What was once a symbol of your eco-friendly lifestyle has now become a status symbol - with people owning whole walls of reusable bottles to show off online....
Fads and trends and novelties aren’t anything new. The speed and prevalence that they spread today has been propelled because of TikTok and YouTubers and other “social media” either specifically promoting things or generating content in order to capitalize on existing trends. So, when you search the internet or YT for “Stanley Tumbler” because you want to know why it’s a thing, content creators can make money off of your curiosity.
Consumerism is certainly a big part of this but there’s also something driving us to want to belong to (or not be left out of) a group/trend. And Capitalism is right there hovering over us waiting to take advantage of it and spread the story even further for their own gain.
It’s an obvious formula. If you’re not in favor of it, how do you propose we deal with it?
Edit: I don’t want to speak badly against reusable containers though. This particular one isn’t my “cup of tea”, so to speak, but refilling a container with (filtered) tap water is vastly better than getting a case of single-use plastic water bottles from the grocery store. The thing is, I don’t know why but I feel like the same people collecting these tumblers are the same people who buy bottled water. Consumerism / capitalism / marketing have convinced a lot of Americans that tap water is gross or dangerous. Granted, Flint Michigan and articles like this haven’t helped tap water’s reputation.
I watched a similar video this past week by Phil Edwards https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrUWQ56GeyU
Fads and trends and novelties aren’t anything new. The speed and prevalence that they spread today has been propelled because of TikTok and YouTubers and other “social media” either specifically promoting things or generating content in order to capitalize on existing trends. So, when you search the internet or YT for “Stanley Tumbler” because you want to know why it’s a thing, content creators can make money off of your curiosity.
Consumerism is certainly a big part of this but there’s also something driving us to want to belong to (or not be left out of) a group/trend. And Capitalism is right there hovering over us waiting to take advantage of it and spread the story even further for their own gain.
It’s an obvious formula. If you’re not in favor of it, how do you propose we deal with it?
Edit: I don’t want to speak badly against reusable containers though. This particular one isn’t my “cup of tea”, so to speak, but refilling a container with (filtered) tap water is vastly better than getting a case of single-use plastic water bottles from the grocery store. The thing is, I don’t know why but I feel like the same people collecting these tumblers are the same people who buy bottled water. Consumerism / capitalism / marketing have convinced a lot of Americans that tap water is gross or dangerous. Granted, Flint Michigan and articles like this haven’t helped tap water’s reputation.
See South Park episode about influencers for more info