Plagued Consoomers / Consoomer Culture - Because if it has a recogniseable brand on it, I’d buy it!

[UnsufficentBoobage]

Quote won't work, but, aside from minimalism being unliveable, that "aesthetic" probably can not be maintained if you do not live all alone - I just learned that "decluttering" popularising Mary Condo literally admitted her methods do not work once she got married and had a child.
So white room with a potted plant is nothing but one more bugman thin, just like its seeming opposite of hoarding.

 

[glass_houses]

Quote won't work, but, aside from minimalism being unliveable, that "aesthetic" probably can not be maintained if you do not live all alone - I just learned that "decluttering" popularising Mary Condo literally admitted her methods do not work once she got married and had a child.
So white room with a potted plant is nothing but one more bugman thin, just like its seeming opposite of hoarding.

I have a large amount of respect for Marie Condo; I am chronically disorganised and always late, and I regard people who are extremely organised and always seven minutes early with a certain sense of awe. That said, the whole 'spark joy' concept is intrinsically flawed. Just because something doesn't 'spark joy', or maybe even causes distress, doesn't mean that it's not important or won't spark joy in the future. Example: my nan's nan gave her a colourful pottery swan long before I was born, and my nan kept it all her life. I loved that swan when I was a little kid. I thought it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. When we visited my nan and pop, I'd always have to say hello and goodbye to the thing. Well, my nan died, and left me it, and I couldn't bear to look at the thing because every time I saw it I missed my nan. I asked my mother to pack it away for me and she did. It took a decade or two, but eventually I learned to cope with my grief, and now the swan is sitting on my bookshelf. Every time I see it I remember my nan and pop and it does indeed spark joy. I have several heirlooms in my possession that technically belong to other relatives, and I am storing them for similar reasons to why I asked my mother to store the swan. 'Important' and 'joyful' are very different things.

 

[Yaks]

I have a large amount of respect for Marie Condo; I am chronically disorganised and always late, and I regard people who are extremely organised and always seven minutes early with a certain sense of awe. That said, the whole 'spark joy' concept is intrinsically flawed. Just because something doesn't 'spark joy', or maybe even causes distress, doesn't mean that it's not important or won't spark joy in the future. Example: my nan's nan gave her a colourful pottery swan long before I was born, and my nan kept it all her life. I loved that swan when I was a little kid. I thought it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. When we visited my nan and pop, I'd always have to say hello and goodbye to the thing. Well, my nan died, and left me it, and I couldn't bear to look at the thing because every time I saw it I missed my nan. I asked my mother to pack it away for me and she did. It took a decade or two, but eventually I learned to cope with my grief, and now the swan is sitting on my bookshelf. Every time I see it I remember my nan and pop and it does indeed spark joy. I have several heirlooms in my possession that technically belong to other relatives, and I am storing them for similar reasons to why I asked my mother to store the swan. 'Important' and 'joyful' are very different things.

I think the "spark joy" this is an over simplification due to translation issues, both culturally and linguistically. It's more to apply to your 50 pairs of shoes than specialty items.

 

[Cuntspiracy Man]

speaking of, not this, i've been scrolling thru this thread to find something specific and, altough i didn't, i found something that i've determined to be one of the gayer forms of consumerism- consuming products for aesthetics that are actively anti-consumerist

everything from the tie-dye and hand painted acessories of hippie culture which was born as a rejection of modern sensibilities and popularized the trend of handmade fashion,
to the "witchy" aesthetic which is modeled after the actively rebellious and antisocial practices of old witchcraft yet can be bought at Target for 9.99$, (and really, the whole punk movement in general. its not particularly counterculture if your patches are mass manufactured in china and your boots cost several hundred dollars at a brand name store)
to "Cottegecore", an aesthetic emulating farmhouses and simple living where one owns whatever they can build or get their hands on, yet now seems to neccesitate buying a very specific and expensive matching set of cutesy decor...
all these "aesthetics" are built on cultures that actively resisted common society at the time, yet are now being marketed to the masses
rule of thumb, if your whole movement can shop at Target and Forever 21, youre probably not counterculture

 

[LinkinParkxNaruto[AMV]]

THINGS- houses, land, items.... call themselves poor.

There is a growing trend of "fake humbleness" among the wealthy. The same kind of people who'd pay 300$ for a table at a restaurant where they serve meals in recicled pickle jars.

 

[WelperHelper99]

There is a growing trend of "fake humbleness" among the wealthy. The same kind of people who'd pay 300$ for a table at a restaurant where they serve meals in recicled pickle jars.

It's to feel more normal on social media if I had to bet. You still want the poors to give you money, so flaunting your wealth only works on 12 year olds.

 

[NoReturn]

how can you possibly argue for it when youre replacing everything you own within months

I think on some level they know, but don't want to admit, that they crave novelty. They'll do a fake "Oh no" if something breaks, or donate things they no longer want in the name of "sparking joy" or whatever, but then they go out and buy new stuff.
One that really sticks out to me is a girl who has been posted itt before (NintendoGirl) who made a big deal out of buying a custom Zero-Two fake-neon sign, only to replace it a bit later. Now she has a Nezuko one:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/NRc_O1h8z24

now 20-something easy-babysitting-major college women who spend their days organizing their stationary and sipping starbucks just "GOTTA HAVE EM" because theyre "SOOO STRESSED", despite most of them not even having fidgeting habits and forgetting that the thing is in their drawer after a week unless they run some kinda instagram page where they show the crap off to sell it to even more likeminded people

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryF_fJzVMAE

on one hand its embaressing, but on the other hand i know autists who say theyre a lil happy that fidget spinners and squeeze toys became such a normie thing, it may be lame as hell but at least theyre no longer looked at funny for playing with one

Affordable weighted blankets has been a blessing.

it took me a while to realize why this trend died faster than the rest
succulents are alive, you cant just dump em in a drawer and get more, you have to KEEP them alive

normalfags couldnt be bothered
thats what i call a self-gatekeeping hobby

If you go on YouTube and look up "PlantTok" to find compilations, you'll see the most recent one is like 6 months old. When plants were "hot" during the pandemic you'd see them every few weeks.

speaking of, not this, i've been scrolling thru this thread to find something specific and, altough i didn't, i found something that i've determined to be one of the gayer forms of consumerism- consuming products for aesthetics that are actively anti-consumerist

It's all about the "aesthetic" and "Look what I did!" Their projects are generally shit quality and they look like crap. It would be better to give that money to an actual hippy who knows what they're doing and support sustainability that way.

to the "witchy" aesthetic which is modeled after the actively rebellious and antisocial practices of old witchcraft yet can be bought at Target for 9.99$, (and really, the whole punk movement in general. its not particularly counterculture if your patches are mass manufactured in china and your boots cost several hundred dollars at a brand name store)

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/mt8QaMEIBdA

to "Cottegecore", an aesthetic emulating farmhouses and simple living where one owns whatever they can build or get their hands on, yet now seems to neccesitate buying a very specific and expensive matching set of cutesy decor...

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MCeDS8zZfpQ

 

[Cuntspiracy Man]

They'll do a fake "Oh no" if something breaks, or donate things they no longer want in the name of "sparking joy" or whatever, but then they go out and buy new stuff.

this right here is proof that consumerism is first and foremost a mindset, and not entirely a behavior

the line between buying cheap to save money, and buying cheap to own trash... between decluttering for your own peace of mind, and just giving things away or throwing them out so that you can buy more... between minimalism for the sake of simplicity, and minimalism as an aesthetic... its all paper thin, but what separates them is intent

Affordable weighted blankets has been a blessing.

my man.... you know it



watching a few of these clips because i love to suffer reminded me what a consumerist's dream covid was
i mean, hell, im pretty sure it was the bugman's dream in general- masks went from being a cool and rebellious symbol to something your ugly ass can wear and pretend like youre not insecure, not to mention the equivalent of an armband for recognizing your fellow vivarium inhabitants, you were celebrated for sitting at home and engaging with brands and shunned for seeing other people, and it was perfectly acceptable, ney, REQUIRED to put life on hold and sink further into boredom induced depression
but it was also a joy for consumerists. suddenly its ok to order food online from various fast food applications, it was cool to watch 8 hours of Gisney and Netflix a day, and the products... oh man the products. the masks, the alcohol gel and wet wipes, the "Fauci-Ouchie-Pouchies..."
i cant believe that we as a society cant get over things like hitler or nining leven, but were fully content to just gloss over THESE here crimes against humanity:

and stop quoting me in random.txt

 

[Rome's rightful successor]

I unironically think Guitar Hero contributed to how hard rock and metal music died in the mainstrem after the 00s though. They squeezed it too hard.

Disagree, if you grew up during the 2000's Guitar Hero and Rock Band were your introduction to rock music from the 1980s and 90s.

 

[Yaks]

The site is being dumb and won't let me quote, but probably the most bizarre part of 2020 for me was watching a gem encrusted face mask on the Home Shopping Network slowly turn on a mannequin head and be discussed like it was a statement jewelry piece.

 

[Cuntspiracy Man]

The site is being dumb and won't let me quote, but probably the most bizarre part of 2020 for me was watching a gem encrusted face mask on the Home Shopping Network slowly turn on a mannequin head and be discussed like it was a statement jewelry piece.

masks have become a fucking fashion statement
on one hand i suppose it hardly matters, if youre already forced to wear a mask you might as well accessorize, and based on how you do it it could pass as an act of rebellion
and the images of weird guys and old people in supermarkets wearing everything from plastic bottles to old tvs on their heads will never stop being an entertaining sight
on the other hand, turning a situation like this into an excuse to shop more is just pathetic
itll be a long, long time for me to stop being salty about the fact that covid effectively turned mask into something uncool, when it was previously a symbol of resistance
maybe that was a goal all along, make covering your face in public seem shameful to discourage us from doing it

this chicken or the egg situation has actually come up a few times in my mind itt
like that image of a cross made out of soda boxes
that pic could be perceived as sad and disrespectful, faith being reduced to nothing more than a form of marketing
but it could also evoke a pretty damn metal scenerio, perhaps a lowly group of minimum wage workers who arent allowed to worship, putting it together so as an act of rebellion
basically, the question is "is it an honest thing turned consumerist, or is it consumerism used to create something honest"

 

[WelperHelper99]

masks have become a fucking fashion statement
on one hand i suppose it hardly matters, if youre already forced to wear a mask you might as well accessorize, and based on how you do it it could pass as an act of rebellion
and the images of weird guys and old people in supermarkets wearing everything from plastic bottles to old tvs on their heads will never stop being an entertaining sight
on the other hand, turning a situation like this into an excuse to shop more is just pathetic
itll be a long, long time for me to stop being salty about the fact that covid effectively turned mask into something uncool, when it was previously a symbol of resistance
maybe that was a goal all along, make covering your face in public seem shameful to discourage us from doing it

this chicken or the egg situation has actually come up a few times in my mind itt
like that image of a cross made out of soda boxes
that pic could be perceived as sad and disrespectful, faith being reduced to nothing more than a form of marketing
but it could also evoke a pretty damn metal scenerio, perhaps a lowly group of minimum wage workers who arent allowed to worship, putting it together so as an act of rebellion
basically, the question is "is it an honest thing turned consumerist, or is it consumerism used to create something honest"

Masks have been a fashion statement for a while, even pre covid, the difference now is context. Any form of rebellion it carried is gone. You're a bloody serf if you wear one. Now things on your head in general? It can be plenty goofy, on the other wearing 5 plastic bottles on your head makes you look crazy/homeless/a harder anywhere outside a convention.

 

[Cuntspiracy Man]

Masks have been a fashion statement for a while, even pre covid

you bring up a good point

then again it was never normal was it
i could also respect the weeaboos much more back when their weirdness was unapologetically different and stigmatized

not to be a hipster, but those faggots had a point
things DO end up infinitely less cool once theyre "mainstream"

 

[NoReturn]

on one hand i suppose it hardly matters, if youre already forced to wear a mask you might as well accessorize, and based on how you do it it could pass as an act of rebellion

I've heard from some Japanese people online that that's how they do it. Everyone is expected to wear a mask by default, so rebellion isn't not wearing a mask, it's wearing a mask with a weird design on it.

 

[Cuntspiracy Man]

I've heard from some Japanese people online that that's how they do it. Everyone is expected to wear a mask by default, so rebellion isn't not wearing a mask, it's wearing a mask with a weird design on it.

ive seen some pretty damn cool masks
everything from sweet looking handmade punkshit to Bubba's very own covid-cucker putting his engineering skills to the test

ill fully accept if we go back to hiding your faces and embrace shit like this

its the flowery, brand name and starbucks/funkos/baby yoda themed masks that complete the look to make you look like a proper idiot

basically, there needs to be a very evident difference between spiteful compliance, aka "you want me to do WHAT? fine, but im doing it [Kay voice] MAH WAY" and excited compliance "wowie i get to wear the government mandated face diaper, but im allowed to choose the color? youre so kind, dear overlord!"

 

[Alouatta Simia Belzebul]

I genuinely can't tell if you're being intentionally ridiculous or you really think the jeans fly mouth hole and bottle that even says 'bock' on it is being politically subversive. Where's that comic about only pretending to be retarded?

Kondo works if you're in control of your own home environment, and have let it get messy from perceived lack of control or depression or whatever, but if you have kids you will never have full control of your home because they're chaos monsters. Pretty sure that's what she was acknowledging, rather than saying her whole marketable concept is a failure.

Fake humbleness in rich people is also something of a self-marketing strategy - they all know that the economy is going down the tubes, and they know that this will make them targets, so it's an intentional attempt to diffuse or downplay their target status. The actually rich people I've met still have generally consumed way above anything they can feasibly use, whether they're buying ostentatiously rich stuff or fake poor stuff, so I don't know that things being fake poor make them inherently more consumerist. It will jack up the prices for the next wave of ostentatiously rich shit though, because the new product will want to place itself above the fake poor shit with an even greater price tag. The minimalist rich person stereotype is, as has already been pointed out, mostly a lie. They won't be buying the breakable shit off amazon but they will be finding excuses to replace it just as fast.

I often think about what it would look like if sumptuary laws made a comeback - unquestionably good for the environment, obviously - what effect that would have on social signifiers of the present day, which ones would we lose and which ones would remain?

I know it wouldn't be 'fair' on the lower classes who deserve nice things as much as the higher classes do, I do think that rich people are generally wasters who were born into the right families and/or received a whole lot of luck and so aren't more deserving or appreciative - but at the same time, giving everyone free access to everything because we're all equally deserving has caused so much damage, and doesn't even manifest properly - it just creates a wider spread of destruction as rich people seek out new and exclusive experiences and products that haven't been overrun yet.

Is there a feasible middle ground somewhere? Because if you artificially restrict the supply of something, so that it can be bought by anyone but there's only so much to go around, then people just get mad about the obviously artificial restriction, and that's not an unfair point, either. But we can't just consume x3 until it's really all gone for good.

Figurine collecting was also, in the last century, seen as a particularly feminine thing to do, so it is pretty odd that figurine collecting among women doesn't really exist any more and it's almost entirely flipped to guys collecting Funkos. I think it's quite similar in principle though - figurines would generally represent an emotional concept, like 'the union of marriage' or 'motherly love', or different types of feminine refinement, and now it's masculine identity concepts played out through comic book characters and superheros instead.

 

[Cuntspiracy Man]

Is there a feasible middle ground somewhere?

i fully believe that this is first and foremost a problem of culture, and thats why its hardest to solve, we cant force people to start living and buying right, we can only make it "cool" to do so
you cannot fix a sick society with laws and limitations, nor will any amount of legal freedom and plenty will corrupt a healthy one if it holds onto the right values

 

[FILTH Tourist]

Figurine collecting was also, in the last century, seen as a particularly feminine thing to do, so it is pretty odd that figurine collecting among women doesn't really exist any more and it's almost entirely flipped to guys collecting Funkos.

I think you are way oversimplifiing figure collecting as there are many different type of figures to collect that appeal to different markets. For Funkos I suspect the casual customer base is close to 50/50 men and woman as the point is to create cheap, mass produced, pop culture figures so people can collect stuff from shows they like. Me personally I know way more women with modest funko collections then men. Remember that the power collectors seen here are outliers and don't represent most customers.
Besides women have always been more into the plush market as seen with beanybabies and squishmellows.

I think it's quite similar in principle though - figurines would generally represent an emotional concept, like 'the union of marriage' or 'motherly love', or different types of feminine refinement, and now it's masculine identity concepts played out through comic book characters and superheros instead.

Your reading WAY to much into it. People collect things for different reasons, but it mainly boils down to "I like this" or "I think it looks cool/cute."

 

[WelperHelper99]

ive seen some pretty damn cool masks
everything from sweet looking handmade punkshit to Bubba's very own covid-cucker putting his engineering skills to the test

View attachment 5174280

ill fully accept if we go back to hiding your faces and embrace shit like this

its the flowery, brand name and starbucks/funkos/baby yoda themed masks that complete the look to make you look like a proper idiot

basically, there needs to be a very evident difference between spiteful compliance, aka "you want me to do WHAT? fine, but im doing it [Kay voice] MAH WAY" and excited compliance "wowie i get to wear the government mandated face diaper, but im allowed to choose the color? youre so kind, dear overlord!"

If you're going to have to wear a mask, don't look like a drone, spite the system in every way possible. Go full Cyberpunk, make it your own. It's like welding helmets honestly. Won't include a picture of mine, feel that's a bit much personal info, but if you aren't slapping stickers onto that sucker, what are you doing? You're wearing that helmet for hours, the least you can do is not look like a stormtroopers. Same with masks. Be unique, like zog hates

 

[Alouatta Simia Belzebul]

I think you are way oversimplifiing figure collecting as there are many different type of figures to collect that appeal to different markets. For Funkos I suspect the casual customer base is close to 50/50 men and woman as the point is to create cheap, mass produced, pop culture figures so people can collect stuff from shows they like. Me personally I know way more women with modest funko collections then men. Remember that the power collectors seen here are outliers and don't represent most customers.
Besides women have always been more into the plush market as seen with beanybabies and squishmellows.

Your reading WAY to much into it. People collect things for different reasons, but it mainly boils down to "I like this" or "I think it looks cool/cute."

I personally don't know any women with funkos, I do know women with lots of squishmallows though.

I don't think I am reading it it, because the kind of figurines I'm talking about, will literally come named stuff like that - e.g. this one is called 'tender love' - https://www.etsy.com/listing/1352380081/lovely-vintage-tender-love-figurine-with - we might be talking about different types of figurines, I'm talking about when mass production of pottery / ceramics allowed figurine collecting to really become a thing. Hummel has lots of cute idealised childhood moments, that sort of thing.

Re: masks, I don't know who Zog is but I know turning your otherwise anonymising piece of face fabric into a unique expression of self-identity would be very helpful for video surveillance.