The lightbulb conspiracy

This documentary centers around the events and ideas that have lead us to how our perception of goods have changed and modified. It all started with a lightbulb. In the 18000 when this product was starting to become a  mass produced good, a common lightbulb could last for more than 5 years. When the companies that made ligthbulbs found that people where not buying ligthbulbs ( because they did not needed them ) they created a strategy to keep the making and selling of such product. They made a worst product that lasted less than a year, a more fragil glass that would brake easily and keep the consumers coming back to purchase more. 

During the Great Depression, business tried to pass a law that would require the devolution of a prosaic and the purchase of that same product after a certain amount of years. To keep factories open and an stable workforce.In the 1950's it was discovered how the human nature can affect positively the market. People like new stuff,brighter colors, different design and even just a different symbol. When business learned this, they took advantage by creating products with the same interior and function but with a different exterior and shape. This has stuck with us and now it's normal for an iPhone 6 to come only after a year than the iPhone 5 version S. 

This tendencies not only have taken a toll in our generation but also in the environment. Once discarded these objects end up in trash dumps across the world, where they serve part of an underground economy of need. Children in Ghana, instead of attending school, spend their days at these dumps in order to find scrap pieces of metals that they will later sell to support their families. The majority of the world is not aware of this while others just play dumb. 

When have been turned into a society where a persons worth is determined by what they own, and who has the newer and better upgrade. It is incredible to think that these currents of belief started only with a ligthbulb.