Week
7 Blog: Customer/Consumer - Potato/Tomato,
A few of my fellow students
during the tutorial mentioned that they had also seen the ‘ABC/Four Corners’
program which uncannily enough linked into Tuesdays lecture on globalisation,
manufacture and stuff.
“Every hour of every day, our digital
interactions are being recorded and logged. We live in the age of 'big data',
where seemingly mundane information about how we go about our lives has
enormous value”. (Thompson,
G. Gould, M. Christodoulou. M. 2013).
“In
Google we trust” is obviously a play on words as the American bank notes
proclaims “in God we Trust” but can we honestly say that today our bank notes aren’t
more skewed to Google or Facebook rather than God.
In the
not so distant past purchasing clothes, stereo’s, televisions and food needed
some sort of interaction with a salesperson even if it was only to have the
benefits of the purchase outlined in such a way that it made you resolve to buy
it there and then, 'would that be cash or hire purchase, sir'. This point was reinforced in the
lecture “Customer had always implied some
degree of regular and continuing relationship to supplier”(Wilkinson. 2013).
Today that interaction has been eroded by internet connections, websites, recorded
digital voices and “sponsored” Facebook advertisements turning people into consumers.
The
dreamers at Google and Facebook must be superhuman for having the ability to
see the future would be highly advantageous. Today, whilst the general
population of the western world is mulling over the ethics involved in bringing
a $1.00 ‘T’ shirt from Pakistan to sell in elaborate department stores, but not
really giving a dam, the money makers are pondering how to reap the future rewards
from the third world continents. Dicken (2007) highlights that as we consider
the ethics and morals of consumption “For
many, many people, the global economy has not yet brought either material gifts
or the hope of a better life” (P.439) their only concern is having the
money to purchase a potato unfortunately its only a matter of time before that
transaction will be monitored, recorded and then sold to the highest bidder for
“sponsorship” by the global entities we currently encourage, the winner takes it all.
Dicken,
P. (2007). Winning and Losing: An
introduction in Global shift; Mapping the changing contours of the world
economy (pp.437-453). London, England. Sage.
Wilkinson, R. (2013). Lecture 7. James Cook University. BA1002. Our Space: Networks, Narratives and the Making of Place.
Cairns, Qld. 10 September, 2013.
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