Artist Statement: Protest Poster

            Americans are in the habit of going to Walmart, buying lots of cheap stuff, rushing out, and leaving their cart in the parking lot, which ends up rolling into someone’s car. Then they return the following week to buy the same stuff because it all broke. The country is embracing consumerism. People are taking their eyes off the long term. They shop quantity over quality. This attitude contributes to greater laziness and an overly rushed way of living.

In my protest poster I explored how consumerism leads to people leaving their carts in the parking lot rather than put them back. People are in a rush and return again and again to the stores. So putting away a shopping cart after shopping is their last priority. They don’t consider that these shopping carts can easily roll into someone’s car or block parking spaces. It takes 30 seconds to return a cart. Those 30 seconds could give you time to reflect on whether what you just bought was worth it. I decided to frame the picture in front of the Walmart sign, since Walmart is a great example of a company that encourages cheap, quantity spending. The text is written in a spray paint like style to suggest the element of protest that the picture is trying to accomplish. After positing it on Facebook a couple people liked it and only 3 have commented so far. One comment agreed with the statement in the poster and the person is very annoyed by people who leave their carts in the parking lot.

“Often something that costs twice as much doesn’t last twice as long, it lasts ten times longer.” (Allen Tucker, Pay Too Much) Buying boots that cost 200$ but will last 20 years is better than spending 20$ for shoes that will last a year. Allen Tucker in his article explores living a simpler life. If you buy fewer items that you love than you won’t fill your house with cheap junk. He talks about how companies cannot afford to hire experts to make their stuff because the people are not willing to pay more money for quality. Allen Tucker says, “when we change our mindset from getting the best deal to getting the best quality, it changes the emphasis from shopping to deciding what’s important.” So we end up buying what we really want and need. We shop less and end up saving money.

            So far I’ve given a single story of the consumerism issue. In the TED Talk from Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Adichie, it’s dangerous to define someone or something through a single story. It is important to get many stories showing different perspectives to get a bigger picture of a group of people. Not all people in Africa have aids. Stories can be used to dehumanize or humanize. In class we talked about how seeing multiple stories does not eliminate our acknowledgment of good and evil, we are just complicating it.

To avoid a single story there are times when it is okay to buy cheaper stuff. For example, you should not spend 50$ on paper plates that are laced in gold and will last years. They are meant to be disposable, so just go to Walmart. Kids will outgrow their shoes in 6 months so they don’t need quality either. Also, we must be aware of buying something solely based on a higher price. Sometimes items of low quality are marked up just because of brand names. Doing our research will increase our good judgment and reduce frivolous spending.

The Everyday Minimalist, an online article, gives another perspective. It states that many people will buy 5 dresses that are cheaper and end up spending more than the one dress that was more expensive and higher quality. And they won’t love what they purchased so they will just go out shopping again the next year. You spend less time shopping when you have one thing you love. It’s understandable though that sometimes people need a chair for only the next year and don’t have the money to buy an expensive quality one. Decide what you want to be disposable and what you do not.

Companies are not always to blame because the customers actually want cheaper stuff. The LA times stated, “The whole retail model over the last 50 years has focused on keeping the industrial machine churning out items.” We want more stuff. Walmart: The High Cost of Low Prices is a documentary that I thought discussed in depth a company who makes cheap stuff that breaks. They exploit cheap labor to succeed. If people started buying the more quality items, Walmart and other companies would be forced to start making quality.

Bibliography:

Hsu, Tiffany. "A New Consuming Philosophy: Reuse, Remake, Refrain." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 29 June 2013. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. <http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jun/29/business/la-fi-circular-economy-20130630>.

Tucker, Allen. "Pay Too Much114." ALLENTUCKER. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. <http://allentucker.com/pay-too-much/>.

"Why Do We Buy ‘Quality over Quantity’?" The Everyday Minimalist. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. <http://www.everydayminimalist.com/?p=6132>.