Culture and Consumerism

Abdur Raheem Green has explored the issue of consumerism, as well as how it influences the great majority of the younger generation of Muslims. According to Green, the forceful and influential nature of the Western culture has caused young Muslims to be caught up in the destructive and irremediable web of consumerism. Implicit messages have been implanted in various mediums of marketing and advertising that influence the culture and points of view of young Muslims and transform their interests and priorities to what the media, marketers, and corporations expect them to prioritize and be interested in.

Consequently, the great influence of Western ideals, the media, marketers, and corporations alike has spawned an open and consenting young generation of Muslims to consumerism. Their perspectives, priorities, and decisions as consumers veered away from the ideal and fundamental concept of consumption, which is simply based on necessity.

On the other hand, they submit to the messages sent by the media, marketers, and corporations, neglect their values, religious virtues, and culture, and allow Western perspectives to take over and make them feel want and need incessantly and pointlessly. They also allowed Western perspectives to overshadow their genuine values and culture. As Green has said, the young generation of Muslims is no longer an Islamic population influenced by Western culture, but a Western population that is influenced by hints of the Islamic cultures and perspectives.

The Merchants of Cool does not directly support Green's arguments, but the thoughts and ideas that one may extract from what the Merchants of Cool do substantiate Green's arguments of how consumerism is greatly and unconstructively influencing the culture of not only young Muslims but also the younger generations as a whole. Through the Merchants of Cool, we realize that the media, marketers, and corporations have neglected their social and ethical responsibilities in order to preserve their position in the market and increase their financial gain. Furthermore, the Merchants of Cool have proven the value of the younger populations in satiating the thirst for money and power of corporations, marketers, and the media as they take advantage of the vulnerability, naivety, as well as massive population of the younger generations and manipulate them into believing in something that supports the best interests of corporations and their partners, the media and the marketing industry.

Reference

• Uma Kukathas "Consumerism" Detroit : Greenhaven Press : Gale Cengage Learning, 2008.
• James Annesley "Blank fictions : consumerism, culture and the contemporary American novel" London : Pluto Press, 1998.