During the winter break, I went to the mall with one goal: buy one new pair of jeans. That was it. But instead, I walked out with a new pair of jeans, two shirts from a buy-one-get-one-50% rack and two skincare products I still haven’t even taken out of the box. What started off as a simple goal turned into multiple purchases and a deeper hole in my wallet.
For me, it was only two extra shirts and a couple of skincare products; for many others, its piles of clothes, online orders, and products that slowly accumulate, filling closets, vanities, and eventually, a landfill. If I only meant to buy one pair of jeans, why did I leave with five items? Why do we buy things we don’t actually need in the first place? The answer lies in a societal culture that not only encourages overconsumption but depends on it.
One of the biggest drivers of overconsumption is modern advertisements. With “buy-one-get-one” deals and limited time offers, companies create a sense of urgency and the false sense of saving money which pushes the consumer to spend more than they originally intended. Sales like these make it easier for consumers to justify purchases they never planned to make. In reality, you’re not saving money if you are still spending money. But modern advertising goes beyond store discounts: online ads on social media have stopped focusing on the product itself but instead they sell a lifestyle, and one huge example of this is online trends. You might not know it, but a lot of trends centered around products are secretly advertising a lifestyle in relation to those products without being an official advertisement. A prominent example of this is “get ready with me” routines. Early into 2025, many influencers flaunted their “get ready” routines which displayed many different products from clothes to skincare in a calming or romanticized setting. Because of this more people started buying those same products as a way of achieving this materialistic lifestyle instead of for the actual use of the product.
Another factor of overconsumption is fast fashion; clothing brands produce massive amounts of items like clothing, home decor, etc., that are meant to be used for a short amount of time and then replaced. The cheaper or trendier the brand, the easier it is to justify the purchase, but it’s easy to forget the societal impacts these simple purchases cause. When people choose to buy fast fashion clothing, companies are incentivized to keep making clothing with cheap and often exploitive labor, leading to more clothes being cheaply made and dumped into landfills once new clothes come out—the cycle continues. So what can we do?
Unfortunately, overconsumption and its societal impacts are deeply rooted in modern culture, which means the solutions aren’t as simple as avoiding “buy-one-get-one” sales. However, being aware of the issue can help us grow as society and maybe soon evolve into one where we don’t feel obligated to buy into a materialistic lifestyle at the cost of other people and the environment; sometimes the best deal is to not buy at all.
