The industrial revolution brought about American's drive to gain more through expansion. Expansion comes through production. Before the industrial revolution, the 'more factor' was still present. People wanted more then what they already owned. Americans believed there was opportunity to do what ever they wanted. Americans lived with the frontier mentality that there was always more to obtain. To obtain this 'more,' people had to rely on their own talents since "a person's rewards were taken to be quite strictly proportionate to his labors." (Shames pg.57) Expression of ones personality was determined by an individual's ability.

ality does not hold true in modern industrialized society. Most people do not make everything they own. Not only do we buy impersonal crafts made by a company; people are no longer making their own products. Rather, an individual has only a small part in the creation of a product. A car for example, is made by numerous people all doing a different job for that one car. The nuts and bolts might come from one company, the furnishing from another. People are constantly feeding off one another to create a product. One man alone does not build an entire car from scratch. Therefore, nothing we make is our own. This fact has created a problem with self-expression. Now that we are not what we make, we must buy products to establish our role (or desired role) in society.

Once the consumer has bought the product that is self-defining, the companies need to create something new. A better product which is more self defining then the last product. This is how companies can keep on existing. Building a new product intentionally decreases the value of their last. The SUV will be seen as the weaker and less powerful car if a better car comes on the market. The consumer always wants the best and always wants more. As long as companies keep getting better, consumers want to follow the enhancement of a product. Therefore, creating ones image is constantly changing due to manufacturing companies.

If we as consumers know that these products won't do what the ads promise, why do we buy into it? Sadly people are more concentrated on the image of products. We know we won't really be any different but we want others to perceive us in a certain way. So we pick and choose the product that we want to represent our personality. This plan is seen as fool proof. People should pick a product that they believe they relate to. However, if so

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Approximate Word count = 1247
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)