Consumed is Rob Walker's New York Times Magazine column about consumer behavior, consumer culture, products, marketing, design, and all things consumed.
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In The New York Times Magazine: “Hoarders”
19 December 2009, 4:57 am |
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In The New York Times Magazine: Blu Dot’s Real Good Chair promotion
5 December 2009, 9:24 am |
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Bad taste?
4 December 2009, 4:54 pm |
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Performance art and soap operas
4 December 2009, 10:50 am |
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The Product Is You, No. 17
3 December 2009, 6:53 pm |
Notes
Favorite Pages
BIG CHEESE:Is largeness its own reward?
We think of ourselves as sophisticated creatures, and the many brilliant minds of the consumer-industrial complex often think of us that way, too. But sometimes what we want seems pretty simple. Sometimes, we just want something big.
A case in point, perhaps: giant Cheetos....
Read the column in the May 10, 2009, New York Times Magazine, or here.
IMMATERIALISMWith more of life lived online, spending on things that don't seems more normal.
I've actually been scooped by Core77 in posting my own column! Embarrassing. Anyway, Consumed this week is about immaterialism and digital goods -- why people buy things that don't exist.
Consuming things made of bits might sound weird, but actually it offers a lot of the same attractions that make people consume things made of atoms. Facebook’s digital gifting is one relatively mainstream example.
Other examples, and the case for what it all has in common with buying things that do exist, in the full column in the May 3, 2009, issue of The New York Times Magazine, or here.
Discuss, make fun of, or praise this column to the skies at the Consumed Facebook page. For information about writing a letter to the editor, see the FAQ.
Consumed archive is here. The Times' Consumed RSS feed is here. Facebook users: Become a Consumed "fan" here.
REFURBISHING NORMALLooking at how consumer expectations about the home have changed -- and how they might change again
This week The New York Times Magazine has a special issue with a "green." Consumed plays along by looking at "expectations of normal," how they change, and what the eco-consequences are.
Clearly our notions of “normal” change as a result of innovations or economic circumstances or even the vagaries of fashion. Quitzau and Ropke were looking at the way people in one country think about one room, but the pattern is familiar. A century ago, having a bathroom at all was “a sign of status,” they wrote. Gradually the bathroom became normal, as did more frequent showering and so on. And around the mid-1990s, a new wave of bathroom remodeling transformed a previously function-oriented and hygienic aesthetic into one of “identity formation.”
Not surprisingly, the cumulative effect included using a lot more water and energy. Observers of the American remodeling business have seen similar trends. ... Today, given that many Americans’ consumption patterns have been affected by the economic slowdown, it’s interesting to consider whether a version of normal might emerge that is more environmentally sound.
Read the whole column in the April 19, 2009, issue of The New York Times Magazine, or here. Discuss, make fun of it, or praise it to the skies on the Consumed Facebook page. For information about writing a letter to the editor, see the FAQ.
Consumed archive is here.
The Times' Consumed RSS feed is here.
Facebook users: Become a Consumed fan here.
Consumed's Notes
In The New York Times Magazine: Cheetos GiantMay 9, 2009
In The New York Times Magazine: Digital goodsMay 2, 2009
In The New York Times Magazine: Eco-remodeling and the possibilities of a new “normal”Apr 18, 2009
In the New York Times Magazine: Garment ValletApr 12, 2009
In The New York Times Magazine: 1BOGApr 4, 2009
In The New York Times Magazine: Hyundai AssuranceMar 21, 2009
In The New York Times Magazine: Blankets with sleevesMar 15, 2009
In The New York Times Magazine: PreserveMar 7, 2009
In The New York Times Magazine: Crafty ChicaMar 1, 2009
In The New York Times Magazine: Fail WhaleFeb 14, 2009