A good consumer product is one that satisfies an existing and enduring need. In my post this week I have decided to crown the humble fridge as the best consumer product ever. The mother of a hefty chunk of other consumer products, a foundation product that enables the safe availability of other consumer products. The fridge addresses our physiological/biological need for safe food. If the fridge did not exist supermarkets would not be able to offer a huge proportion of their food products. Medicines, vaccinations and blood would have un-viable shelf lives. Fresh food would be harder to obtain and store safely. Much more of our time would need to be devoted to growing our own food sources involving the need for skills, forgotten by many, such as animal husbandry and vegie gardening.
The home refrigerator addresses, in relation to Abraham Maslow's theory of motivation, the basics of our physiological and biological needs. Once we have met the need for safe food and shelter we can go on to pursue other productive or recreational activities. This releases us from the need to spend time hunting and gathering food on a daily basis as our week's supply of food is safe in the fridge! You only need wheel out the old esky, to go camping, or live out of a backpack on dehydrated morsels, to appreciate how much we take the trusty fridge for granted.
As with all products, trends in fridge designs have arrived in novel manifestations such as computer screens in the fridge door, built-in ice crushers and cool-water fountains or the shiny stainless steel finishes. Consumers are continually attracted to such innovations and product designers ensure that the family fridge market continues to turn over at incredible rates. But all said and done the basic refrigerator is here to stay!
Ben Paul
Nice post Ben Paul,
ReplyDeleteI am going to disagree with you though purely for argument's sake, and also because at the moment someone in our house has left something in the fridge for too long and it's starting to stink, so I am thinking negative thoughts about the fridge right now.
I'm going to argue that the very reasons you have given as positives for the existence of fridges are also reasons for the negative.
First of all, our ability to refrigerate and freeze food has led to massive expansions in the food network. Here in Melbourne we have access to food flown and shipped in from all over the world. Yes this is great for our personal convenience, we can get most fruits and vegetables all year round regardless of the season. But at what cost to the environment? Carbon is added to the atmosphere not only from the massive amounts of energy needed in the refrigeration process, but also in transporting the goods. Added to this, some of the fruit we get from the supermarket can be MONTHS old by the time it gets to us, surely that can't be good.
Also, I feel like urban sprawl can be somewhat attributed to home refrigeration, people don't prioritise living close to a local high street or market anymore because they can get in their car, drive a few Km to the supermarket and buy enough "fresh" food to last them for the week. Yes, you could argue that it would be a major inconvenience having to go shopping everyday for your fresh fruit,veges and meat and I agree with that. But I feel it would lead to less of a dependence on major supermarket chains like Coles and IGA and trend back to smaller, independent green grocers and butchers in every neighbourhood, which in turn leads to a better connected local community and better local economies. The benefits for which are countless.
I agree with you when you say we take refrigerators for granted. It's just that we take them so much for granted that our reliance on them has a huge negative impact on the environment, and in my view, a negative impact on society as well. Don't get me wrong, I don't think we should get rid of all fridges, I love ice-cream just as much as the next man, I just think that they are too flawed to be crowned "the best consumer product ever."
Sam F
Interesting points, guys. I agree, Ben, fridges are an extremely overlooked product in this day and age. If manufacturers were to suddenly stop making them, I'm sure most people wouldn't have a clue as to how the freshness of food would be maintained without returning back to the local produce every second day to replenish their food supply. It goes to show how revolutionary the design of the fridge is.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this product comes at a cost to our environment with its high energy rating as Sam pointed out, it certainly can adopt a move in sustainable design like that of which in cars (another product of convenience yet negative social impact). Perhaps it is time for the fridge to once again revolutionise itself and consider a more environmentally friendly design as society becomes increasingly socially aware.
As for the urban sprawl issue, I can see the benefits of a more connected community, but perhaps the ease of transportation might be more of a direct cause for a wider spread community. One could still live further and have no fridge, but instead drive down to buy from local produce (assuming fridges dont exist, hence local produces are abudant) as one would drive down to Coles if they had a fridge and lived at the same location.
:)
Cynthia remely overlooked product in this day and age. If manufacturers were to suddenly stop making them, I'm sure most people wouldn't have a clue as to how the freshness of food would be maintained without returning back to the local produce every second day to replenish their food supply. It goes to show how revolutionary the design of the fridge is.
Although this product comes at a cost to our environment with its high energy rating as Sam pointed out, it certainly can adopt a move in sustainable design like that of which in cars (another product of convenience yet negative social impact). Perhaps it is time for the fridge to once again revolutionise itself and consider a more environmentally friendly design as society becomes increasingly socially aware.
As for the urban sprawl issue, I can see the benefits of a more connected community, but perhaps the ease of transportation might be more of a direct cause for a wider spread community. One could still live further and have no fridge, but instead drive down to buy from local produce (assuming fridges dont exist, hence local produces are abudant) as one would drive down to Coles if they had a fridge and lived at the same location.
:)
Cynthia
Sorry i don't know why my comment has repeated itself!
ReplyDeleteI was going to say a fridge aswell Ben but it seems you've beaten me to it, good choice.
ReplyDeleteRoss