Lets first understand what is consumption based economy and need based economy. Then we will see why an out and out consumption economy is not good for the culture, people and long term economy. A consumption driven economy is one where economy is driven by consumer spending. For example US is a consumption economy where consumption drives nearly 70% of the GDP. On the other Need based economy is one where the need of the people of a country like food, shelter, health, education and culture drives the economy. In need based economy the savings per capita is pretty high. For example India was a largely need based economy until the turn of the last century.

In a consumption economy, where almost everything is driven by consumption, converts its society into a consumer society. In such a society the buying and selling of goods and services is the most important social and economic activity. So it is natural in such a economy, all businesses would like to know who is the biggest consumer and who has the biggest influence. Forbes.com wrote:

• Women drive 70-80% of all consumer purchasing, through a combination of their buying power and influence. Influence means that even when a woman isn’t paying for something herself, she is often the influence or veto vote behind someone else’s purchase.
• They are multiple markets in one.

This data can explain why businesses are targeting their ads and marketing campaigns towards women. How else can you explain when the end product is targeted towards men but the ads or campaigns are targeting women. Even an ad selling pen has sexual overtone and innuendoes. The consumption economy is based on the philosophy that there is one life and you need to spend it all here. Here the paramount activity is consumption and to drive the consumption everything happens. Many pitfall of consumption economy has emerged. You could see the by products in the form of broken families. It also means more requirements of house, appliances etc. resulting in more consumption. In the US the family concept in itself is fighting in its last leg and in India joint family is not main stream any more. Even in rural areas joint family system is coming to an end in much accelerated way. Businesses are also promoting body positivity and women empowerment with a single agenda to drive consumption. They don’t have any special love for women. Business understands only one thing that is sell and make profit. In future if men or for that matter animals can drive consumption, businesses will promote them.

Consumption takes precedence over everything, changes the moral fabric of the society, encourages debt, excessive materialism could dent value and image of people, does not provide fulfillment, always need more consumption, can be used as political tool, can create conflicts with spiritual and cultural beliefs, the poor are always left behind by consumerism.

Need based economy goes on the actual need of the people. There many not be animal spirit all the time in the market but it is sustainable and balanced in the long run. Here the people follow the philosophy of the need of their life plus the future generation as well. But this has started changing since the opening of the Indian economy in 1991. While we certainly need to open economy and improve ease of doing business, at the same time it is also important to check on elements which are influencing to change the fabric of the society. India is a huge country with almost 1.4 billion people and everybody wants to sell to us. They can sell more only if it becomes a consumption economy. No wonder you see a barrage of marketing campaigns and business influenced social campaigns aiming at this. To do that businesses need to achieve social engineering as Indian mindset is more need based than an out and out consumption based. So at every point of time they are trying to influence the women who has the largest influence for purchase.

The MNCs are here to make profit and they will try everyway to increase profit. To compete with the MNCs Indian companies are also following suit. As India is going more and more towards consumption based economy, the ugly side of consumerism are already showing up. The break down of the family system is showing up, courts are clogged with fake or jacked up cases. This is also leading to abandonment of old parents. The government of India recently made an announcement to build old age home in every district of India. With consumerism social expenditure rises exponentially. In the short or medium term the economy will grow but in the long term it is not sustainable for overall well being of people.