The facts of Consumerism

Source for the Following information: Consumption: The Facts

Consumerism really applies specifically to world location - for example, the US and Canada hold only 5.2% of the worlds' population, yet are responsible for 31.5% of consumption; compare this to South Asia, which holds 22.4% of the population and manages to keep their consumerism down to 2% of the worlds' consumption. Typically, Western countries are big consumers - capitalism plays a big part of this.

The US spends more on consumption than it would take to achieve the UN's millennium development goals - and this is based solely on luxury items, not on those necessary to survive.

This graph shows the luxury product expense compared to one of the millennium development goals proposed by the UN (which was, unsurprisingly, not completed).


However, to market your work, it is important to not make the consumer feel bad; who would buy a work of art that made them feel guilt every time they looked at it?