University fees across the globe have increased in recent years, yet student satisfaction has generally decreased. One post to the subreddit r/a******design illustrated this trend as one student shared an advertisement at their university.
"Advertisement, at my university, where the annual tuition fee can get as high as ten times the average monthly salary," the student voiced. The photo then showcases an advertisement screen promoting instant noodles.
Advertising inundation has crept into every form of daily life, from TSA checks at the airport to fortune cookies. The pervasiveness of adverts aligns with hyperconsumerism, as more consumers spending on products means more business and money for corporations. While this may drive economic advancements, it does so devoid of the impacts this has on the environment, where overfilled landfills and excessive production emissions disadvantage communities and ecosystems.
Commenters pointed out that the university, which already makes a fortune from tuition, should not be gaining more money from booking advertising spots.
"I don't know what's worse, the fact that a college that makes more money in a month than a lot of people make in a few years feels the need to advertise, or the fact [that] they seemed to half-ass it that much," wrote one concerned Redditor.
David Park, an Associate Professor at Florida International University, described the dangerous environmental linkage between advertisements and consumption for Earth.org: "Much of production in capitalism has little to do with the satisfaction of genuine human need and more to do with the profit motive that drives the extraction of raw materials to produce a never-ending supply of goods."
Advertisements that boost hyperconsumerism are responsible for resource depletion, increased pollution, and waste production, ultimately hurting the health and safety of wildlife and humans. To combat this issue, supporting brands that are dedicated to sustainability and educating yourself on greenwashing are small steps the average person can take.
One Redditor put it succinctly: "No amount of money is enough money to a business."
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