It was only last week that my class was exposed to a topical video on recycling and the western worlds lack of respect for being eco-friendly. Corporations around the globe build things with the intention for them to break, rendering them useless, meaning you, the customer, have to replace it. They also have to sneakily time this so it breaks at a specific point - long enough after being purchased to give customer satisfaction, causing you to still be pleased enough with it that you would buy a new one, but also must break after a reasonably short life span to maximise replacement sales. Hardly eco-friendly.
New models of things, new colours released, new shapes of products, these aren't brought out because better developed products have been designed, they are released to point out that you have the old model. The out of date model. You, personally, are out of date. Highlighting this with a colour or shape means you want to buy new one. Keep up with the Jones'.
Conveniently for Mr. Corporate that means big bucks for them. Odd that, isn't it? Or not. A good example of this is the iPod. The Shuffle was brought out in a long small remote control shape. Then developed into a small rectangle. Then a tiny blank sweetie size. Then back to the small rectangle. Same goes for the Nano. You replace it because you look out of date. But like fashion, if you keep it long enough it comes back.
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| Wow! have you seen Apple's new iPod? It's called a "Shuffle"! Wow! |
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| Wow! Save 2cm in physical space! Definitely worth an upgrade! |
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| Wow! Save another 1cm in space! Bin that brick you've got, I'm gonna get me the new one! |
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| Oh no wait- retro's best. My new one looks like the old, old one but is actually newer! |
So back to my scanner issue. It turns out after much researching into HP printer-scanner-copier products, ink goes out of date. Admittedly I have not used it for a while after moving, and getting a new laptop, so it did sit in the cupboard for a while, so therefore it could well be out of date. Annoyingly if it has expired, you cannot use any of the functions. Not even just the scanner, regardless of the requirement for ink, or in this case, not. But HP assure me it's in my best interest. It stops the printer head getting dirty and broken, apparently. Even if I don't want to print. Just scan - I just want to use one of the three functions it promises me it does. Nice of them to provide me with safety functions to prevent it from being damaged - it's just entire coincidence and lucky for them that said function increases their ink sales. At around £40 for a new set of ink, it seems a little extortionate just to use your scanner. As the ever long saga goes of the skint student - I shall make do with the scanner facilities in University for now.
Needless to say, I was a little sceptical of the video we were shown in class about Mr. Corporation, but it would seem after the above incidents I have come across, that it is highly likely to be true. It makes me quite sick really.
To think that in countries where people are so thankful to receive anything, whether it be in full working order or not. In an event where a product stopped functioning as it should, they would then find another use for it. In these scenarios, we would throw it away. Bin it. Replace it. So what. Consumerism FTW!
To think that in countries where people are so thankful to receive anything, whether it be in full working order or not. In an event where a product stopped functioning as it should, they would then find another use for it. In these scenarios, we would throw it away. Bin it. Replace it. So what. Consumerism FTW!
What a waste.
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