“The spectator-buyer is meant to envy herself as she will become if she buys the product. She is meant to imagine herself transformed by the product into an object of envy for others.”— John Berger
“The first stage of the economy’s domination of social life brought about an evident degradation of being into having.”— Guy Debord
“The consumer society is directed toward a phony novelty. It is fueled by meaningless choice, tastes are manipulated.”— J. G. Ballard
“Utilitarian individualism has a greediness that is as boundless as its wants.”— Robert Neelly Bellah
“The junk merchant doesn't sell his product to the consumer, he sells the consumer to his product.”— William S. Burroughs
“In a consumer society there are inevitably two kinds of slaves: the prisoners of addiction and the prisoners of envy.”— Ivan Illich
“All over the place, from the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless.”— Noam Chomsky
“If it can't be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished, resold, recycled or composted, then it should be restricted, redesigned or removed from production.”— Pete Seeger
“And I am a weapon of massive consumption. And it's not my fault, it's how I'm programmed to function.”— Augusten Burroughs
“The consumer terror of the late capitalist phase is a form of class warfare waged from above.”— Ulrike Meinhof
“We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like.”— Chuck Palahniuk
“The culture of consumption... has transformed the pursuit of happiness into a frantic search for the latest novelty.”— Christopher Lasch