Consumer Kitch

[dragon wench]

While in the shower today I began considering the innumerable worthless products that, owing to slick corporate advertising, many people seem to consider critical to existence. It really boggles the mind actually.. almost makes me wonder if the conspiracy theorists have it right, that maybe there *is* a plot out there to keep people stupid so that they will all eventually metamorphose into lobotomised consumers...

Anyway, I started putting together a list of such products:

* Shaving creams for women: Now maybe it is different for men, but for women, the shaving of one's legs can be easily achieved with a good shampoo or body gel. I suppose one could also question the entire necessity of shaving, but that is another subject completely

* Sunny D: the 'orange' drink that masquerades as a healthy beverage.. yet it only contains something like 10 % real fruit juice...

* The Garlic Press: less offensive in the list of worthless items, but still, a quality chef's knife does the job just as well, if not better.

* low fat "food" products: simple moderation anyone?


I'm sure others will come to mind as well

Contributions?

[Vicsun]

Diamonds - if it was not for DeBeers' pillaging and murdering across Africa, and brainwashing across North-America, those little transparent stones would be both cheap and not especially attractive

edit: Lore has it, deodorant was for a long time considered superfluous and absurdly unnatural until it got widely accepted during the 1920s.

edit 2: vvv I like bottled water.

[Aegis]

Bottled water

This one baffles me, especially considering it's almost as expensive as gas! Come on people, water surrounds us, it's supplied to us as an essential service in most western countries. Why do we feel the need to bottle, remove almost everything bit of content that actually makes water worthwhile to drink, and then sell it at the cost of gas.

Talk about consumer whoring...

[dragon wench]

I think Aegis has a point with bottled water, though I'm not entirely sure I'd classify it as worthless. If you live in a heavily industrialised area tap water often doesn't taste that great, so bottled spring water makes some sense.

Also, if I'm out and I get thirsty, I'm more likely to buy bottled water than soda or juice, just because I find it quenches thirst better. If I remember, I'll just fill up my own bottle before leaving, but I have a terrible memory

My biggest issue is with companies like Coke and Pepsi who simply reprocess (they say "purify") tap water and make a killing in profit. Spring water that is bottled at source is a little different... Though there are many environmental/legal problems surrounding this as well.

Still, the bottled water craze is quite astounding and owes everything to very clever marketing and an extremely gullible public.

@Vicsun... agreed on both counts.
Personally, I've never seen the big deal with diamonds anyway. Then again, I wear little jewellery and I've never been one of those women with a diamond fetish.

[Darth Zenemij]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dragon wench * The Garlic Press: less offensive in the list of worthless items, but still, a quality chef's knife does the job just as well, if not better.

Well you are right but I like using both a knife AND a garlic press. It really depends on what I am cooking and who it is for and what not.


*Diamonds, I do agree with you Vicsun

[Rob-hin]

Mobile phones with camera's?
Internet via your mobile phone? Woopieee!

Also, home shopping products? Puh-lease!

Quote:

Buy now! Limited offer! Buy this electro shock mussle stimulator (real product!), it sends shocks through your body; increasing muscle grow while you sit on your bum watching tv. Long live lazyness! (we can't sell bupkiss if people aren't lazy...)

...actually, this goes for basicly all home shopping products.

[Gwalchmai]

Digital cameras in cell phones. The picture quality is poor and tiny. If I want to capture a moment in time, why not use a real camera, or describe it with words, or maybe actually look at it and commit it to memory in order to really enjoy the moment? And frankly, I’d rather that my cell phone’s internal space be taken up with mechanisms that improves its performance, range, sound quality, and longevity.

[Gwalchmai]

LOL, Rob beat me by one minute!

[Rob-hin]

Old news Gwal.
One minute old indeed.

[Yshania]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aegis Bottled water This one baffles me, especially considering it's almost as expensive as gas! Come on people, water surrounds us, it's supplied to us as an essential service in most western countries. Why do we feel the need to bottle, remove almost everything bit of content that actually makes water worthwhile to drink, and then sell it at the cost of gas. Talk about consumer whoring...

LOL! I actually buy gallons of the stuff, but for my fish tank! I am quite happy to drink tap water, but my local water is so hard and alkaline, it needs a little softening to provide more neutral conditions for my tank. My cats prefer to drink rain water, or waste water from the tank (hmmm...fishy!) My tap water also reads 10ppm Nitrates, and 2ppm phosphates...this does not endanger human life, but it is indicative of the fact my water contains the end product of the nitrogen cycle and readings are often higher in rural areas and they do encourage algae in an aquarium

My water is also full of cleaning agents like chlorine (which evaporates when left to air for a while) or chloromines which are more stable, and don't evaporate. These chemicals are deadly to the fish keeping hobby, killing off good bacteria with the bad. "Pure" water does not contain these chemicals, or by products of the nitrogen cycle, but there is a downside - it lacks the minerals needed by "life" such as calcium.

So I am all for bottled water when it comes to fish, or when I travel abroad and want to avoid the Sharm El Sheiks That said! The water I buy for my fish is not delivered by Perrier or Buxton each week! I buy water that is purified by a process called reverse osmosis, I could go into detail but I am boring you already! Bottled water for human consumption, IMO, is a waste of money unless you have a valid medical reason (such as an allergy to Chlorine) or you are travelling abroad.

On my recent visit to Egypt, the chlorine in the tap water was as evident as it is in a swimming pool over here - I was thankful to be drinking bottled water then, lol! In Greece, I would not even touch salad that had been washed in local water! You are ok with ice cubes though, so long as they have a hole in them (showing they are frozen bottled water)

Often, the reason we are advised against drinking tap water abroad is not because it is "dirty" but because the mineral and chemical contents are often so far away from what we are used to, that we end up suffering an upset stomach. Less of my protection of "pure" water, since mine is only a reference to maintaining a balanced aquarium, for the most part.

Consumer whoring? Hmm...

The vast majority of baby paraphenalia!! - people are becoming baby item junkies!! Buggies for public transport, three wheeled pushchairs for off terrain(!) baby highchairs that convert into toddler highchairs (so you have to buy a new one for new baby) same with cotbeds, car seats, slings, I could go on...

I had one cot that served both of mine (though I did replace the mattress) I had one pushchair that served both (plus a second hand double for a while) I had the recommended (and legally required) carseats that one child grew into as the first child grew out of (great timing! )..I never owned a highchair, or a potty, or a Buggy Board (my kids walked when I started paying for shoes!) I never owned a disposable nappy bin (though I did extend to nappy sacks!) I never had a baby changing table - the bed did fine (or the floor) I never had a breast feeding cushion that doubled up to help baby learn to sit (baby fell over for a while!) I never had that (desired) £350 rocking chair to feed my kids in...

Do I feel a little more money might have made my life easier, more eco friendly, or at least kept me up with the Jones'? Maybe, but do my kids feel deprived because of this lack of material stuff in their early years? I doubt it very much.

Now I am fighting Nike and their Total 90 range!

[frogus23]

I find the lengths reached to by sanitary towel brands to sell their product hilarious. It is an essential product, practically immune to innovation, sold to an obviously fixed market, one which will never expand, never reduce, never move to a different demographic and never cease to buy - so how can sanitary towel brand X persuade you to buy X brand sanitary towels instead of brand Y?

Are you a women who finds herself in frequent contact with osprey? NOW BRAND X SANITARY TOWELS ARE CLINICALLY PROVEN TO BE UP TO 78% MORE HYPO-OSPREY FRIENDLY THAN THE COMPETITORS!

EDIT: Re bottled water. For those boycotting Nestle, buying bottled water is necessary to escape PowWow water coolers in offices etc.

[Aramant]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dragon wench * Shaving creams for women: Now maybe it is different for men, but for women, the shaving of one's legs can be easily achieved with a good shampoo or body gel

Actually, I shave using either shampoo, shower gel, or hand soap. Whichever one is most handy. Usually the hand soap, as it's right on the sink, but sometimes there's a bar there instead of the liquid stuff, and that gets dry on my face.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dragon wench * Sunny D: the 'orange' drink that masquerades as a healthy beverage.. yet it only contains something like 10 % real fruit juice...

I view that stuff as I view soda. Actually, what with living on my own at school and with my student loan having been FUBAR this year, I've been buying very little processed/imitation "leisure" food. I buy a lot of broccoli...

Quote:

Originally Posted by dragon wench * The Garlic Press: less offensive in the list of worthless items, but still, a quality chef's knife does the job just as well, if not better.

I think that's a time-saver item. I mean, technically, one can spend oodles of time chopping and re-chopping and mashing and re-mashing stuff to cancel out the need for blenders and mixers too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dragon wench * low fat "food" products: simple moderation anyone?

Moderation is pretty difficult for a lot of people. Or so I hear.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dragon wench If you live in a heavily industrialised area tap water often doesn't taste that great, so bottled spring water makes some sense.

You could get your own water filter. Either one of those things you install on your tap or water tank or whatever, or just one of those Brita pitchers. Buying replacement filters for the pitchers ends up costing less than buying bottles of water all the time, if you drink a lot of water.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob-hin Mobile phones with camera's? Internet via your mobile phone? Woopieee!

Personally, I view mobile phones themselves as unnecessary, in most cases. The only reason I think one should carry a mobile phone is if one's job requires one to be constantly reachable, ie. doctors, lawyers, traders, police and firefighters, drug dealers, pimps, etc.

[Aegis]

In terms of shaving, I tend to shave on a daily basis (though, of late, not as much, as I'm growing a beard to compliment the less than fruitful growth on top ), and because of that, I like shaving gel that doubles as a facial cleanser. Saves time, smells nice, and it's roughly the same to buy the stuff I'd be using otherwise. It works for me.

Cell phones. Now, this one is tricky for me. I have a land line where I live, but I don't use. Occasionally, I get a call on it for me, but for the most part, it goes unused. My cell phone, on the otherhand, sees constant use. This is because I'm out of the house quite frequently, and working for the government, as well as being a Student, and a wash of other part-time contract jobs, I need to be reachable at almost all times. And hey, for $50 CDN a month, I think I'm doing alright (Not to mention, it has internet axis, and a camera, neither of which were the selling features. Though, the camera allowed me to snap that picture of two of my friends and their drunk shenanigans )

[Brynn]

Moisturizers, hydratants and whatnot to "protect" the skin Isn't it odd, that men never use these but they don't get wrinkles earlier and still their skin is absolutely healthy and normal w/o them... Women use tonics, creams, night creams, facelifting masks but honestly, I have never noticed that any of these would make the slightest difference...

[Aramant]

If I put off shaving for a couple of days, my skin gets dry, so mosturizers do help me. Or would, if I used them.