I know what I want, and I want it NOW!
Our rampant consumer culture and media fed expectation for instant gratification and an over-inflated sense of entitlement has a dark underside; these commercial values feed shop-lifting, work place theft and robbery.
I am under the impression that shoplifting and employee theft has risen in recent years. I googled this and it does seem that statistics tend to support this impression. I am especially floored by employee theft since an employee should know that shrinkage ultimately hurts the employee. It reduces profit margin and therefore also shrinks available funds for bonuses, benefits and pay raises. Even with many loss prevention techniques in place, I still get the impression that the shoplifting problem continues to grow. During my few minutes of google based research, I read about underlying psychological reasons for shoplifting and employee theft. These included things like depression, stress relief, boredom and even a drug like "high". I am sure these are all important factors for the individuals involved but I wish to look at this problem on the society level.
If it IS true that the instances and scope of shoplifting (and employee theft) are indeed increasing. And we imagine that that the nation increasing in this behavior were a single person who is profoundly influenced by media culture. Then one would want to examine the messages from that media which may contribute to the undesirable behavior. What exactly are these messages and where are they coming from?
I believe that our society is absolutely inundated with consumer values in order to feed our economy. Look at Bush's economic relief package: in order to prevent a depression, here, have some money and go shopping! Isn't this what we are advised to avoid when feeling stressed; retail therapy. But I digress. Advertisements do not merely inform us that what we want and need is available for purchase, they no longer just pander to our demands. They now attempt to tell us what we must have and shape our values along the way. So many slogans include ideas such as "Why wait", "You're worth it", "Try something new", "Tired of the same old thing", "Get ahead"... Bigger, better, faster, more... more... more... NOW. You get the idea.
It has also occurred to me that stolen items do not seem to be valued by those who steal them. I have seen cases where someone went to great effort to steal something, only to get bored with it and drop it or put it down somewhere a couple of blocks away. I am also amazed at the types of things people steal. I was walking out of a grocery store at closing time one night and observed a cart full of what I thought to be damaged merchandise. Actually they were empty packages and partial parcels of really odd things one might think no one would ever steal. I wish I could remember the types of things contained there-in. They were so outlandish, petty and trivial. I belabor the point.
I think it would be ironic if it were found that the very tactics which companies use to peddle their wares and increase their profit also motivated theft. This theft costs them and the rest of us as well. If this relationship does exist and is truly causal instead of merely corrollary, then the situation should worsen. The more consumers are pushed to accumulate material possessions, measure their worth by this accumulation and to satiate desires for instant gratification, the more thieves will be created and drawn to theft. Companies may perhaps stand to lose even more by their aggressive advertising efforts intended to increase their profit.
I am under the impression that shoplifting and employee theft has risen in recent years. I googled this and it does seem that statistics tend to support this impression. I am especially floored by employee theft since an employee should know that shrinkage ultimately hurts the employee. It reduces profit margin and therefore also shrinks available funds for bonuses, benefits and pay raises. Even with many loss prevention techniques in place, I still get the impression that the shoplifting problem continues to grow. During my few minutes of google based research, I read about underlying psychological reasons for shoplifting and employee theft. These included things like depression, stress relief, boredom and even a drug like "high". I am sure these are all important factors for the individuals involved but I wish to look at this problem on the society level.
If it IS true that the instances and scope of shoplifting (and employee theft) are indeed increasing. And we imagine that that the nation increasing in this behavior were a single person who is profoundly influenced by media culture. Then one would want to examine the messages from that media which may contribute to the undesirable behavior. What exactly are these messages and where are they coming from?
I believe that our society is absolutely inundated with consumer values in order to feed our economy. Look at Bush's economic relief package: in order to prevent a depression, here, have some money and go shopping! Isn't this what we are advised to avoid when feeling stressed; retail therapy. But I digress. Advertisements do not merely inform us that what we want and need is available for purchase, they no longer just pander to our demands. They now attempt to tell us what we must have and shape our values along the way. So many slogans include ideas such as "Why wait", "You're worth it", "Try something new", "Tired of the same old thing", "Get ahead"... Bigger, better, faster, more... more... more... NOW. You get the idea.
It has also occurred to me that stolen items do not seem to be valued by those who steal them. I have seen cases where someone went to great effort to steal something, only to get bored with it and drop it or put it down somewhere a couple of blocks away. I am also amazed at the types of things people steal. I was walking out of a grocery store at closing time one night and observed a cart full of what I thought to be damaged merchandise. Actually they were empty packages and partial parcels of really odd things one might think no one would ever steal. I wish I could remember the types of things contained there-in. They were so outlandish, petty and trivial. I belabor the point.
I think it would be ironic if it were found that the very tactics which companies use to peddle their wares and increase their profit also motivated theft. This theft costs them and the rest of us as well. If this relationship does exist and is truly causal instead of merely corrollary, then the situation should worsen. The more consumers are pushed to accumulate material possessions, measure their worth by this accumulation and to satiate desires for instant gratification, the more thieves will be created and drawn to theft. Companies may perhaps stand to lose even more by their aggressive advertising efforts intended to increase their profit.