To tackle the main question...

Many people in this consumer crazy society might as well be mindless sheep that get told what to do. Luckily, I'm not one of them (for the most part). Everyday, we do many things and one thing high up on that list is buying products. There are many reasons that drive us to do that. The first being peer pressure or social/cultural standards. Peer pressure is a huge driving factor in making us buy stuff because if we don't have the latest and greatest then we won't be cool. And everybody wants to be cool so companies will try and make the coolest stuff constantly change in order to get people to keep buying their products. If you don't have any new products you just can't fit in, in today's society. Another thing that influences me to buy stuff is advertisements. Advertisements are everywhere nowadays. They take up approximately 8 minutes of every 30 on television and probably more on the radio. Newspapers, billboards, magazines, bus stops, everybody sees these everyday. What is their message? "Buy more" as well as "this is whats in now so throw out those shoes you bought last week". I, personally, largely ignore these ads but I know many people buy stuff based on what they see on television. However, the cause that drives me, personally, to buy stuff the most is that I buy it out of necessity. A lot of people are influenced to buy products is simply because they need stuff to survive. For example, you need to buy rainproof jackets or winter coats and that was the only reason why I bought one. The final thing that makes me want to buy things is their price. If I know something is on sale (99 cent Lays Chips at Shopper's Drug Mart today) then I will buy it, regardless of whether I will ever need it. I know many people are extremely influenced by this powerful impulse buying. I can usually resist but if the burgers are half off then I'm just going to have to stop by. Even as I type this I am playing right into our consumer crazy society by eating Ferrero Rochers, even though I consider myself to be a conservative spender. I guess I'm more of a mindless sheep than I thought I was!