(목동김상철토플전문학원) 김혜빈 독립형 WT #156 People often buy products not because they really need them but because other people have them

[Haebin Kim]

#156 People often buy products not because they really need them but because other people have them

 선택: YES 다른 사람들이 갖고 있는 물건을 사게 된다 

바디1: 소셜미디어때문에 유행이란게 너무 멀리까지 퍼지고 그것이 다른 사람의 인생을 우리 눈에 광고처럼 노출 시킨다 

G.S: 요즘 사람들은 벌써 유행을 배제할 수 있는 능력을 생겼다 but 회사들은 소셜미디어로 사람들의 심리를 이용한다

E.X: 스마트폰을 처음으로 갖게된 나의 여동생이 다른 사람들의 인생을 너무 자주 보게되면서 유행을 따르게 되다

바디2: 다른 사람들과 어울리기 위해서 다른 사람들이 갖고있는 물건을 사게 된다 

G.S: 결국엔 필요한 물건을 더 많이 사게된다 but 필요한것도 남이 싫어하면 사지 않게 된다 

E.X: 고등학교 신입생들이 배드민턴 부에서 선배들을 따라 비싼 걸 사고 정작 자기들이 필요한 것은 안삼 

Over the past few decades, the development of many countries has led to massive consumption of goods. So, it has been argued whether people often buy products not because they really need them but because other people have them. Some people might argue that people often buy products because they really need them, while others might disagree with it. However, I am deeply convinced that people often buy products because other people have them. Actually, I have a couple of reasons to support my opinion and will explain and develop them in the next following paragraphs below.

First and foremost, people tend to buy goods that other people have more than goods that they need because today’s trends are massively widespread due to the development of social media. Compared to the past when social media was underdeveloped, trends didn’t reach places far beyond the borders of big cities. However, today, social media have integrated and globalized everyone’s life, and this is now causing today’s trends to become a more widespread and much bigger deal than before. Not only that, we are bombarded by overloading updates of other people’s lives just like advertisements that attract our attention.  Although some people might say that today’s people have more insight in shopping and are smart enough not to waste their money on goods that they don’t need, quite a lot of diverse companies or brands have developed much smarter tactics for seducing consumers to continuously buy their products, by the use of social media. To give an example of this, my little sister first opened her eyes to fashion and accessories in her first year of middle school. This was because she got her first smart phone that year. Being totally exposed to social media for the first time, she began to communicate with her friends with it and watch the daily uploads of famous people’s SNS. When her favorite actor wore a blue skirt, she suddenly asked our mom to buy the exact blue skirt for her, too. When her favorite singer wore a brand outfit, she started to save money to buy the same one. When all of her friends started to wear light-blue jeans, she started to wear light-blue jeans, too. Though she became smart enough to notice that trends don’t last long and there’s no point in buying everything celebrities wear, she found out later that companies had been sponsoring all the clothes to her favorite actors and singers to increase sales. Today’s companies were using social media to outsmart consumers from all over the world and to induce them into buying their commodities. Just like the influence of alluring advertisements, overloading social media information about other people’s lives is making people want what others have more and more. Therefore, people tend to buy the things that they desire rather than the things they need.  

Moreover, people tend to buy commodities that other people own rather than the ones they need because they want to socialize and communicate with other people. Even without the power of social media, people tend to admire products that other people carry around or use because they want to have something in common with such people. Especially in small communities that require socialization such as schools, companies, and activity clubs, people tend to buy products that other people have purchased in order to fit in and socialize with their groups. Although some people might say that people eventually buy commodities that they need more than the ones that others have, this is not true because people sometimes refuse to buy products that they need just because other people don’t have or like them. For instance, when I was a part of the badminton club at my high-school, a lot of young and new students from the lowest grade tried to fit in by imitating older students. They bought high-quality badminton rackets that most of the older students had just because they wanted to talk with them. Not only that, they bought sneakers and accessories that they didn’t actually need because such older students owned the same things. Why they didn’t need such items yet was because they were just beginners who only observed badminton games and practiced basic moves that didn’t require any professional sport items. Since they had to carry a lot of unnecessary stuff, what they actually needed was a large badminton bag. Yet, they refused to buy that kind of bag because none of the other older students had it. Like this, their only purpose of buying the things other people had already purchased was to socialize with others and conform to the badminton club atmosphere.  Eventually, they even refused to buy the products that they actually needed such as a large bag because they feared they might stand out. Therefore, people tend to buy products that others have more than the ones they need.