Isn't it time to rebel against those darned Joneses? After all, if we hadn't been keeping up with them for all these years, we might not have basements full of perfectly good products we've used once or twice, but really didn't need.
Two bits of errata got me thinking about this recently:
1) The number of homebuyers with a preference for large garages continues to grow (up 16 percent since 2004) as per the recently released National Association of Realtor's 2007 Profile of Buyers' Feature Preferences. I guess we have to have larger spaces for storing what the Joneses spurred us to buy?
2) Daniel Gross's August 5th New York Times review of Falling Behind: How Rising Inequality Harms the Middle Class by Robert H. Frank made me want to learn more about how people come to be so influenced by "Thy Neighbor's Stash" (The title of the review, which also would have made a better book title if you ask me.). Frank has apparently written on the topic of luxury and class differences before, but it was the term "relative deprivation" that caught my eye here. One example mentioned -- that people would rather have a 3,000 square foot home in a neighborhood of 2,000 square foot homes than own a 4,000 square foot home in a 6,000 square foot home neighborhood. Apparently, homeowners prefer to BE the Joneses that everyone else looks up to. Hmmm...
Here's the thing from the business perspective: Society is at a consuming crossroads, but not every consumer is aware of it yet -- and businesses are really lagging behind. As more consumers do realize and change their buying habits toward a more sustainable lifestyle, brands have an opportunity to take the lead within their industries. They can be the first on their blocks to deliver and market around the idea that less, or smaller, can be more.
In order to inspire a world of consumers to think and buy more like individuals who know no Joneses, brands should step up to the plate and make more serious commitments to delivering products that last a long time, or that do the job well and are easily recycled. Brands might also put more money into educating consumers about the economics of buying higher quality goods that last longer, and about how being a more savvy shopper actually trumps being a Jones. (Imagine!) One more thing brands might do is make a conscious effort to limit their expanding product lines and be very vocal about why they are doing it (helping to limit products that don't really serve a new need is one good reason that might resonate with consumers).
Lest you remain under-inspired by my words, consider this: by addressing this now, brands and marketers will especially gain the edge with the next generations of consumers who, having grown up with increasing environmental awareness will likely be the most demanding in this realm. (Responsibility is so "in.")
Now, I realize this post seems like anti-marketing, but in the land of commodities, only the clever and paradigm-shifting businesses survive. The rest go live near the Joneses.