence emerge, in how far is it planned, and which consequences does it have for consumer culture and the promotional self on a broader scale? By drawing on numerous examples, this essay explains how advertisements are constructed semiotically and which ideologies they derive from.