Affluenza

Affluenza is the addiction to spending money that has taken English speaking countries

by storm. There is an overwhelming amount of pressure put on the general public that they never

have enough (or the right) stuff. Get it now spending has replaced delayed gratification, and

advertising and the media are to blame for this epidemic of mass spending. This outbreak of

spending over saving hasn’t gone unnoticed. In an article entitled All “Stuffed” Up—The

Infirmity of Affluenza, Joe Dresang points out that there are many clues as to why this disease has

become so prevalent in today’s society.

The main goal of any company is to make money, hands down, and they will do whatever

it takes to get it. Companies agree that the best way to do that is through advertising. Big

companies are ruthless. They will do whatever it takes to get you to buy their product, even if it

means costing you more than the price on the tag. Companies don’t care that by practically

forcing you to buy their product; they are killing you financially at the same time. All that

matters to them is their paycheck, not your livelihood. The fact that companies will go to any

extent to get your money is a major contributor to the affluenza epidemic. An article written by

Patrick Marshall entitled “Advertising Overload” reveals: “Consumers literally can feel like

captive audiences of advertisers” (Marshall 3). He points out that advertisers have gotten out of

control with their intrusiveness. It’s inescapable, and that is one of the major reasons people feel

trapped into spending money they don’t have on products they don’t even need.

In society today, the media holds more power than anything else. The average American

watches three and a half hours of TV each day (Holmes 1), and with glamorous shows like

Desperate Housewives, Cribs, and Extreme Home Makeover, people are getting the wrong ideas

of what is necessary and what is extravagant. The general public has gotten to the point where

they don’t know the difference between needs and wants, and I think that that has been a major

contributor to the affluenza epidemic. David Hatch, in an article titled “Media Ownership”
explains: “five conglomerates control most prime-time TV programming, and one company —

Clear Channel — dominates radio” (Hatch 1). This is just not enough opinions feeding the minds

of consumers. In a society where we get so much of our daily information from media sources

like television and radio, we need more than 5 sources of ideas.

Not only is everyone spending their hard earned cash on electronics and expensive

appliances, but prescription drugs are a major contributor to the affluenza epidemic. American

consumers spent nearly $100 billion on prescription drugs last year, more than double what the

nation spent on drugs in 1990 ( Weber 1 ). Advertising for prescription drugs is out of control;

most of the time they are for drugs that you don’t even need. Not only are the drugs co-

dependant on each other (you need this one to fall asleep, and you need another one to get up)

but the side effects are often worse than the original problem that the drug is supposed to fix.

With all that, plus Botox to get rid of those nasty wrinkles and facial expressions, there is no

wonder why Americans are running out of money.

Get it now spending has replaced delayed gratification, and advertising and the media are

to blame for this epidemic of mass spending. The main goal of any company is to make money,

and they will go to any length to get it. Advertisers have gotten out of control with their

intrusiveness, and that is putting a major pain in America’s back pocket. The media holds more

power than anything else, and with more and more time spent watching television, Americans are

very susceptible to the wrath of grueling companies. With television shows portraying the

average American as a super wealthy, upper class individual, the ideal life is ten times more

expensive than w hat it should be. With the onset of abundant commercials promoting

unnecessary prescription drugs, it’s a wonder anyone has any money left. Affluenza is a horrible
addiction to spending money due to an epidemic of advertising and the media’s influence on our

day-to-day lives.
 Works Sited

Dresang, Joel. "All "Stuffed" Up-- The Infirmity of Affluenza." Credit Union Magazine Oct

2005: 4A-6A.

Hatch, David. "Media Ownership." CQ Researcher 13.35 (2003): 845-868. CQ Researcher

Online. CQ Press. Elizabeth Strum Library, Reno, NV. 9 April 2008

<http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2003101000>.

Holmes, Gary. "Nielsen Media Research Reports Television's Popularity Is Still Growing."

Nielsen. 21 Sep 2006. Nielsen. 9 Apr 2008

<http://www.nielsenmedia.com/nc/portal/site/Public/menuitem.55dc65b4a7d5adff3f6593

6147a062a0/?vgnextoid=4156527aacccd010VgnVCM100000ac0a260aRCRD>.

Marshall, Patrick. "Advertising Overload." CQ Researcher 14.3 (2004): 49-72. CQ Researcher

Online. CQ Press. . 9 April 2008

<http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2004012300>.

Weber, Douglas H. . "Prescription Drugs." opensecrets.org Mar 2008 Apr 18 2008

<http://www.opensecrets.org/news/drug/>.