Consumer Society - Assignment Example

Consumer society Introduction The consumer behavior of the American society has raised many moral concerns especially whenit comes to the purchase of luxury and expensive goods at the expense of helping the needy. The American consumer society is known to spend enormous sums of money in buying good that they can easily live without and still lead a comfortable life (Mattson 46). While this happens in America, third-world countries are struggling to mitigate the situation of homeless people in their streets but to no avail. Here is where comes the moral concern of the extravagant expenditure of the American societies as compared to the deplorable conditions in which homeless people live in not only the third world countries but also other slum regions in the united states of America (Wood, and Michael 47). One of the extravagant expenditures in America is in video games like Clash Clans and FIFA 2015 in which Americans spend millions of dollars each year and yet the games offer no materials gains to their users. The paper, therefore, provides a comprehensive discussion of the consumer behavior of the American society with reference to the video games in which Americans spend their cash. Discussion The computer and video game industry in American makes billions of dollars each year from the sales of game applications and related revenue generated from online participations. The 2014 statistics of computer and video game purchases in USA indicated that over 59% of Americans play video games and spend at least eight hours every week on video games. The statistics also indicated that the average age for video gamers is 31 years and both males, and females participate equally in the purchase and subsequent use of these games. An astonishing figure revealed that the video game industry made an overwhelming USD 15.5 billion in revenue in 2014 (Mattson 156). It is noteworthy that some video games are social games that are played for free while others are downloadable content that have to be bought in order to be played by a gamer. The games that are bought are either obtained using one-time purchases or require frequent purchases in order to continue playing. Despite the fact that online games might not need direct cash deposits to play, the fact that they use internet bundles is an indication that they need monetary investments to be accessed. One ought to note that other offline games also require some financial deposits in order to proceed to the next level (Kahle, & Angeline 92). Clash Clans video game Clash Clans is one of Americas favorite video games. The game was created and released to the public by Supercell that is a video game company with its base in Helsinki, Finland. A gamer is required to build and defend his or her clan or village by fighting fierce wars. On most occasions, the game is played free of charge. Once a gamer has installed the game on his or her machine, they are not required to make any further cash deposits. For this reason, most middle class Americans that play this game make one-time payments for the game (Long-Yi 8). However, the games have a provision in which a gamer is allowed to pay in order to build their clans faster and defend them better. A considerable number of people pay to develop their villages faster and defend them better in this game. Despite being of little or no material gain to its users, the Clash Clans game generates huge sums of revenue each year as a result of people that pay to build and develop their clans faster. This is an example of the extravagant American society consumer behavior in which Americans spend a lot of money on luxuries as opposed to using the money for gainful purposes (Wood, and Michael 59). In spite of being aware of the different ways in which they can spend the money productively, they chose to ignore them and opt to spend the money on luxury. FIFA 2015 game Just like Clash Clans game, FIFA 2015 game is also widely played in the United States of America. The game is highly competitive and requires dedication and skill in order to win. The game also involves the development of strong football teams that gamers use to battle opponent teams. One ought to note that FIFA 2015 requires a high level of skills in order to beat par with the rest of the gamers. Building strong clans involves buying players and creating a large crowd of followers. In addition to advancing to levels in order to attain this status, most gamers typically use money to achieve this status in the game. On some occasions, gamers subscribe to higher levels and buy highly qualifies players with their cash that they pay through various virtual money transfer systems (Kim, Walsh, & Ross 45). Over time, the payments made through such procedures amount to huge sums of money. While this is happening, third-world nations are making fruitless attempts to salvage orphaned young boys and girls from their streets. While a considerable percentage of the American population is spending billions of American dollars on products that add little to not value in their lives, orphaned and homeless boys and girls somewhere are dying of curable diseases like diarrhea and tetanus (Wood, and Michael 89). The ethical dilemma of the American consumer society behavior Both the Clash Clan and FIFA 2015 are highly competitive games in the market currently. This is an implication that these two games contribute largely to the revenues generated by the video game industry. However, this expenditure has solicited worldwide ethical dilemmas as to whether the expenses of the majority of the American people is justified with reference to the number of needy people out there who do not have the chance to lead a comfortable life (Kahle, & Angeline 78). The actions of American gamers can be condemned in the strongest terms possible mainly because they are perceived to be ethically wrong. This is especially because the cash can be used to save the life of a helpless street child who lacks basic human needs including healthcare services (Long-Yi 12). It is true that people have the right to spend their money in ways they desire. In addition, it is also right to have in mind other needy members of the society while engaging in extravagant expenditure. This is inconsiderate on whether people use their money to buy and play video games of so other things. One important thing to note about an individuals money is the fact that he or she can spend the cash on anything they need. Additionally, there is the moral distinction of the people who choose to spend their money wisely and those who use it carelessly. However, it is difficult to dictate what people should spend their cash on and what they ought not (Kim, Walsh, & Ross 46). Many will be quick to say that gamers of FIFA 2015 and Clash Clan have a moral responsibility of donating some money to charity organizations that take care of homeless children both in USA and other parts of the globe. Everyone ought to be reminded of the fact that some people somewhere on the globe need the money we spend o luxurious purchases like video games and so on. However, one should not be quick to make a judgment on others. They too have an ample opportunity to participate in the process or to save the lives of children in third-world countries dying from curable diseases like diarrhea and small pox (Ebrahimi, & Asgari et al 134). Occasionally spending 200USD on dinner for two with a fiancé is not any different from spending the same amount in buying video games. Similarly, paying double price for a pair of shoes just because the shoes are sold in high end boutiques or buying new clothes when the old ones are still wearable is as bad an American society consumer behavior as spending money on buying and playing video games. Matter-of-factly, it has been noted that a 200USD donation to young, sickly and helpless 2-year old kid can be significant in transforming the kid into a 6-year old healthy kid. The little money can offer the kid safe passage through his or her most dangerous years (Long-Yi 8). Further dilemma arises when one finally decides to forgo video games for a while and use a little money to support and international organization that takes care of needy people like UNICEF. How much is one supposed to forego in order to rescue the life of a dying child somewhere in a third-world nation? Of course, one cannot completely suspend his or her luxury in order to channel the money to such organizations. Even if one succeeds in saving the life of one child, there will always be another and another. The list of needy children in the world is endless. How does one decide the percentage to offer to charity and the percentage to use of luxurious spending? These questions cannot be answered comprehensively due to the ethical and moral considerations that participants would want to attract to them. However, assuming the absence of these moral and ethical considerations would mean that people are entirely justified to spend their money in whatever way they desire. This is inconsiderate of whether their expenditure would be perceived as an insult to the needy people. For this reason, donating to charity should come as a result of one’s judgment and not a persuasion from other factions that condemn the expenditure (Ebrahimi, & Asgari et al 134). Conclusion The consumer behavior of the American society is marred by certain societal prejudice that link extravagant spending to lack of sympathy or empathy for the needy people. The ethical and moral obligation to donate to charity does not give limits to how much one can donate and for how long he or she is supposed to do the same. Additionally, the kindheartedness does not provide clear distinctions on how many lives need to be saved or how many people need to be helped in order to warrant a person to spend extravagantly on video games without having to worry about the moral and ethical obligation to donate to charity. Works Cited (Books) Kahle, Lynn R, and Angeline, Close. Consumer Behavior Knowledge for Effective Sports and Event Marketing. New York: Routledge, 2011. Print. Mattson, Jonathan K. Video Game Cultivation: Sowing the Seeds of Consumer Behavior. , 2013. Print. Wood, Natalie T, and Michael R. Solomon. Virtual Social Identity and Consumer Behavior. Armonk, N.Y: M.E. Sharpe, 2009. Internet resource. (Scholarly/peer reviewed articles) Ebrahimi, Naser., Asgari, Hamidreza., Tavakoli, Mehdi., Sani, Mehdi Sadeghy., Ebrahimi, Sepideh. “Study of effective factors on attitude, intention and behavior of using computer games.” Kuwait Chapter of the Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review3.10A (Jun 2014): 133-143. Print. Kim, Yongjae., Walsh, Patrick., and Ross, Stephen D. “An Examination of the Psychological and Consumptive Behaviors of Sport Video Gamers.” Sport Marketing Quarterly 17.1 (Mar 2008): 44-53. Print. Long-Yi, Lin. “The relationship of consumer personality trait, brand personality and brand loyalty: an empirical study of toys and video games buyers.” The Journal of Product and Brand Management 19.1 (2010): 4-17. Print. Read More