A presentation on how organizations and companies ensure that the products you use have a definite life cycle to maximize their profits. Examples of how big names in industries form consortiums to fool the end user.

1. PLANNED
OBSOLESCENCE
PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE
In the Corporate
World
LEAD FREE
ELECTRONICS
HOW
CONSUMER
S ARE
CHEATED
THE
PHOEBUS
CARTEL
WHAT IS IT?
OTHER
WAYS
COMPANIES
CHEAT YOU

2. ETHICS PROJECT
PLANNED
OBSOLESCENCE
In the Corporate World
By: Nishant Gupta
11BEI0037

3. WHAT IS PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE???
Planned obsolescence or built-in obsolescence is a
policy of planning or designing a product with a limited
useful life, so it will become obsolete, that is,
unfashionable or no longer functional after a certain
period of time. Planned obsolescence has potential
benefits for a producer because to obtain continuing
use of the product the consumer is under pressure to
purchase again, whether from the same manufacturer
(a replacement part or a newer model), or from
a competitor which might also rely on planned
obsolescence.

4. HOW CONSUMERS ARE BEING
CHEATED
By making products that last for a limited period, or
are of a substandard/questionable quality companies
are reaping humongous profits while consumers are
milked like cattle. By forming illegal consortiums,
knowingly stopping the advancement of technology or even
collaborating with competitors and strangling competition,
companies have gone to all lengths to reap profits. In
the following slides you’ll come to know of some of
the scams that have made fools of the common
consumer.

5. THE
PHOEBUS
CARTEL

6. WHAT IS THE PHOEBUS CARTEL??
The Phoebus cartel was a cartel of, among
others, Osram, Philips and General Electric from December 23, 1924
until 1939 that existed to control the manufacture and sale
of light bulbs.
The cartel is an important step in the history of global
economy because of their alleged involvement in the
creation of great-scale planned obsolescence. The cartel
reduced competition in the light bulb industry for almost twenty years, and
has been accused of preventing technological advances that
would have produced longer-lasting light bulbs.

9. The world’s oldest light bulb, which has
now been continuously operating for
111 years(till 2012). The bulb has
outlived three of the security cameras
that are used to monitor it.
If bulbs like this could be made in 1901,
isn’t it highly questionable that bulbs of
today just burn out in a few weeks?
What’s
more,
with
so
much
development in technology and creation
of ultra strong, ultra durable materials,
why hasn’t the humble light bulb
benefitted from this progress in science.
The answer is simple, corporate greed.

10. Printer cartridges cost a bomb and yet a
majority of companies make ink cartridges
that come with proprietary smart chips on
them which disable printing when one of the
colors falls to a certain level, even if there's
really enough ink to do the job. Plus, the smart
chips can discourage refilling or use of thirdparty ink.
Companies assert that it is to save the
printhead from damage, yet that argument is
not really valid if you look at the technologies
available today.

11. Disposable razor blades are one more example
of wasteful consumer policy. With over 90% of
the body made of materials like plastic that
can be used for weeks rather than days,
companies are just adding waste to landfills
and garbage piles around the world.

12. LEAD FREE ELECTRONICS
Environment friendly
manufacturing or a scam to cheat
customers?

13. So you just bought a new laptop or mobile phone. If
you’re an environment friendly customer you might
have tried to take care that the product does not use
lead in its solder. The brand must also have advertised
the use of unleaded solder influencing your buying
decision. Of course you know that lead is dangerous for
you and the environment.

14. But did you know?
of lead is required in all solder to prevent it from growing very fine
“whiskers” over time. These whiskers can short out electronic circuits and
considering that everything from cars to air-conditioners to cameras and
motherboards use solder, you can understand how serious an issue this is.
Manufacturers are not too fastidious about making the consumer aware of these
details. They are busy giving you the illusion of being environment friendly, while
making sure that products short circuit themselves in 7-10 years.
3%
?
?