A lightbulb in the Livermore, California firehouse just celebrated its 110th birthday or burnday and it is still burning bright. Prior to an agreement by major manufacturers to shorten lightbulb life to 1000 hours, lightbulbs lasted 2500 hours or more. This documentary is about the ever-shrinking lifespan of consumer products.
Consumerism = 1. Advertisement 2. Planned Obsolescence 3. Credit --
These 3 stages of modern business are worth noting regarding the promulgation of today's world wide consumer system which is presently stripping the natural wealth of the planet for all inhabitants, including man.
Stage 1 (Advertisement), and 3 (Credit) are well known and often discussed in the mainstream arena. Stage 2 of the consumer process is much less talked about.
Stage 2 - Planned Obsolescence..
Obsolescence is the state of being which an object, service or practice is no longer wanted, even though it may still be in good working order.. (bar say one 'irreparable' defect.. in this case of the planned variety.
(Plus, often compulsory for those entering into an established market.. i.e. permitted to remain in the fold.)
Planned obsolescence or built-in obsolescence in industrial design is a policy of deliberately planning or designing a product with a limited useful life, so it will become obsolete or nonfunctional after a certain period of time.: www.en.wikipedia.org
Phoebus cartell was a cartel of, among others, Osram, Philips and General Electric from December 23, 1924 until 1939 that existed to control the manufacture and sale of light bulbs. www.en.wikipedia.org
Fire station bulb shown in the doc: www.centennialbulb.org
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Reply #1 on : Tue February 28, 2012, 11:56:12