Did you know that the lifetime of light bulbs once used to last for
more than 2500 hours and was reduced – on purpose – to just 1000 hours?
Did you know that nylon stockings once used to be that stable that you
could even use them as tow rope for cars and its quality was reduced
just to make sure that you will soon need a new one? Did you know that
you might have a tiny little chip inside your printer that was just
placed there so that your device will “break” after a predefined number
of printed pages thereby assuring that you buy a new one? Did you know
that Apple originally did not intend to offer any battery exchange
service for their iPods/iPhones/iPads just to enable you to continuously
contribute to the growth of this corporation?
This strategy was maybe first thought through already in the 19th century and later on for example motivated by Bernhard London in 1932 in his paper “Ending the Depression Through Planned Obsolescence”. The intentional design and manufacturing of products with a limited lifespan to assure repeated purchases is denoted as “planned/programmed obsolescence”
and we are all or at least most of us upright and thoroughly
participating in this doubtful endeavor. Or did you not recently think
about buying a new mobile phone / computer / car / clothes / … because
your old one unexpectedly died or just because of this very cool new
feature that you oh so badly need?
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A really well done documentary that provides a comprehensive overview about and a detailed insight into this topic recently aired on Arte and other European television networks. It is entitled “The Light Bulb Conspiracy – The untold story of planned obsolescence”
(aka “Pyramids of Waste”, DE: “Kaufen für die Müllhalde”, FR: “Prêt à
jeter”, ES: “Comprar, tirar, comprar”) and is a French/Spanish
production directed by Cosima Dannoritzer. Recordings of the movie have
been uploaded to various video portals, for example currently available
on YouTube in EN/International with Norwegian subtitles, DE, FR and ES. Just the official TV and Internet broadcasts were viewed by over 2,500,000 people.
If you like to follow up on some of the documentary’s content, here
are the links: The light bulb at the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire
Department can be watched here via web cam. Wikipedia has some more information on the Phoebus cartel in EN and DE. The referenced clip about the tremendous waste of ink by inkjet printers can be found at Atomic Shrimp: “The Dirty Little Secret Of Inkjet Printers”. The software to reset the page counter of various Epson printers can be found here: SSC Service Utility for Epson Stylus Printers. The people that made “iPod’s Dirty Secret” are the Neistat Brothers.
The tough guy from Ghana that collects evidences at the dumping grounds
to identify the orignators of electric waste is Mike Anane and he also
contributed to the report “Poisoning the poor – Electronic waste in Ghana” issued by Greenpeace.
That planned obsolescence may be needed or even is substantial to
appease the ever-growing hunger to achieve continuous and distinct
economic growth that is natural to nations with advanced economies aka
developed (?) countries is one part. The past and present is comprised
of numerous advocates and supporters with well-engineered argumentations
in favor of this business strategy. But even the ultimate argument gets
immediately and indisputably absurd and unreasonable when it comes to
the thereby produced waste – the other part of planned obsolescence.
“The Light Bulb Conspiracy” quite clearly showed where this leads to and
especially where all the resulting waste is dumped.
Let’s keep that in mind while impatiently waiting for the release of the next generation of the iPhone …
[written and directed by Cosima Dannoritzer]
apfelkraut.org
The 52 minute documentary in Spanish
The 52 minute documentary in English/German
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