PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE – A BLESSING OR A CURSE?
A Have you ever been upset when a quite new product stopped working a short time after the warranty ran out? This
problem may have been caused by so-called ‘planned obsolescence’, which can be understood as deliberately making
a product to last only a limited period of time. The concept goes back to 1920s America, where car manufacturers
decided to change their car design annually to convince their customers that they needed to replace their vehicles more
often. The idea soon became widespread among manufacturers of other products.
B Manufacturers can come up with a number of good reasons to make use of the idea of planned obsolescence. Making
their product cheap enough is one of the most important ones. A car whose parts were all made to last a hundred years
would have be hundreds of times more expensive than an ordinary one. As for electronic gadgets, it does not make any
economic sense to make a product last a long time as customers are rather unlikely to keep using the same model of
their mobile phone for more than a few years. Planned obsolescence is also written into the very nature of certain
industries, such as the fashion industry. Last year’s collections are meant to go out of fashion as soon as a new line
appears on the market.
C A lot of customers, however, are not so quick to accept the idea of planned obsolescence. They often feel cheated
when a product breaks down shortly after the warranty period ends. The frequent need to replace products badly
affects their home budget and makes the general costs of living higher. Others say that increased production leads to
more pollution and problems with the storage of waste. Not surprisingly, manufacturers’ strategies to use the idea of
planned obsolescence may be having the opposite effect to what they intended. According to a recent survey, almost
a half of customers in the electronic industry have been disappointed with the quality of some products and no longer
feel loyal to their favourite brands.
1 Read the following article about planning expenses on buying food. Match each question (1-4) to the
corresponding paragraph (A-C). Put the answers in the correct boxes. – 3 points
Which paragraph
1 gives an example of a trend among customers?
2 explains how an idea was born?
3 mentions the negative consequences of an idea for marketing?
4 makes a comparison to explain a point?
