The video discussion centers on the strategy called “Planned Obsolescence”, known as the policy of

planning and designing products with a verifiably limited useful life, which is a common practice among
different international companies, in order to encourage the purchaser to replace it or to make repeat
purchases, offering another product or an upgrade. The Centennial Light, the 120 years lightbulb that
was shown in the video is often pointed to as an evidence for this supposedly sinister business strategy.
“They don’t make ‘em like they used to,” as the idiom goes like the Apple gadgets for example in which
they ensure that a product's current version becomes obsolete or ineffective within a specified time
frame so that consumers will seek alternatives in the future, as a result of this constructive change,
demand increased and thus boosting their revenues. It is easy to induce people to buy an ever-
increasing variety of things, not in order to use them but to activate commerce and to varying degrees,
high-end brands serve to stroke customers’ egos as symbols of elevated social status and discard them
after a short period of time when the trend comes off.

Planned obsolescence is not just a business strategy but a lifestyle to which many people have
subscribed to. Even if products were designed to last shorter, social driving forces like social status,
trends and innovation will compel consumers to continue to buy the newest and best products for firms
are reacting to the tastes of the consumers. One thing that I find good about this is that because we are
living in an increasingly developed world, with the technologies and the internet within our reach,
almost all industry has made countless of goods cheaper and thus available to nearly everyone, hence,
many of us indulge in creature comforts and convenience unimaginable a century ago and one concrete
example of this is the birth of online shopping which is really a trend nowadays. More people have had a
better quality of life as a result of this fast change at any other time in history thus consumers come to
expect the perks of these.

The recent wave of connected technologies and the increased usage of appliances constitutes a huge
help to drive innovation and the consumer market for there is a need to consume more, to produce
more and to increase the number of sales, leading inevitably to the presence of obsolescence in the
consumer market and I think there are some instances where businesses are kind of tricking the
consumer, but I think there are also situations where the consumers are also at fault, especially in a
world where more and more people can access to internet services and data, it is clear that it is quite
difficult to stop the evolution of technology and design. Companies are in business to make money, and
there’s nothing wrong with that, but some companies use tactics like planned obsolescence to make
money while others turn a profit while looking after their customers and honestly its should be a win-
win situation in both parties.