Let us consider the price tag for the latest release by Apple for the iPhone which ranges between $1200 and $1800. What is the true value that people get when they buy $1800 mobile phone? What is the difference between 2016 and 2018 releases for most companies? Extra features that are unnecessary and offer no true value. Other rivals like Samsung and Huawei produced Android budget phones that have almost the same qualities and features.

Manipulation has become a profession. Most companies are wasting their time, efforts, sources, and resources in building a product, repackage it and decorate to find the valleys that competitors have overlooked. Do companies produce products and deliver services that satisfy people’s true needs or desires? Most companies have mastered the art of talking to people’s desires. They are reinforcing the link between social comparison and self-esteem. It is how to drive people’s behavior to compare themselves with others and how they evaluate themselves. Social media and technology companies understood this game very well. For example, getting the latest iPhone will preserve and boost your social status. Carrying the most expensive mobile phone will also guarantee your rank in the socioeconomic hierarchy.   

Why to pay $1800 for a mobile phone if you can get the same features and services in $400 phone? I used the iPhone for four years and I am now using an Android mobile phone that does the same job or even better. Many people will agree and disagree with me. It is a debatable subject, but the bottom line is that many companies like Apple lure people into buying expensive products to increase their profits. Manipulating the human psychology to drive certain buying behaviors is their marketing strategy.   

These are the evils of consumerism and capitalism. Educating people about the best options and helping them to develop the ability to detect manipulation are the best tools to avoid the trap of consumerism . This is the core of a great business. The question is that who can do that.