Do you like trendy items such as lip gloss and cute hoodies? Do you spend too much money on random things recommended on TikTok, or other social media platforms? If so, congratulations! You may be the victim of consumerism, this year’s viral trend.

Consumerism is a social and economic phenomenon where social media platforms and paid influencers market goods and services to users and followers. Through perfectly curated feeds influencers promote an illusion — they manipulate an individual’s desire to fit in and promote an increasing consumption of goods.

Here are some messages from students who have been victims of consumerism.

Ramsey Potur ‘25 – “I bought the game Elden Ring on impulse because the advertisement looked amazing with many familiar faces.”

The result? The average user makes more impulsive purchases and has a lower bank account while collecting a bunch of unnecessary stuff.

Certain social media platforms sell user data that goes towards targeted ads and increases your chances of buying an item. X.com was caught and fined for illegally using users’ data to help sell targeted ads. This demonstrates the unethical ways businesses attempt to get you to buy things on demand.

Though it is occasionally understandable to give in to these advertisements on social media, Americans are purchasing unnecessary products at an alarming rate, with approximately 58 percent of shoppers in the United States said they had at some point purchased a product after seeing it on a social media platform.

Many of these products are made unethically to boot, which is currently why Temu and Shien are be investigated for slave labor. Further contributing to global human rights crises. Consumerism is unethical and violates human rights because it manipulates people into buying its products from companies who don’t pay their workers honest wages, have poor working conditions, or use child labor. Oftentimes, these practices occur in less economically stable countries.

Fast fashion is one of the biggest industry culprits as it uses manipulative sales techniques such as countdown timers and multi-buys to encourage overconsumption. Another is the nutrition and supplement business, whose products often go unregulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). For example, pills and powders claiming to boost weight loss, energy, or sexual performance face little government oversight of their safety and efficacy.

An example of this is the recent promotion of “Pink Sauce” on Tiktok. Pink sauce had incorrectly labeled the amount of servings, shipped their milk-based product unrefrigerated over multiple days, and had misspellings on the packaging. Regardless of the health risk, due to the rise in popularity and advertisements on Tiktok, Pink Sauce was being bought by the public for $20 a pop.

Consumerism has many negative effects including social pressure and feelings of inadequacy, overspending, collection of unnecessary objects, and desensitization to the satisfaction that new possessions result in.

While you can’t fight the algorithms feeding you ads, it is the consumer’s job to control their desire for unnecessary products. This is important to think about as the holidays approach. Instead of frivolous spending and obligation-based gift giving, try remembering that quality time and making new memories is the more important task this season.