By Alexandra Knight

‘Materialism is an identity crisis.’ - Bryant McGill.

We have all been shopping, seen something that we didn’t go out looking for, and purchased it. Later we question ourselves as to why we spent our money on it.

This happens not because of an item’s appealing brand logo or a product’s placement in a store, but because of an emotional response. Neuromarketing studies--an ethical study of the human brain through questionnaires, fMRI scans and other non invasive forms of examination-- have found that our emotions play a fundamental part in choosing what kind of items we buy and why we buy them.₁ Along with an emotional pull, everyone has some kind of cultural bias which is often rooted in tradition, upbringing and many other subconscious factors.

Many people do not often consider that these experiences will have an effect on their daily lives and choices; however, human beings are reward orientated. We are neurologically and biologically designed to be reward driven in our actions. Various studies have found that there are dopamine carrying and reward creating links in the human brain which run to and from four areas of the brain. These four areas deal with rewards and reward based behaviour, memory storage and flashbulb memories all of which are connected to our final behaviours and emotion responses to a situation, including our reactions to advertising stimuli.₁,₂

In shopping malls our senses are constantly bombarded with strategically designed colour palettes, nostalgic or feel good inducing, enticing scents and strategically placed signage that tries to promise us something interesting.₃,₄ This is exactly how companies convince us that we need to buy whatever they put in front of us - this mix of emotional persuasion and cultural trends leads us into perpetuated un-sustainable buying habits, which hurt humanity’s mental health and the wildlife which we highly admire and live alongside.₅ This is presented through developed conditions such as hoarding and mental over attachment to items.

A study conducted by an organisation called My Tool Shed suggests that the average piece of furniture generates around approximately 47 kilogrammes of carbon dioxide equivalents, which is roughly the same amount of greenhouse gases produced by burning around 5.3 gallons of petrol. Sofas rank as the highest polluters on the furnishing list as their foams and fillings make up to 40% of their 90 kilogram carbon dioxide equivalent emissions; contributing hugely to continual air pollution problems. One pair of running shoes creates 30lbs of carbon dioxide emissions during their manufacturing production as well as using various synthetic materials which are fossil fuel derived. Leather shoes use 3,626 gallons of water in their production. A smartphone uses Iron (20%) , aluminium (14%) and copper (7%) which will create metal pollution in waterways during the process of cleaning the materials, as well as causes deforestation in the Amazon rainforest as there are resources of gold lying deep under the forest floor which are used to create connectors in the phones wiring. Whilst these problems aren't due to us directly it is up to us to choose more sustainable manufacturers in order to set an example to the ones who aren't moving forward into an era of sustainability.₆₋₉

So how can we stop ourselves from harming humanity's long term prospects of blossoming with biodiversity whilst still remaining civilised in our ways of living?

Well, first we need to be aware of our emotions when shopping in these environments. It can be very hard to take emotional control of yourself in an environment that is tailored to fire all of your emotional responses, but it is not impossible. In order to better control our shopping habits we need to immediately observe what is happening around us. For instance - Is a song that we like playing whilst we are looking at something that is of interest to us? If this is the case, step back and ask yourself these questions:

• Do I really have the room, space and money for this item? (Be honest with yourself. It will not be of any benefit to you if you aren’t.)

• Where will it go in my house or apartment? 

• Will I regret buying this in a few weeks time? (Again, please be honest with yourself. It will be of no benefit to you in the long term if you aren’t continually honest.)

During this Q and A session with yourself, the feel good or nostalgic song in the background will still be trying to mentally persuade you by creating a false sense of assurance in your choice to buy the item. If you are still unsure of your choice to buy the item, put it down and leave it on the shelf. This helps to immediately keep your money firmly inside your pocket, as well as keep much needed space in your home. 

You may be tempted to go back to look at it again, but if you are still unsure in any way never pick the item up and purchase it. When you do this you are kidding yourself into believing that you need something when you realistically do not.₅

Once you have done this for the first time you are going to be capable of doing it again. It will not take long to get into the habit of saying no to things that you are unsure of even when someone is trying to subconsciously influence you.

To finish this article I’d like to leave you with some tips which have been very beneficial to me personally when I am out shopping, a few of these I have discovered through personal experience..

Number one: 

Stay away from shopping malls where and whenever you can - this helps you to avoid temptation as much as possible.

Number two:

If you do go into a store, don’t allow yourself to look at anything else that you didn’t go in to buy-  getting what you need and then leaving without unnecessary browsing also lessens the opportunity for excessive buying. 

Number three:

Visit your nearest thrift stores, yard and garage sales and house clearances to find clothes , toys, furniture and many other items to get yourself used to a different system of buying.

Number four:

Up cycle and repair everything that you can where possible. Find repair workshops or repair businesses if you don’t have the time to do a d.i.y repair yourself. Doing this either way will help you to even further avoid the temptation of buying something new when you can still keep hold of much loved items.

Works Cited:

1. “Buyology.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, May 9, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buyology.

2. “Reward System.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, September 23, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reward_system.

3. Haller, Karen. The Little Book of Colour: How to Use the Psychology of Colour to Transform Your Life. London: Penguin Life, an imprint of Penguin Books, 2019.

4. “Smells like Ooh: The Power of Scent in Advertising.” JCDecaux Group. Accessed October 1, 2021. https://www.jcdecaux.com/blog/smells-ooh-power-scent-advertising.

5. “Hoarding: Royal College of Psychiatrists.” RC PSYCH ROYAL COLLEGE OF PSYCHIATRISTS. Accessed October 1, 2021. https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mental-health/problems-disorders/hoarding.

6. “Could the Real Enemy of Climate Change Turn out to Be Furniture?” Energy Live News, September 9, 2019. https://www.energylivenews.com/2019/09/09/could-the-real-enemy-of-climate-change-turn-out-to-be-furniture/.

7. “Running Shoes Leave Large Carbon Footprint, Study Shows.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, May 23, 2013. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/may/23/running-shoes-carbon-footprint.

8. Hudson-Edwards, Patrick Byrne And Karen. “Three Ways Making a Smartphone Can Harm the Environment.” Phys.org. Phys.org, August 29, 2018. https://phys.org/news/2018-08-ways-smartphone-environment.html.

9. “The Hidden Water in Everyday Products.” Water Footprint Calculator, September 29, 2021. https://www.watercalculator.org/footprint/the-hidden-water-in-everyday-products/.