0:00:02 > 0:00:05We live in a world where spending never stops.
0:00:05 > 0:00:08- LAUGHTER WOMAN:- Cherie? Cherie?
0:00:08 > 0:00:10You're going to need to be tannoying this.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14- WOMAN:- 'Ladies and gentlemen, can you please stop panicking.'
0:00:14 > 0:00:17But why DO we buy what we buy?
0:00:17 > 0:00:21And how is our desire to spend manipulated?
0:00:21 > 0:00:24Every other company on earth is trying to get you to spend money
0:00:24 > 0:00:26and they're putting all their effort into getting you
0:00:26 > 0:00:29to spend your money on stuff all the time.
0:00:29 > 0:00:31I'm Jacques Peretti and in this series
0:00:31 > 0:00:35I'm going to investigate the men who've made us spend.
0:00:35 > 0:00:37I'll discover how products
0:00:37 > 0:00:40were deliberately made to break, so we buy more.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43Planned obsolescence is an open secret.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46When I'm talking to professional management people,
0:00:46 > 0:00:49they all said, "Well, we all know this."
0:00:49 > 0:00:53How we've been reprogrammed to dispose of our possessions.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57I don't think individual advertising campaigns
0:00:57 > 0:01:00- change people's views completely. - Why are they still doing it, then?
0:01:00 > 0:01:02- They're not still doing it. - Well, they did in 2012.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06You ran a campaign that said you should leave your sofa on the sidewalk.
0:01:06 > 0:01:10And how technology has been used to perfect consumerism,
0:01:10 > 0:01:13making us constantly hungry for more.
0:01:13 > 0:01:14We want the new thing.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17It's hard-wired into our brain to be looking for new stuff.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20The marketers have figured out how to take advantage of that.
0:01:20 > 0:01:21CHEERING
0:01:34 > 0:01:37This looks like a concert but it isn't,
0:01:37 > 0:01:39it's a lavish promotional video
0:01:39 > 0:01:43for the launch of a new gaming console, the Xbox One.
0:01:43 > 0:01:45Five! Four! Three!
0:01:45 > 0:01:48Two! One!
0:01:48 > 0:01:53And the star of the show is a small plastic box costing £450.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56- ALL CHANT:- Xbox One! Xbox One!
0:01:56 > 0:01:59Xbox One! Xbox One!
0:01:59 > 0:02:01Consumer technology has moved centre stage.
0:02:01 > 0:02:05This footage shows how it's treated with an awestruck reverence
0:02:05 > 0:02:09once reserved for A-list celebrity, except now it's a console.
0:02:09 > 0:02:11SHUTTERS CLICK
0:02:12 > 0:02:15And Xbox learned about the orchestrated hysteria
0:02:15 > 0:02:20around a product launch from the masters, Apple.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23- Are you ready? - ALL:- Yes!
0:02:23 > 0:02:27For the past seven years, people have queued for hours or even days
0:02:27 > 0:02:29to get their hands on the latest upgrade.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34We've been out here 15 days - two weeks and one day.
0:02:34 > 0:02:35CHEERING
0:02:56 > 0:03:00But what drives people to wait in the cold for a new phone?
0:03:00 > 0:03:02I've come to the Apple Store on Regent Street
0:03:02 > 0:03:04to talk to the very patient man
0:03:04 > 0:03:07at the front of the queue for the new iPhone 5S.
0:03:07 > 0:03:11And what's the 5s going to do that the 5 doesn't do?
0:03:11 > 0:03:12Erm...probably not much.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15There's a fingerprint scanner, which is very cool.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18So you've queued for three days to buy a new phone
0:03:18 > 0:03:19that is not going to do much more
0:03:19 > 0:03:21than the phone you've got at the moment?
0:03:21 > 0:03:24At the end, I'll walk away with something new that we all want.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29Thousands of people are waiting in line.
0:03:29 > 0:03:34- How long have you guys been waiting? - 18 hours.- 18 hours.
0:03:34 > 0:03:35What is it that's so special
0:03:35 > 0:03:38about having the newest phone, the latest phone?
0:03:38 > 0:03:39The rate that they change,
0:03:39 > 0:03:42they change so quickly you don't want to be left behind, do you?
0:03:44 > 0:03:48Why is it so important for you to have the latest phone so quickly?
0:03:48 > 0:03:51Because this time they are in different colours.
0:03:51 > 0:03:53Because it's a different colour?
0:03:53 > 0:03:55- Yep.- That's what's brought you here? - Yeah.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59It's a part of my life... at the moment.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05It's one minute to eight
0:04:05 > 0:04:08and the doors of this Apple Store are about to open.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11And close to 3,000 people queuing
0:04:11 > 0:04:16are going to go in and buy the iPhone 5s.
0:04:21 > 0:04:26And the allure, the magic of owning that phone,
0:04:26 > 0:04:28the new phone, is still there.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30- ALL:- Five! Four! Three!
0:04:30 > 0:04:32Two! One!
0:04:32 > 0:04:34CHEERING
0:04:40 > 0:04:43It's like a Hollywood premiere
0:04:43 > 0:04:46and all because you can get a phone that's a little faster.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56But the flip side of the hysteria for the new
0:04:56 > 0:05:00is that the new becomes unwanted, fast.
0:05:02 > 0:05:07Yesterday's desired item is tomorrow's piece of trash.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13This is a waste facility in California
0:05:13 > 0:05:15like thousands across the globe,
0:05:15 > 0:05:19except this is one with a difference.
0:05:20 > 0:05:26There are boxes and boxes of shiny new, unopened technology.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35If you look around here you'll see
0:05:35 > 0:05:38quite a few brand-new products still in their boxes.
0:05:38 > 0:05:42- Yeah. There's some printers there. - Yeah, brand-new.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46Never been opened. Here's a bunch more right here.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50- Wow!- And those are...- They've never been used?- Never been used.- Wow!
0:05:50 > 0:05:53So those are products that...
0:05:53 > 0:05:56for one reason or another, they decided
0:05:56 > 0:05:58that they would rather destroy
0:05:58 > 0:06:01than try to sell it to somebody who might need 'em.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07This cycle of things becoming almost instantaneously obsolete
0:06:07 > 0:06:10is at the heart of consumerism today.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16After festivals, sites are strewn
0:06:16 > 0:06:19with brand-new tents used just once.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24Many of us are happy to spend and discard,
0:06:24 > 0:06:28and it's this churn of products that supports our whole economy.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30And the concern is that our economic recovery
0:06:30 > 0:06:35is being driven once again by consumer spending.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38We live in a world of almost limitless consumption,
0:06:38 > 0:06:40but this didn't happen by accident.
0:06:40 > 0:06:45The cycle of relentless spending and throwing away was engineered.
0:06:54 > 0:06:55But how did this happen?
0:06:55 > 0:06:59To discover its origins I've come to Berlin.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05In the 1920s, manufacturers hit upon an idea
0:07:05 > 0:07:09that would become fundamental to the consumer economy -
0:07:09 > 0:07:12artificially limiting the life span of a product.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17It was known as "planned obsolescence" -
0:07:17 > 0:07:22making a product that is deliberately designed to break.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34And planned obsolescence began
0:07:34 > 0:07:38with one of the most basic consumer products of all...
0:07:38 > 0:07:40the light bulb.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45This is the former Osram factory in East Berlin.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50It hid a secret about light bulb production
0:07:50 > 0:07:53until the fall of the Berlin Wall.
0:07:55 > 0:07:56In the early 1990s,
0:07:56 > 0:08:00long-forgotten papers were discovered in this factory.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02They revealed an extraordinary secret deal
0:08:02 > 0:08:04that would provide the template
0:08:04 > 0:08:07for the consumer obsolescence we live with today.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12In the 1920s, a coordinated decision
0:08:12 > 0:08:15had been taken by a global cartel of companies
0:08:15 > 0:08:17to reduce the life span of bulbs.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20It was known as the Phoebus Cartel.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26The cartel's origins came from the chairman of Osram,
0:08:26 > 0:08:29his name was William Meinhardt.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33Meinhardt wanted to standardise and control
0:08:33 > 0:08:35the way in which light bulbs were manufactured.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42In 1924, the world's biggest electrical companies
0:08:42 > 0:08:44hammered out a deal in Geneva.
0:08:46 > 0:08:51Its aim was to increase profits by fixing prices and production quotas.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56It would also dictate the length of time a light bulb could last.
0:08:59 > 0:09:01What's extraordinary is that the rules
0:09:01 > 0:09:04governing the way the cartel would control production
0:09:04 > 0:09:07were all written down in minute detail.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14These papers were discovered by German researcher Helmut Herger.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19Helmut, how did you first come by these documents?
0:09:19 > 0:09:22Well, I know, after the Wall came down,
0:09:22 > 0:09:27I knew the Workers Council people of the light bulb factory.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31And when the factory closed down they saved the archive.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40This first point is - "1. Control.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44"The life of general lighting service lamps shall be controlled."
0:09:44 > 0:09:48Before the Phoebus Cartel existed, how long did a light bulb last?
0:09:48 > 0:09:53- The light bulbs lasted 2,500 hours. - And after the Phoebus Cartel?
0:09:53 > 0:09:57They reduced them down to 1,000 hours.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00'The bulb that comes off the assembly line today
0:10:00 > 0:10:02'has a filament of pure metallic tungsten
0:10:02 > 0:10:06'that burns white-hot for 1,000 hours.'
0:10:11 > 0:10:15Bulbs that lasted longer burned less brightly.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17The companies maintain that the 1,000-hour life span
0:10:17 > 0:10:22was a compromise between these two factors, durability and efficiency.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26Yet the impact on sales was phenomenal.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28The year the agreement was signed
0:10:28 > 0:10:30one lighting company executive wrote...
0:10:41 > 0:10:45And any company that broke the cartel was threatened with fines.
0:10:47 > 0:10:48It's incredible because, actually,
0:10:48 > 0:10:51when you look at the rules that have been written down,
0:10:51 > 0:10:53this is called "basis of fining",
0:10:53 > 0:10:59it says if it lasts 20 hours more. you'll be paying so much money,
0:10:59 > 0:11:0250 hours more, a higher amount,
0:11:02 > 0:11:04- 75 hours...- Swiss money, yeah.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10The Phoebus cartel was ended by the war.
0:11:10 > 0:11:15But Helmut has uncovered hard proof of planned obsolescence.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21And others are investigating how it operates today.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28I've come to meet Stefan Schlegel at Berlin Technical University.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32Stefan is studying obsolescence in consumer goods
0:11:32 > 0:11:35and he's shocked by how pervasive it is.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39Planned obsolescence is an open secret.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42When I'm talking to professional management people at congresses
0:11:42 > 0:11:46and so, they all say, "Well, we all know this."
0:11:46 > 0:11:49Stefan has identified obsolescence in everything,
0:11:49 > 0:11:53from washing machines with heating elements which fail too early,
0:11:53 > 0:11:55to electric toothbrushes with sealed panels
0:11:55 > 0:11:58preventing you from changing the batteries.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02The clearest example of all is the printer cartridge.
0:12:02 > 0:12:03This is from a printer, right?
0:12:03 > 0:12:06Yeah, this is from a printer. It's a cartridge.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09- OK.- And there is a counter inside. - What does the counter do?
0:12:09 > 0:12:13It counts the pages you've been printing with this cartridge.
0:12:13 > 0:12:19So it is there. It's like a clock counting down to 50,000 pages.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22And then it's saying, "I'm empty."
0:12:22 > 0:12:24And it's just this simple dial here
0:12:24 > 0:12:28- is effectively counting down to the moment that it stops working.- Yeah.
0:12:28 > 0:12:33So you can reset the counter, you know. You can reset it.
0:12:33 > 0:12:35And a friend of mine just do it,
0:12:35 > 0:12:40reset it, put it inside again and it's still printing.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42And he's putting it down to zero,
0:12:42 > 0:12:45reset it, for three times, and it's still printing.
0:12:45 > 0:12:50That's... All you would have to do is reset it and it would work,
0:12:50 > 0:12:52but instead you have to buy a brand-new cartridge?
0:12:52 > 0:12:53- A brand-new one or refilling it. - Yeah.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57This is planned obsolescence in the cartridge of a printer.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59Obviously.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06The open secret of planned obsolescence that Stefan talks about
0:13:06 > 0:13:10is now becoming increasingly sophisticated.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14Manufactures are even being accused of inserting electronic chips
0:13:14 > 0:13:19into printers to tell us the ink has run out when it hasn't.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22Planned obsolescence is now being woven
0:13:22 > 0:13:25into the very fabric of our everyday lives.
0:13:30 > 0:13:32We live in a world of products
0:13:32 > 0:13:37designed to have a limited life span and accept it. But why?
0:13:37 > 0:13:40Because the idea of continual spending
0:13:40 > 0:13:43is deeply embedded in our collective consciousness...
0:13:45 > 0:13:49..not as a needless activity but as a duty.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53A duty...to consume.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01This began during the Cold War.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05The world faced a choice between competing brands -
0:14:05 > 0:14:08capitalism or communism.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10'Capitalists.
0:14:10 > 0:14:12'They've worked and saved to make
0:14:12 > 0:14:14'the biggest single purchase in their lifetimes.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17'They have a share of America's wealth,
0:14:17 > 0:14:19'they've seen capitalism work.'
0:14:24 > 0:14:28I've come to meet Lizabeth Cohen of Harvard University.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33How important was consumerism
0:14:33 > 0:14:37as a way of kind of defining democracy?
0:14:37 > 0:14:40American democracy was viewed as
0:14:40 > 0:14:45really linked deeply to mass consumption.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48Not only that everybody could have goods
0:14:48 > 0:14:51and could live a prosperous life,
0:14:51 > 0:14:53but that we had choice as consumers.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56In contrast to the Soviet Union, where not only
0:14:56 > 0:15:00did they not have the kind of material goods that Americans had,
0:15:00 > 0:15:02but they also had no choice.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08But, in the 1950s, cracks were already beginning to show
0:15:08 > 0:15:10in the edifice of consumerism.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17In 1951, Ealing comedy The Man In The White Suit
0:15:17 > 0:15:20wryly satirised the idea that the public
0:15:20 > 0:15:24were being duped by companies using obsolescence.
0:15:26 > 0:15:30Set in the heart of the industrial north, it imagined what would happen
0:15:30 > 0:15:33if a product were to be created that never broke.
0:15:35 > 0:15:40Some fool has invented an indestructible cloth, right?
0:15:40 > 0:15:42- Yes.- It will knock the bottom out of everything
0:15:42 > 0:15:44down to the primary producers.
0:15:44 > 0:15:45The sheep farmers, the cotton growers.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48The importers and the middlemen. It will ruin all of them!
0:15:48 > 0:15:52It wasn't only the mill bosses - the mill workers were unhappy.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54Now what do you think of him?
0:15:54 > 0:15:57- And you think they'll go ahead with it?- Certainly.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59You're not even born yet.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02What do you think happened to all the other things?
0:16:02 > 0:16:04The razor blade that never gets blunt,
0:16:04 > 0:16:07the car that runs on water with a pinch of something in it?
0:16:07 > 0:16:10No, they'll never let YOUR stuff on the market in a million years.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18The film reveals that far from being a time of consumer naivety,
0:16:18 > 0:16:22the '50s saw an acute awareness of an economy built on obsolescence
0:16:22 > 0:16:24and an active debate about
0:16:24 > 0:16:27whether the tactic of making goods to break was acceptable.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33But consumerism was about to face a bigger problem -
0:16:33 > 0:16:37people weren't buying enough new things fast enough.
0:16:39 > 0:16:44There was an assumption for, I would say, at least a decade
0:16:44 > 0:16:46that there was no end to the prosperity
0:16:46 > 0:16:49that would come with mass consumption.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53But, at a certain point, and I would say by about the mid-1950s,
0:16:53 > 0:16:59there were advertising executives, marketers who were realising
0:16:59 > 0:17:02that there was going to be an end to this profitability,
0:17:02 > 0:17:06that at a certain point these markets would get saturated.
0:17:06 > 0:17:08And what would happen then?
0:17:08 > 0:17:10And they experimented with different approaches.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14So how do we get people to keep buying once you have
0:17:14 > 0:17:19that vacuum cleaner and that refrigerator and that...car?
0:17:22 > 0:17:26If consumerism were to speed up, as manufacturers wanted,
0:17:26 > 0:17:29they needed a new and far cleverer plan.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34The answer lay with an idea from one man -
0:17:34 > 0:17:38the psychological reprogramming of the consumer.
0:17:41 > 0:17:46His name was Alfred P Sloan, the head of General Motors.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52Pessimism has no place in the American scheme of things.
0:17:53 > 0:17:55I am the greatest possible optimist
0:17:55 > 0:18:00on the future of America and our whole system.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03His 33 years at the helm saw the company become
0:18:03 > 0:18:06the biggest car manufacturer in the world.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09Before GM, Henry Ford had dominated the market
0:18:09 > 0:18:12with one uniform car, the Model T,
0:18:12 > 0:18:17and the slogan that "you can have any colour as long as it's black."
0:18:24 > 0:18:28But Sloan realised that he could vastly increase sales
0:18:28 > 0:18:31by offering a different car for every income bracket.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34He could segment the market over and over.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37# Oh, the good life
0:18:37 > 0:18:39# Full of fun
0:18:39 > 0:18:43# Seems to be the ideal... #
0:18:43 > 0:18:45But even having several lines of car
0:18:45 > 0:18:48wouldn't be enough to keep the sales rolling in.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51Sloan wanted customers to buy a new car every year,
0:18:51 > 0:18:54like a new coat or a pair of shoes.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57GM called this theory of continuous upgrade
0:18:57 > 0:19:01"the organised creation of dissatisfaction".
0:19:04 > 0:19:08This is the car that epitomised Sloane's new selling philosophy,
0:19:08 > 0:19:10the '56 Chevrolet Bel Air.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23Legendary car designer Tom Martino
0:19:23 > 0:19:27began his career at General Motors working to the Sloan philosophy.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33Oh, this is beautiful!
0:19:33 > 0:19:35- A four-door hardtop. - The newest of the new.
0:19:35 > 0:19:37The Bel Air Sports Sedan.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41Oh! That's a car to fall in love with!
0:19:41 > 0:19:44How often would you have to change the shell of the car,
0:19:44 > 0:19:45the appearance?
0:19:45 > 0:19:49- At that time, the hype of that was every year.- Every year?
0:19:49 > 0:19:52- Every year they changed the sheet metal.- Wow!
0:19:52 > 0:19:55Is it true, Tom, that this colour, you get this incredible sheen,
0:19:55 > 0:20:00- it was derived from nail polish? - Mm-hm. Yeah.
0:20:00 > 0:20:01Can you see the glow?
0:20:01 > 0:20:09I mean...again people matching their dress to their cars or their shoes...
0:20:09 > 0:20:12it's much more fashionable.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18Sloan flipped what was important to the consumer on its head.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21Instead of engine and reliability being main stage,
0:20:21 > 0:20:26it was now the seemingly superficial add-ons - colour or tail fins -
0:20:26 > 0:20:29that drove the sale.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32'Chevrolet's royal-tone styling
0:20:32 > 0:20:37'puts ever more emphasis on exterior colour, a rainbow of 26
0:20:37 > 0:20:42'entirely new solid tone and two-tone colour combinations.'
0:20:42 > 0:20:46So, Sloan, did he reboot obsolescence in a way?
0:20:46 > 0:20:49Because before that it was planned obsolescence,
0:20:49 > 0:20:50things done to an object,
0:20:50 > 0:20:53he made it about obsolescence being in your head,
0:20:53 > 0:20:57you yourself would CHOOSE to want the new.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59Yeah, you don't need to buy a new car,
0:20:59 > 0:21:03mechanical-wise it's still brand-new, a year old,
0:21:03 > 0:21:07but make you feel like the new one's better
0:21:07 > 0:21:11- and "I have to have one" is quite a genius way of doing things.- Yeah.
0:21:17 > 0:21:22Soon, this idea, the organised creation of dissatisfaction,
0:21:22 > 0:21:24spread across the Western world...
0:21:24 > 0:21:27# I'm in with the in crowd... #
0:21:27 > 0:21:28..helping to drive economies
0:21:28 > 0:21:31during the boom years of the 1950s and '60s.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35And to Britain, as we came out of austerity.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38'Bathrooms go on getting better every year.
0:21:38 > 0:21:40'They can be improved inexpensively,
0:21:40 > 0:21:44'but it's nice to have a peep at one where money's been no object.
0:21:47 > 0:21:52'The tap's running. Half an hour on the phone and she'll be underwater.'
0:21:52 > 0:21:56For two decades, consumers enjoyed a prosperity
0:21:56 > 0:21:58that was previously unimaginable.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01The British had embraced consumerism and spending
0:22:01 > 0:22:05with as much enthusiasm as the Americans had before us.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07We enjoyed redoing our homes,
0:22:07 > 0:22:10changing our cars on a regular basis,
0:22:10 > 0:22:12but this new consumer paradise
0:22:12 > 0:22:17was about to be hit by hard economic fact.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23At the end of the '60s,
0:22:23 > 0:22:28wages, which had previously kept pace with prices, began to stagnate.
0:22:28 > 0:22:34And by the mid-'70s, when prices soared, we had a problem.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38People were looking through the shop window at the consumer paradise
0:22:38 > 0:22:42but can no longer buy it.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44'A chrome standard lamp.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47'A set of stacking stools.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49'A cuddly black cat.'
0:22:50 > 0:22:51- ALL CHANT:- Heath out!
0:22:51 > 0:22:55- What do we want? ALL:- Heath out!
0:22:55 > 0:22:59- Heath out!- What do we want? - Heath out!
0:23:01 > 0:23:06In 1974, this double whammy of rising prices and stagnating wages
0:23:06 > 0:23:10reached crisis point with the miners' strike.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12We're not going to accept pennies.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15We're not going to accept pennies this time.
0:23:15 > 0:23:16We've got to win it, haven't we?
0:23:16 > 0:23:18If he beats us, what chance has other people?
0:23:18 > 0:23:20They've no chance whatsoever.
0:23:20 > 0:23:26This wasn't an elevated ideological struggle between left and right -
0:23:26 > 0:23:29these were angry consumers.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31Heath out! Heath out!
0:23:31 > 0:23:35Ted Heath paid the price, falling from power.
0:23:35 > 0:23:37The new Labour government fared no better,
0:23:37 > 0:23:41spectacularly failing to halt the fall in living standards.
0:23:43 > 0:23:44Economist Bernard Donoghue
0:23:44 > 0:23:48ran re-elected Prime Minister Harold Wilson's policy unit.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55- Oh. Nice to meet you. - Thank you very much.
0:23:59 > 0:24:03I don't think the Labour Government fully understood,
0:24:03 > 0:24:08and I know I, in Number 10, didn't fully understand
0:24:08 > 0:24:12that the squeeze on real incomes
0:24:12 > 0:24:18producing falling real incomes in the second half of the 1970s
0:24:18 > 0:24:22meant that the workers wouldn't put up with it any more.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24Do you think that the trade unions
0:24:24 > 0:24:28were just really trying to keep up living standards for their members
0:24:28 > 0:24:31and, in a way, pursue the consumer dream?
0:24:31 > 0:24:37The unions were reacting to the particular situation -
0:24:37 > 0:24:44that their members were suffering reductions in their real incomes.
0:24:45 > 0:24:46A consequence of that
0:24:46 > 0:24:50is that they couldn't buy as many of the consumer goods
0:24:50 > 0:24:55as they'd grown accustomed to, and their wives had assumed,
0:24:55 > 0:24:58so there was a move in the union movement
0:24:58 > 0:25:04towards individualism, materialism,
0:25:04 > 0:25:06a bit of "grab what you can",
0:25:06 > 0:25:10regardless of the impact on the rest of society.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15Demands for higher incomes led to repeated strike action
0:25:15 > 0:25:17culminating in the Winter of Discontent.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20'In the shops, the threat to food supplies
0:25:20 > 0:25:22'is getting larger every day.'
0:25:22 > 0:25:27By the end of the 1970s, consumerism, Mark I, was over,
0:25:27 > 0:25:31but its demise had threatened to make Britain ungovernable.
0:25:34 > 0:25:36'70s Britain feels like another country.
0:25:36 > 0:25:40So, how did we go from the bleakness and conflict of that decade
0:25:40 > 0:25:46to a 21st-century Britain obsessed not with class war but shopping?
0:25:48 > 0:25:52The answer lay with one man, a wealthy chicken farmer
0:25:52 > 0:25:57who wanted to use his money to bring about a new vision for Britain.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01Anthony Fisher brought the idea of battery farming to the UK,
0:26:01 > 0:26:04making millions from his company, Buxted Chickens.
0:26:05 > 0:26:09'Now, about a quarter of all the laying hens in this country
0:26:09 > 0:26:13'are kept like this, often thousands of them all under one roof.'
0:26:15 > 0:26:18But Fisher wasn't just a chicken farmer.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21He cared passionately about freedom of the individual.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25Fisher believed the British people had been penned in by the state
0:26:25 > 0:26:29and by trade unions, and he wanted to set them free.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33After the war, I found England slipping into socialism,
0:26:33 > 0:26:35the people somehow believing
0:26:35 > 0:26:38that the government was going to solve all their problems.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44In the late 1940s, Fisher had become enthralled by the ideas
0:26:44 > 0:26:48of a radical Austrian economist called Friedrich Hayek.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51Hayek believed that the government policies of the post-war period
0:26:51 > 0:26:53were a form of serfdom.
0:26:53 > 0:26:58Companies and individuals should be free to spend what they want.
0:26:58 > 0:27:03Fisher wanted to put Hayek's free-market philosophy into action.
0:27:03 > 0:27:05He wanted to become a politician.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10But Hayek convinced him his money would be better spent
0:27:10 > 0:27:15on setting up a new type of organisation called a "think-tank".
0:27:16 > 0:27:18He told me, "Keep out of politics
0:27:18 > 0:27:21"and make your case to the intellectuals,"
0:27:21 > 0:27:22that is the teachers,
0:27:22 > 0:27:27the students and the media, because they, in turn, influence the people.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31Fisher followed Hayek's advice.
0:27:31 > 0:27:35In 1955, he set up the Institute of Economic Affairs.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37Through the years of Wilson and Heath,
0:27:37 > 0:27:39it toiled away in the wilderness,
0:27:39 > 0:27:45but with the turmoil of the 1970s, the IEA's moment had suddenly come.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50Patrick Minford was one of the many young economists
0:27:50 > 0:27:53who wrote for the organisation at the time.
0:27:53 > 0:27:59The IEA was...was trying to explain to people how free markets worked
0:27:59 > 0:28:03and that the best organisation of an economy
0:28:03 > 0:28:06was one where individual consumers and producers
0:28:06 > 0:28:09were empowered to produce what people wanted.
0:28:09 > 0:28:11Market forces.
0:28:11 > 0:28:13And the idea was, you know,
0:28:13 > 0:28:16people would therefore produce better stuff
0:28:16 > 0:28:18that people actually wanted to buy.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23No longer would Britain be divided by tribal loyalties,
0:28:23 > 0:28:26by communities built around localised production.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28Now we would be consumers
0:28:28 > 0:28:31whose spending power would change our sense of belonging.
0:28:31 > 0:28:34In free markets, the consumer is sovereign,
0:28:34 > 0:28:39the whole point of free markets is to give the consumer sovereignty
0:28:39 > 0:28:42and to allow people, ordinary people, to conduct their lives
0:28:42 > 0:28:44in a way they want, which is consumerism.
0:28:44 > 0:28:49With Britain in chaos, the free market ideas of the IEA
0:28:49 > 0:28:54were seized upon by Conservative politicians, then in opposition.
0:28:56 > 0:29:00And then they want us all out. Angus, hello. In you go.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03In particular... I'll bring you all out in a moment.
0:29:05 > 0:29:09They were looking for an idea that would give Britain
0:29:09 > 0:29:11a new unifying identity,
0:29:11 > 0:29:16built not on class war, but economic freedom and consumerism.
0:29:16 > 0:29:20So these were the ideas that were starting to be pushed
0:29:20 > 0:29:25by writers for the IEA in the '70s.
0:29:25 > 0:29:27And they then were taken up by Mrs Thatcher,
0:29:27 > 0:29:30when she came into the leadership, and Keith Joseph,
0:29:30 > 0:29:33to formulate a new strategy.
0:29:33 > 0:29:35Let me give you my vision.
0:29:37 > 0:29:41A man's right to work as he will, to spend what he earns,
0:29:41 > 0:29:47to own property, to have the state as servant and not as master,
0:29:47 > 0:29:49these are the British inheritance.
0:29:49 > 0:29:51APPLAUSE
0:29:58 > 0:30:01They are the essence of a free economy
0:30:01 > 0:30:05and on that freedom all our other freedoms depend.
0:30:05 > 0:30:07APPLAUSE
0:30:14 > 0:30:18The '70s saw Britain riven by ideological conflict,
0:30:18 > 0:30:21but the ideas of the Institute of Economic Affairs
0:30:21 > 0:30:25offered a way out - a new, depoliticised identity
0:30:25 > 0:30:29for ordinary people, not as workers, but consumers,
0:30:29 > 0:30:31freed to spend.
0:30:37 > 0:30:41The politicians promised us prosperity
0:30:41 > 0:30:45built on the economic freedom of this new consumerism, Mark II.
0:30:45 > 0:30:51But, to some, this wasn't salvation...it was brainwashing.
0:30:52 > 0:30:56Just as 30 years earlier, with The Man In The White Suit,
0:30:56 > 0:30:59consumerism was attacked on film.
0:31:00 > 0:31:04This time it was a horror movie, Dawn Of The Dead.
0:31:04 > 0:31:07Director George Romero portrayed consumer society
0:31:07 > 0:31:12not as a form of freedom but as a new type of slavery.
0:31:18 > 0:31:22To Romero, the consumer was not an individual, but a zombie,
0:31:22 > 0:31:26blindly following the herd into the shopping mall.
0:31:26 > 0:31:30- What are they doing? Why do they come here?- Some kind of instinct.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34A memory of what they used to do.
0:31:34 > 0:31:36This was an important place in their lives.
0:31:42 > 0:31:46But Romero's critique didn't chime with the public mood.
0:31:48 > 0:31:53Consumerism was about to lift off like nothing ever seen before.
0:31:53 > 0:31:58Economist Juliette Shaw has examined how the early 1980s
0:31:58 > 0:32:03laid the foundations for the almost limitless consumption we have today.
0:32:03 > 0:32:10In the '70s, you had wages failing to keep pace with consumerism,
0:32:10 > 0:32:14which obviously created strife with the unions and so on.
0:32:14 > 0:32:16I'm wondering how, in the '80s,
0:32:16 > 0:32:21how was it possible for consumerism to keep on the rails?
0:32:21 > 0:32:22This was a period
0:32:22 > 0:32:27in which the nature of the sort of consumer culture changed
0:32:27 > 0:32:33from being one in which people aspired to something 10%-15% more
0:32:33 > 0:32:35than what they had,
0:32:35 > 0:32:40to being a time when people started aspiring to be rich.
0:32:40 > 0:32:45And the mechanism that squares that circle, if you will,
0:32:45 > 0:32:47is consumer credit.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50Because this is also the time when consumer credit
0:32:50 > 0:32:55becomes much more available, and that's a relatively new thing.
0:32:55 > 0:32:56Now all you need to do
0:32:56 > 0:32:59is pull a little plastic square out of your pocket -
0:32:59 > 0:33:02it's like a sort of magic fetish -
0:33:02 > 0:33:08and, boom, you're able to buy things that you didn't have the income for.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14But easing credit was only the first piece in the jigsaw.
0:33:21 > 0:33:26A new technological innovation would also transform choice
0:33:26 > 0:33:28and make goods vastly cheaper.
0:33:31 > 0:33:36And it was brought about by this man, Mike Riddle.
0:33:37 > 0:33:41Riddle invented a computer programme which became AutoCAD.
0:33:41 > 0:33:45Released in 1982, it allowed designers to use computers
0:33:45 > 0:33:49to tweak the shape of products in a way previously unimaginable.
0:33:50 > 0:33:53The explosion of choice would fill
0:33:53 > 0:33:56the giant new out-of-town retail parks.
0:33:58 > 0:34:03What did computer-aided design enable designers to do?
0:34:03 > 0:34:07It allowed us to make a lot of variations cheaply.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10The big impact was on cost.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13So we could have hundreds of different designs.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16Instead of saying, "Here's the one standard toothbrush,"
0:34:16 > 0:34:19we could have hundreds. They can all be a little bit different.
0:34:19 > 0:34:21From now on, CAD would allow
0:34:21 > 0:34:24everything from perfume bottles and luggage,
0:34:24 > 0:34:27to kitchen equipment, even deodorant bottles,
0:34:27 > 0:34:29to be designed on a computer.
0:34:29 > 0:34:33The shape and the moulding, the shaping of things,
0:34:33 > 0:34:36that was a new innovation as a result, wasn't it,
0:34:36 > 0:34:37the ability to do that?
0:34:37 > 0:34:41Right, before CAD, these products all tended to come
0:34:41 > 0:34:43in very, very similar containers.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47You would buy a bottle, like you look at shampoo or lotion bottles,
0:34:47 > 0:34:51they would all be a straight cylinder,
0:34:51 > 0:34:53- a different top, maybe a different label.- Yeah.
0:34:53 > 0:34:57Now every one has a different shape, subtle curves to it,
0:34:57 > 0:34:59things they would never have thought of before
0:34:59 > 0:35:01because they would have been too expensive.
0:35:01 > 0:35:04MUSIC: "Just Can't Get Enough" by Depeche Mode
0:35:04 > 0:35:08MUSIC CONTINUES FROM HEADPHONES
0:35:08 > 0:35:12By enabling an array of dizzying choice,
0:35:12 > 0:35:15CAD made things desirable and cheap,
0:35:15 > 0:35:18and this new 1980s world of consumer wonder,
0:35:18 > 0:35:22created an unprecedented consumer binge.
0:35:22 > 0:35:24New products become very important.
0:35:24 > 0:35:29The turnover in the fashion cycle really shrinks.
0:35:29 > 0:35:32And that's part of what my research shows -
0:35:32 > 0:35:34the amount of time between
0:35:34 > 0:35:37when a householder, a person, buys something
0:35:37 > 0:35:42and when they discard it because it is no longer socially valuable.
0:35:42 > 0:35:44Not because it doesn't work any more -
0:35:44 > 0:35:48it still has utilitarian value - but because it is passe.
0:35:48 > 0:35:51It's no longer something that is worth anything
0:35:51 > 0:35:54because there's a new model out.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59And the trailblazer for disposability
0:35:59 > 0:36:01was the reinvention of the watch.
0:36:03 > 0:36:04Swatch's supercharged ads
0:36:04 > 0:36:07show how they turned an old-fashioned business,
0:36:07 > 0:36:10based on quality which lasted a lifetime,
0:36:10 > 0:36:15into THE symbol of '80s fast, disposable consumerism.
0:36:15 > 0:36:19DEEP-VOICED MALE: These days it's fashion that makes us tick.
0:36:23 > 0:36:26- Oh, wow. This is your collection of watches.- Yep.
0:36:26 > 0:36:31Darren Clare worked as head of sales for Swatch in the UK.
0:36:31 > 0:36:33Darren, how was Swatch able to turn a watch
0:36:33 > 0:36:35from something you had for a lifetime
0:36:35 > 0:36:38to, you know, basically these?
0:36:38 > 0:36:40Owning one of these and then wanting another one,
0:36:40 > 0:36:42and another one, and another one.
0:36:42 > 0:36:46I think, really, the key was linking to the fashion industry.
0:36:46 > 0:36:49And, also, having 100-plus new watches
0:36:49 > 0:36:52every single year being launched.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56So we had a spring/summer and autumn/ winter collection, every single year.
0:36:58 > 0:37:00As glamorous as a Duran Duran video,
0:37:00 > 0:37:04the ads were aimed at young, fashion-conscious consumers.
0:37:04 > 0:37:06'I like your Swatch!
0:37:06 > 0:37:08'Sink or swim in it, work out in a gym in it.
0:37:08 > 0:37:11'A Swatch is made to take it cos it's Swiss-made - Swatch!'
0:37:11 > 0:37:12And it was brand-new.
0:37:12 > 0:37:14I think it was literally market-changing.
0:37:14 > 0:37:16Nobody had done anything like this before.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26Swatch wanted people to buy four watches a year.
0:37:26 > 0:37:30They sold a million in 1983 - their first year -
0:37:30 > 0:37:33and by 1986 were selling 12 million.
0:37:37 > 0:37:39Swatch revealed how much money could be made
0:37:39 > 0:37:43by turning what had been a long-lasting consumer item
0:37:43 > 0:37:45into a frequent purchase.
0:37:45 > 0:37:47And even though a Swatch was cheap,
0:37:47 > 0:37:50it was made desirable by being "designer".
0:37:54 > 0:37:57The designer revolution of the '80s and '90s
0:37:57 > 0:38:00cloaked a tidal wave of cheap goods onto the high street
0:38:00 > 0:38:03that we bought and discarded without shame.
0:38:06 > 0:38:08But it's one company that epitomised
0:38:08 > 0:38:10the new junction of cheap throwaway goods
0:38:10 > 0:38:12and designer lifestyle aspiration
0:38:12 > 0:38:14like no other -
0:38:14 > 0:38:16IKEA.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21- ED NORTON:- The Klipsk personal office unit,
0:38:21 > 0:38:23the Hovetrekke home exer-bike...
0:38:24 > 0:38:27IKEA's totemic place in consumer culture
0:38:27 > 0:38:30was first highlighted in Fight Club.
0:38:31 > 0:38:33I had it all.
0:38:33 > 0:38:35Even the glass dishes with tiny bubbles and imperfections...
0:38:35 > 0:38:39IKEA was singled out as the brand Edward Norton's antihero
0:38:39 > 0:38:40cannot escape from.
0:38:40 > 0:38:44His obsessive desire to fill his house with their furniture,
0:38:44 > 0:38:47shows how consumerism has taken over his life.
0:38:48 > 0:38:52It wasn't just Edward Norton's character in Fight Club -
0:38:52 > 0:38:53we were ALL rushing to conform.
0:38:53 > 0:38:57Like everyone else in Britain, I filled my house top to bottom
0:38:57 > 0:38:58with IKEA.
0:39:01 > 0:39:04# I have a dream
0:39:05 > 0:39:07# A song to sing... #
0:39:07 > 0:39:11The company was founded in the 1940s by Ingvar Kamprad.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14From the beginning, he was single-minded in his ambition,
0:39:14 > 0:39:18and today it's the world's largest furniture retailer.
0:39:18 > 0:39:21But it was in the '90s, when IKEA conquered Britain,
0:39:21 > 0:39:24that its profits went stratospheric.
0:39:24 > 0:39:31By 1994, IKEA had global sales of nearly five billion a year.
0:39:31 > 0:39:33- REPORTER:- They queued from the early hours for a first glimpse
0:39:33 > 0:39:37into the Aladdin's cave alongside the M62.
0:39:38 > 0:39:41# I believe in angels... #
0:39:41 > 0:39:45Johan Stenebo worked at IKEA for 30 years
0:39:45 > 0:39:49climbing the ladder to become Kamprad's right-hand man.
0:39:49 > 0:39:51And what happened when IKEA came to Britain?
0:39:51 > 0:39:55First of all, IKEA's concept was enormously strong,
0:39:55 > 0:39:59and there was a huge void in the market in the UK.
0:40:00 > 0:40:04Their ads cleverly sought to persuade the British public
0:40:04 > 0:40:06to buy into the new home style revolution.
0:40:08 > 0:40:09# Chuck out the chintz
0:40:09 > 0:40:11# Come on, do it today
0:40:11 > 0:40:13# Prise off that pelmet
0:40:13 > 0:40:14# And throw it away... #
0:40:14 > 0:40:18So there came IKEA with all these colourful Scandinavian ideas
0:40:18 > 0:40:21of how to, you know, furnish your home.
0:40:21 > 0:40:25# Our homes could be playful and happy and light
0:40:25 > 0:40:28# Loose and informal and stripy and bright... #
0:40:28 > 0:40:31What IKEA did was to elevate the prices,
0:40:31 > 0:40:34so IKEA in the UK had the highest prices
0:40:34 > 0:40:37because there wasn't any competition. Who would blame them?
0:40:37 > 0:40:41They had the highest prices in the whole IKEA world.
0:40:41 > 0:40:44Therefore, IKEA in the UK had the highest profits.
0:40:44 > 0:40:47So, it was an enormous success.
0:40:47 > 0:40:49And I think people were...
0:40:49 > 0:40:53way up in IKEA were dumbfounded by the success.
0:40:56 > 0:40:59Britain no longer has the highest prices in the IKEA world,
0:40:59 > 0:41:01but the prices didn't stop IKEA
0:41:01 > 0:41:05changing the way British people bought furniture.
0:41:05 > 0:41:07Do you think that IKEA ushered in
0:41:07 > 0:41:12the disposable, throwaway culture that we live in today?
0:41:12 > 0:41:13Yeah, absolutely.
0:41:13 > 0:41:16I think we were definitely guilty of that.
0:41:17 > 0:41:19When IKEA got to the US,
0:41:19 > 0:41:23they made this explicit, with an ad directed by Spike Jonze,
0:41:23 > 0:41:26which mocked people's sentimental attachment to belongings
0:41:26 > 0:41:28and directly challenged them
0:41:28 > 0:41:30to modernise their lives.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47SCANDINAVIAN ACCENT: Many of you feel bad for this lamp.
0:41:47 > 0:41:48That is because you're crazy.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52It has no feelings, and the new one is much better.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55What IKEA did was an extraordinary trick,
0:41:55 > 0:41:57which was to take the idea of home furnishings, of furniture,
0:41:57 > 0:42:00which was traditionally a big-ticket purchase -
0:42:00 > 0:42:03something you bought for life, a sofa -
0:42:03 > 0:42:07and to make it essentially the same as a packet of crisps
0:42:07 > 0:42:09that you throw away.
0:42:09 > 0:42:13Everything, no matter how big it is, is ultimately disposable.
0:42:13 > 0:42:15Regardless if it's a sofa or a mug,
0:42:15 > 0:42:19it's designed with a fashion.
0:42:19 > 0:42:21And fashion tends to be...
0:42:21 > 0:42:24to have a limited life span.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31You can still find this throwaway idea in IKEA's marketing.
0:42:31 > 0:42:35This print ad from Canada dates from 2012.
0:42:35 > 0:42:38But IKEA prides itself on its green credentials,
0:42:38 > 0:42:42like a programme to get all its wood from renewable sources by 2020.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46Steve Howard is the global head of sustainability.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49I wanted to ask him how the company squared the contradiction
0:42:49 > 0:42:53of their green ambitions and their ads.
0:42:53 > 0:42:56Steve, I asked one of your former senior executives
0:42:56 > 0:42:59if IKEA had ushered in the throwaway consumer culture,
0:42:59 > 0:43:02and his answer was "Yes, we definitely did."
0:43:02 > 0:43:06"Chuck out your chintz", which I've actually looked at online and it's...
0:43:06 > 0:43:09Maybe we'd say, "Recycle your chintz,"
0:43:09 > 0:43:11if we did the same advert today.
0:43:11 > 0:43:13The whole IKEA business idea is
0:43:13 > 0:43:17trying to make beautiful, affordable, sustainable
0:43:17 > 0:43:20quality products that are good in people's homes.
0:43:20 > 0:43:24And the people behind the campaign to leave the lamp on the sidewalk,
0:43:24 > 0:43:27they said that this was actually
0:43:27 > 0:43:31a campaign to overcome the durable goods mindset of the consumer.
0:43:31 > 0:43:34So this was IKEA engineering a change in the way
0:43:34 > 0:43:36we look at the products we're buying,
0:43:36 > 0:43:38so that we can throw them away.
0:43:38 > 0:43:40I don't think individual advertising campaigns,
0:43:40 > 0:43:43whatever the advertising executive was thinking at the time,
0:43:43 > 0:43:45change people's views completely.
0:43:45 > 0:43:47But why run a campaign, if you're not trying to do that?
0:43:47 > 0:43:50We wouldn't, we clearly... We wouldn't do that today.
0:43:50 > 0:43:53How successful are you going to be in preventing IKEA
0:43:53 > 0:43:56from running campaigns... advertising campaigns,
0:43:56 > 0:43:58that suggest we throw away our consumer goods?
0:43:58 > 0:44:01Jacques, I think we're going to show this interview
0:44:01 > 0:44:05to our global marketing team as a training video to say
0:44:05 > 0:44:08let's have more sustainability messaging on this. And if we look...
0:44:08 > 0:44:09Steve, that's not enough.
0:44:09 > 0:44:11You need to guarantee that you're not going to have
0:44:11 > 0:44:15an advertising campaign that says you should throw away these goods.
0:44:15 > 0:44:18If you're genuine on sustainability, that's what you should be doing.
0:44:18 > 0:44:20I will raise the conversation with our marketing people
0:44:20 > 0:44:23around the world, but they've already had it and actually...
0:44:23 > 0:44:26- Why are they still doing it? - They're not still doing it.
0:44:26 > 0:44:28They did in 2012 - a campaign saying you should
0:44:28 > 0:44:30leave your sofa on the sidewalk.
0:44:30 > 0:44:34- You can't guarantee it.- I will actually make sure, while I'm here,
0:44:34 > 0:44:36we do not do a "dispose the sofa" -
0:44:36 > 0:44:38I'll write to our marketing matrix about it.
0:44:44 > 0:44:4620 years after it first came to Britain,
0:44:46 > 0:44:49IKEA was still provoking hysteria
0:44:49 > 0:44:53when opening a new store at Edmonton in north London in 2005.
0:44:57 > 0:45:01Such scenes have become increasingly common in recent years.
0:45:01 > 0:45:04- VOICE ON CCTV:- Oh, my God!
0:45:04 > 0:45:09This is what happened when Primark opened in Oxford Street.
0:45:09 > 0:45:12And now we have imported the pre-Christmas madness
0:45:12 > 0:45:15of Black Friday sales from the US.
0:45:15 > 0:45:19Cherie! Cherie! You're going to need to be tannoying this!
0:45:19 > 0:45:23'Ladies and gentlemen, can you please stop panicking!'
0:45:23 > 0:45:25LAUGHTER
0:45:25 > 0:45:29But the biggest example of consumer frenzy in the last ten years
0:45:29 > 0:45:34was the 2011 riots, which cost an estimated £200 million
0:45:34 > 0:45:36and affected 48,000 businesses.
0:45:38 > 0:45:40It began here in Tottenham.
0:45:41 > 0:45:44The most targeted stores of the 2011 riots
0:45:44 > 0:45:48give a good indication of the most desirable goods in modern Britain.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51And more popular than clothes or trainers
0:45:51 > 0:45:53was consumer technology.
0:45:53 > 0:45:55And right at the top of the shopping list...
0:45:55 > 0:45:56the mobile phone.
0:46:02 > 0:46:06The choice of phones as a prime target for the London rioters
0:46:06 > 0:46:09was evidence of the hold these items have over all of us.
0:46:10 > 0:46:12And at the heart of their allure
0:46:12 > 0:46:15is the idea of continuous obsolescence -
0:46:15 > 0:46:17the perpetual, never-ending upgrade,
0:46:17 > 0:46:21first dreamt up by General Motors over 50 years go.
0:46:23 > 0:46:27And the man who perfected it for contemporary consumerism
0:46:27 > 0:46:29was Steve Jobs.
0:46:33 > 0:46:34- AUDIENCE MEMBER WHOOPS - An iPod.
0:46:34 > 0:46:36- LAUGHTER - A phone.
0:46:36 > 0:46:39- LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE - Are you getting it?
0:46:39 > 0:46:41APPLAUSE
0:46:44 > 0:46:46This huge launch was Jobs introducing
0:46:46 > 0:46:49the very first iPhone in 2007.
0:46:49 > 0:46:52Since then there have been seven generations,
0:46:52 > 0:46:55and the pressure to upgrade intensifies with each new launch,
0:46:55 > 0:46:59making us feel that our existing Apple product
0:46:59 > 0:47:01is out of date and obsolete.
0:47:02 > 0:47:04I wanted to know whether those who worked within Apple
0:47:04 > 0:47:07could explain whether it was great design,
0:47:07 > 0:47:11or this relentless drive for profit that drove each upgrade.
0:47:12 > 0:47:14Dan Crow came into Apple
0:47:14 > 0:47:17as one of the chief designers in the late 1990s,
0:47:17 > 0:47:20working alongside Steve Jobs.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23I wondered, Dan, under the aegis of design,
0:47:23 > 0:47:25whether, really, what Steve Jobs was creating
0:47:25 > 0:47:28was an amazing, perfect money-making machine.
0:47:28 > 0:47:30The idea of the perpetual purchase,
0:47:30 > 0:47:33the rolling consumption of the upgrade.
0:47:33 > 0:47:35Apple got extremely good at iterating it,
0:47:35 > 0:47:39making each step of the product better and better and better.
0:47:39 > 0:47:41Now, partly that drives upgrades, right?
0:47:41 > 0:47:44People want the latest and greatest, and I think that's quite interesting.
0:47:44 > 0:47:47But it's also very much about the technology and about the...
0:47:47 > 0:47:50how can we make something better and better.
0:47:50 > 0:47:54But, in recent years, has innovation slowed?
0:47:56 > 0:47:59So, if you look at the latest iPhones
0:47:59 > 0:48:02you can make it a little bit faster and a little bit nicer,
0:48:02 > 0:48:04and you can put gold on the back,
0:48:04 > 0:48:06and a fingerprint sensor on, which is great, but...
0:48:06 > 0:48:08it isn't actually that different
0:48:08 > 0:48:10from the generation that came before.
0:48:10 > 0:48:14I think we're seeing the natural plateauing of the product
0:48:14 > 0:48:16It's reached its...its...peak.
0:48:16 > 0:48:18It's probably about as good as it's going to get.
0:48:22 > 0:48:24Apple have perfected the idea of obsolescence
0:48:24 > 0:48:27first revealed in the 1950s,
0:48:27 > 0:48:30making us want something a little newer, a little better...
0:48:32 > 0:48:35..a little sooner than is necessary.
0:48:40 > 0:48:42But there are those who believe
0:48:42 > 0:48:45that Apple are also guilty of making it difficult for us
0:48:45 > 0:48:47to keep hold of our existing products,
0:48:47 > 0:48:49even if we don't want to change them.
0:48:51 > 0:48:55Back in 2004, the jewel in Apple's crown was the iPod,
0:48:55 > 0:48:58the silhouette motif of its advertising campaign
0:48:58 > 0:49:01emphasised the product's universal appeal.
0:49:01 > 0:49:04# So one, two, three, take my hand and come with me
0:49:04 > 0:49:07# Because you look so fine And I really want to make you mine
0:49:08 > 0:49:11# I say you look so fine that I really want to make your mine... #
0:49:11 > 0:49:13But two brothers here in New York City
0:49:13 > 0:49:15started their own campaign
0:49:15 > 0:49:18which they called iPod's Dirty Secret -
0:49:18 > 0:49:21that the batteries didn't last more than 18 months.
0:49:21 > 0:49:22DOOR CHIMES
0:49:25 > 0:49:26- Jack, welcome.- Nice to meet you.
0:49:26 > 0:49:28- Good to see you. Come on in. - Thanks for your time.
0:49:31 > 0:49:34Casey, what prompted the campaign?
0:49:34 > 0:49:36Well, this is ten years ago now.
0:49:36 > 0:49:39I'd just gotten the iPod and it was 400,
0:49:39 > 0:49:42so a year later - a year and a half later -
0:49:42 > 0:49:45when the battery died, and I wanted to fix it,
0:49:45 > 0:49:46I wanted my iPod back.
0:49:46 > 0:49:49I called the Apple 800 number, the AppleCare number.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52I explained that my battery was dead.
0:49:52 > 0:49:54- RECORDING:- 'Erm, the battery... How old is it?
0:49:54 > 0:49:56- 'About 18 months old. - 18 months? OK.
0:49:56 > 0:49:59'It's past its year, which basically means...
0:49:59 > 0:50:02'There'll be a charge of 255, plus some mailing fee.
0:50:02 > 0:50:05'To send it to us to refurb it.
0:50:05 > 0:50:06'To correct it.
0:50:06 > 0:50:09'But, at that price, you know, you might as well go get a new one.'
0:50:09 > 0:50:13So, my brother and I came up with this idea to make a movie
0:50:13 > 0:50:15where we made this stencil that said
0:50:15 > 0:50:18"iPod's unreplaceable battery lasts only 18 months."
0:50:18 > 0:50:19# What you got to do now
0:50:19 > 0:50:20# Express yourself
0:50:20 > 0:50:23# I'm expressing with my full capabilities... #
0:50:23 > 0:50:26And then we spray-painted, using that stencil,
0:50:26 > 0:50:31on all of those ubiquitous iPod silhouette advertisements
0:50:31 > 0:50:33that were all over the city.
0:50:33 > 0:50:36Then we posted that movie online and, erm...
0:50:36 > 0:50:37it went crazy.
0:50:37 > 0:50:40So you got... How many hits were you getting?
0:50:40 > 0:50:43Well, it was tough. This is pre-YouTube.
0:50:43 > 0:50:46But I think we did around five million views in a couple of weeks.
0:50:46 > 0:50:48And what did Apple do?
0:50:48 > 0:50:51Apple didn't really address it.
0:50:51 > 0:50:54They did shortly thereafter change the policy
0:50:54 > 0:50:57and enact a battery-replacement policy.
0:50:57 > 0:50:59But it's built-in obsolescence, isn't it?
0:50:59 > 0:51:01It absolutely is built-in obsolescence.
0:51:02 > 0:51:05Casey's campaign has kicked off an entire movement
0:51:05 > 0:51:08dedicated to fighting built-in obsolescence.
0:51:09 > 0:51:13Here in California, a new consumer fightback is now under way.
0:51:16 > 0:51:19I have come to San Luis Obispo to meet one of the leaders.
0:51:21 > 0:51:23- Kyle?- Hi.
0:51:23 > 0:51:26Kyle Wiens runs a collective called iFixit.
0:51:26 > 0:51:28They tear apart new technology
0:51:28 > 0:51:30to work out how to mend it,
0:51:30 > 0:51:34something they say big companies like Apple actively discourage.
0:51:36 > 0:51:37Kyle, I've got an iPhone here,
0:51:37 > 0:51:39and the battery is wearing down.
0:51:39 > 0:51:43I charged it this morning, it's gone down 10% already.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46And it's a year old. Why's it going down so quickly?
0:51:46 > 0:51:48The physics of these batteries
0:51:48 > 0:51:50is that they wear out after a finite amount of time.
0:51:50 > 0:51:53It's a consumable, just like the tyres on your car.
0:51:53 > 0:51:56You have to replace the battery every once in a while.
0:51:57 > 0:52:00The real problems with changing the battery on the phone
0:52:00 > 0:52:02emerged with the iPhone 4.
0:52:04 > 0:52:06When they released this phone,
0:52:06 > 0:52:08they included some new screws that we'd never seen before.
0:52:08 > 0:52:12These are five-pointed star-shape screws
0:52:12 > 0:52:15that we had never seen in all our years of taking electronics apart.
0:52:15 > 0:52:18Apple invented a brand-new screw specifically for this phone
0:52:18 > 0:52:20to keep people like you and me out.
0:52:20 > 0:52:23They don't want us in here able to replace our own battery.
0:52:23 > 0:52:25And I decided that that wasn't OK,
0:52:25 > 0:52:27and so I reverse-engineered this screw,
0:52:27 > 0:52:30and we started making and selling screwdrivers for the iPhone.
0:52:30 > 0:52:33- So you invented the screwdriver that will now open this phone?- Right.
0:52:33 > 0:52:36So let's dive into this one.
0:52:36 > 0:52:39So that's the screw - you can see it's pretty tiny.
0:52:39 > 0:52:40Once you get inside the phone,
0:52:40 > 0:52:42there are actually Phillips screws.
0:52:42 > 0:52:44- Right. - Which continues to show the irony.
0:52:44 > 0:52:47They're only using these pentalobe screws on the outside,
0:52:47 > 0:52:49to prevent you from getting in.
0:52:49 > 0:52:51It's basically like a barbed-wire fence, isn't it?
0:52:51 > 0:52:54To stop you getting in. But once you're in the phone,
0:52:54 > 0:52:57you've got recognisable screws that you can deal with.
0:52:57 > 0:52:59Right, absolutely. It's just a gateway.
0:52:59 > 0:53:01They're preventing you from getting inside.
0:53:01 > 0:53:03Once you're in, it's just like any other phone.
0:53:03 > 0:53:04It's very easy to work on.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09Apple told us that they work hard to make the most beautiful
0:53:09 > 0:53:12and highest quality products and devices in the world,
0:53:12 > 0:53:14using state-of-the-art technologies.
0:53:14 > 0:53:18They say their products last longer, retain more of their value,
0:53:18 > 0:53:22and are better-supported than all other products in their industry.
0:53:25 > 0:53:28Apple wouldn't be interviewed by me.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31They suggested we speak to tech analyst Benedict Evans.
0:53:33 > 0:53:36I wanted to know whether upgrade culture masked a drive
0:53:36 > 0:53:38to make us spend more.
0:53:39 > 0:53:41Do you think the iPhone is improving?
0:53:41 > 0:53:45I think we are still seeing really dramatic improvements
0:53:45 > 0:53:47- in what these devices do. - Is that really true?
0:53:47 > 0:53:50Because I spoke to Dan Crow, who was a designer for Apple,
0:53:50 > 0:53:53and he said that, actually, what's happened with the iPhone
0:53:53 > 0:53:56is that it's kind of plateaued.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59So, specifically, the new iPhone has a 64-bit chip
0:53:59 > 0:54:01which gives roughly double the performance
0:54:01 > 0:54:03for the same battery life.
0:54:03 > 0:54:07It has a camera that can record slow-motion video in near-darkness.
0:54:07 > 0:54:09It has a built-in fingerprint reader.
0:54:09 > 0:54:13I talked to the people in the queue who were waiting for the 5S,
0:54:13 > 0:54:15and I asked them why they were buying the 5S
0:54:15 > 0:54:17and they didn't say because it's got
0:54:17 > 0:54:19all these amazing new technological innovations.
0:54:19 > 0:54:21But you shouldn't have to know that.
0:54:21 > 0:54:23As a consumer, you shouldn't have to know why, erm...
0:54:23 > 0:54:26It's not the consumer's job to know that something is better.
0:54:26 > 0:54:28It's not the consumer's job
0:54:28 > 0:54:31to have an opinion on things that they haven't seen.
0:54:31 > 0:54:33Could you tell me about the iPod?
0:54:33 > 0:54:36When the iPod was developed, what was the thinking
0:54:36 > 0:54:39about having a non-replaceable battery?
0:54:39 > 0:54:41If you make a battery removable,
0:54:41 > 0:54:43you've got to completely redesign the device.
0:54:43 > 0:54:46You've then got to put a plastic case around the battery
0:54:46 > 0:54:49and then you've got to create a plastic socket inside the device,
0:54:49 > 0:54:52and then you've got to create a removable case that will come off.
0:54:52 > 0:54:56You've added, actually, quite a lot of extra just volume to the product,
0:54:56 > 0:55:00then you have to redesign everything inside to make room for all of this.
0:55:00 > 0:55:02So what you're saying is, there's a trade-off -
0:55:02 > 0:55:05if the consumer wants a sleek product,
0:55:05 > 0:55:07they're going to have a battery that's non-replaceable,
0:55:07 > 0:55:09and that's the deal, and they're choosing that?
0:55:09 > 0:55:11Well, I think that's a thing...
0:55:11 > 0:55:14Is it not ushering in a kind of disposable culture -
0:55:14 > 0:55:16the culture of the upgrade, that we have today?
0:55:16 > 0:55:20It's about relentlessly buying the newest, the quickest,
0:55:20 > 0:55:24the sleekest...and that that is, by its essence, the throwaway culture.
0:55:24 > 0:55:26I think that's an argument that says
0:55:26 > 0:55:28that, actually, we were a lot better off,
0:55:28 > 0:55:32we had a much lower consumption, we had much slower lives,
0:55:32 > 0:55:34when 80% or 90% of the population were peasants.
0:55:34 > 0:55:38Erm...and the story of humanity's move away from peasantry
0:55:38 > 0:55:40and a life expectancy of 25 or 30
0:55:40 > 0:55:42is in part the story of consumption.
0:55:42 > 0:55:46It's very hard to separate change and improvement
0:55:46 > 0:55:48from the improvement in people's lives.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51So you think it's right that we have a culture
0:55:51 > 0:55:54where companies are prepared to upgrade things relentlessly
0:55:54 > 0:55:56and that we throw things away?
0:55:56 > 0:55:59Well, I don't think that's really the right way of looking at it.
0:55:59 > 0:56:02Companies are continually struggling to make better products.
0:56:02 > 0:56:06The reason why I can turn on a TV set
0:56:06 > 0:56:09and have a reasonable expectation that it will turn on
0:56:09 > 0:56:12and never fail for the next 15 or 20 years,
0:56:12 > 0:56:14is because companies are continually striving
0:56:14 > 0:56:17to improve their products and make better ones.
0:56:19 > 0:56:23Consumer technology must deliver never-ending improvement
0:56:23 > 0:56:24to sell to us,
0:56:24 > 0:56:27which means we've now reached a pinnacle of obsolescence
0:56:27 > 0:56:29with the mobile device.
0:56:30 > 0:56:34But as technology expands to every consumer purchase,
0:56:34 > 0:56:38the need to upgrade will become an inescapable fact of life.
0:56:38 > 0:56:40The destination of a journey that began
0:56:40 > 0:56:44back in the 1920s with the humble light bulb.
0:56:45 > 0:56:49Manufacturers then had what seemed an impossible dream -
0:56:49 > 0:56:51to engineer consumer behaviour
0:56:51 > 0:56:53through planned obsolescence.
0:56:53 > 0:56:58Today we live in a world of relentless, continuous spending,
0:56:58 > 0:57:00not so much because we were manipulated,
0:57:00 > 0:57:04but because we, the consumer, chose to be part of the project.
0:57:06 > 0:57:08OK, ready?
0:57:08 > 0:57:11Next time, how fear is used to make us spend.
0:57:11 > 0:57:13I relieve the fear.
0:57:13 > 0:57:15I relieve the anxiety.
0:57:16 > 0:57:18How our deepest emotions are manipulated.
0:57:18 > 0:57:21People tell me, "Wow, I want this car!"
0:57:21 > 0:57:23Why? "I don't know."
0:57:23 > 0:57:26That's good marketing.
0:57:26 > 0:57:28I'll meet the men who've made a fortune
0:57:28 > 0:57:30from exploiting our anxieties.
0:57:30 > 0:57:32You've no idea how much money you've made?
0:57:32 > 0:57:35I was lucky to be part of an incredible organisation.
0:57:35 > 0:57:36That's one way of putting it!
0:57:36 > 0:57:40What secret methods do shops use to make you buy?
0:57:40 > 0:57:43Take a ride on the Open University shopping carousel
0:57:43 > 0:57:46and find out what influences you while you're shopping.
0:57:46 > 0:57:51Go to:
0:57:51 > 0:57:53..and follow the links to the Open University.