As society advances, so has the meaning of the word trend. “Trends” are no longer confined to fashion; they now extend out to all aspects of life. Nowadays, trends are deeply embedded in consumerism. People buy items not for function but to fit in.
Consumerism -once centered around capitalism and the economy- is now tied to personal identity. People are willing to buy more and more products to blend in and stay trendy. Sarah, a friend of mine who always stays up to date on trends explains “I tend to buy my products based on my interests and not necessarily to follow what social media and society tempt me to buy.” Her view reflects a deeper truth on how many people have to make choices about responding to social pressure or buying out genuine interests. Social media is not helping this choice.
Social media has caused a huge need for overconsumption. Trends and fads now blow up overnight. It now takes a single viral video for a company to quickly sell out of a product. This creates a sense of urgency for consumers to buy products, just so they do not feel left out of the fad.
This summer, in particular, the craze of buying and owning a Labubu went viral. Opinions varied whether or not this item was cute or ugly, some even called them demonic. But one thing was for sure, people were still willing to buy them. This made it difficult for people who had interests before the trend. Some interests also appeared before they became widespread.“I was in the Popmart trend back in 2022 and love all my figures,” shared Tang.
She expressed how passionate and upset she was that her collection is being turned into something else and the wrong demographic getting their hands on these items never to touch or care about them after the fads end.
After all, for some consumers, trends hold genuine meaning. “Labubus are amazing, they aren’t micro trends to me,” said senior Sherry Tang. It is important to keep in mind that these products are not just owned for popularity, some just have a genuine interest in them.
All of this shows that consumerism and trends are now intertwined. Due to popular trends in the media, excessive consumerism has become more prevalent. As more consumers jump into the most recent trend, it is important to remember to not go the extra mile for these trends and lose sight of oneself of your interests, they will become the next trends.
