aro0823, 2/14

“The Cult of the New.”

I blame the advertising industry for the rise in prominence of “the cult of the new.” Marketers are quite perceptive and realize just how unassuming and persuadable consumers have become. The rise of modern American consumer culture in the 1950s and the subsequent development of the “position treadmill” has made advertisers’ jobs remarkably simplistic; they need merely to attach the words “new” or “improved” to any product and it will fly off retailer’s shelves. Habermas too was remarkably perceptive when he wrote about the ‘new’ being overcome and “made obsolete through the novelty of the next style (99).” The transition from ‘new’ to ‘obsolete’ is remarkably apparent in the electronics industry, specifically with Apple products.

When Apple introduced the first iPod in 2002, it was said to revolutionize the music industry. Interestingly enough, even after introducing the subsequent fifteen generations in six years, Apple still claims that each new model is revolutionary and you must have it because it is the latest. The iPod mini lasted only two years before the smaller iPod shuffle debuted, only to be replaced by the Nano nine months later. Though the iPod classic is still available for the traditionalists out there, the postmodern employees in the store insist that you buy the iPod Touch because it is the most recent release. All of this technology is handheld and plays music, but if you don’t rush out and purchase the latest version, you will assumedly feel alienated and left out.

Cell phone companies like Verizon follow similar models with their “New Every Two” agreement, in which the customer is able to upgrade his phone to a better model every two years, even if the old one works perfectly. “Traditional substance becomes devalued” and the consumer falls into the never-ending pattern of pursuing the new (103). For this reason, regardless of the market price of these objects, no rational consumer expects any technology to be long-lasting and therefore has no problem paying obscene amounts of money for new high tech gadgets multiple times a year. Although he was born in the late 20s, Habermas would undoubtedly have no issue cornering the advertising industry today, nine decades later.