The Lightbulb Conspiracy: the Untold Story of Planned Obsolesence is a documentary about how a conspiracy by companies all over the world in encouraging consumerism by planning the "expiry date" of products in order for consumers to buy a new one.
One of the examples of this 'conspiracy' is the chip that lock printers after several prints, as seen in one scene of the documentary. It is definitely unfair, but thinking about it again, like one of the interviewees said, it's what keeps companies, designers and the entire industries going from becoming obsolete themselves. This is why a new product is made every 3 minutes in the world, it is why Apple keeps releasing newer version of their models in every few months, with just the slightest improvements. I understand the industries' need to do this, but at the same time I find it kind of unfair, especially to some people. Imagine when someone works their asses off for a product they've always wanted, but just after they bought it, a new one came out - a newer and better one with a price similar to what they paid for the one they bought.
I guess it is kind of ironic how companies labels everything to be green and environmentally friendly for that extra factor to make customers buy them while at the same time they want them to have this expiry date that makes customers having to buy a new one. One of the examples shown in the documentary would be the lithium battery on an iPod that only lasts for 18 months, with a less than 2 years warranty originally.
To be honest, I think this documentary have less of an impact to designers as it is to engineers. I feel it impacts us as designers in terms of us, now thinking about there are actually more things that we have to take into account when designing something in order for us to satisfy our employers. Hopefully, a balance can be achieved between all these so that a satisfaction can be achieved between all parties, the environment, the companies, the designers and the consumers.
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