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=> Re: On planned obsolescence

Re: On planned obsolescence
Posted by Ado (Guest) - Tuesday, September 19 2006, 2:13:40 (CEST)
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from the dreaded Wikipedia:

The phrase was made popular by Brooks Stevens, the American industrial designer, in 1954. Stevens was due to give a talk at an advertising conference in Minneapolis in 1954. Without giving it much thought he used the term as the title of his talk the next day. The title could have been interchangeable, like most of the talks he gave about his design firm.

From that point on, the phrase "Planned Obsolescence" became Stevens’ catchphrase. He was challenged to define it by his audience, and he felt the need to rationalise. The official definition he came up with was: "Instilling in the buyer the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, a little sooner than is necessary." It became something that he would be repeating for the rest of his career, and he took nearly every opportunity to present his philosophy.

The idea was not that there was anything wrong with the old model, but that the new one was more desirable. For example, in 1966, in one of Stevens’ talks, he said: "When I design a 1961 model car I am not styling it for the man who bought one in 1960, I’m styling it for the man next door who didn’t buy it when his neighbour did."

Steven's term Planned Obsolescence was taken up by other people, and his own definition was challenged. The term seemed to take on new and alternative meanings. So what had originally been an abstract concept that Stevens had pulled from his hat had now become a concrete theory that was being scrutinized by other designers and design critics. He had only come up with a definition for it after he was challenged. But still, the philosophy of Planned Obsolescence had become a belief system that was being taken into account by industrial companies.

By the late 50s, Planned Obsolescence had become a commonly used term that people understood, although it wasn’t looked on favourably. In 1959, Volkswagen brought out an advertising campaign for their cars, and the slogan proudly read “We do not believe in planned obsolescence. We don’t change a car for the sake of change.”

Right from the outset, Stevens had discovered by accident that the easiest way to become famous and to have his designs and his firm recognized was to gain infamy. He believed that any attention was good attention, so he relished attacks made at him by the likes of the Volkswagen Corporation.



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