With the holidays just around the corner, commercials on television and ads on social media are inevitable, regardless of our efforts to avoid them. That being said, promotion for businesses does not have to be some major production with a team of producers behind a camera and actors reading lines from a script. With the rapid growth of short form content such as TikTok and Instagram, it’s not uncommon for your favorite influencers to be sponsored by major corporations. Without even realising it, you’re being conditioned to buy anything and everything these businesses are selling.

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This begs the question, “What is overconsumption?” On social media, the term “overconsumption” has been coined to describe the excessive shopping habits of people towards a specific product without a justifiable reason to have it. A recent example of this would be massive collections of Stanley Cups. This is a prime example of overconsumption because it shows how people will spend hundreds of their hard-earned dollars just to have an aesthetically pleasing collection of cups that are meant to be reused over time.

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Now more than ever, it feels like nothing makes a better gift for the holidays than fast-fashion and ever-changing trends. When social media is constantly adapting and changing every second of the day, people will do anything to get their hands on the latest products for themselves, their friends, and their families. That being said, businesses and corporations don’t have to spend money promoting themselves anymore; your favorite influencers and celebrities are subconsciously doing it for them. Although it’s not uncommon to come across a paid sponsorship while scrolling through social media, it is much more common to see somebody with thousands of followers wearing or using something that people wish they owned themselves. People see it, like it, buy it, and never pick it up again after a few months. How many fashion trends can you think of that were once all the rage among your peers, but are now considered overdone? You could argue that these fads have been around for centuries and that this is not a new concept by any means. While that is true, you have to agree that there seems to be a new fad every month. Not to say that social media is having an extreme, negative effect on people and their shopping habits, but you have to admit that the need to have the most recent and “aesthetic” products is getting out of hand.