![]() These early, incandescent bulbs – the Centennial Light included – relied on carbon filaments rather than the tungsten that came into widespread use almost 30 years later. Thomas Edison invented commercially viable light bulbs circa 1880. Sticking with light bulbs as a product, they provide amongst the most emblematic case studies of planned obsolescence. “I think there are some avenues where are kind of tricking the consumer, but I think there are also situations where I might put the fault on the consumer.” “Fundamentally, firms are reacting to the tastes of the consumers,” says Judith Chevalier, a professor of finance and economics at Yale University. In this way, planned obsolescence serves as a reflection of a ravenous, consumer culture which industries did create for their benefit, yet were hardly alone in doing so. To an extent, planned obsolescence is an inevitable consequence of sustainable businesses giving people goods they desire. Beyond the crude caricature of greedy companies wantonly fleecing their customers, the practice does have silver linings. So is this conspiracy theory true? Does planned obsolescence really exist? “That’s sort of the conspiracy theory of planned obsolescence,” says Mohanbir Sawhney, a professor of marketing at Northwestern University. Lightbulbs and various other technologies could easily last for decades, many believe, but it’s more profitable to introduce artificial lifespans so that companies get repeat sales. The Centennial Light is often pointed to as evidence for the supposedly sinister business strategy known as planned obsolescence. Surely, if an incandescent bulb made with 19th Century technology can last so long, why not new-fangled, 20th and even 21st Century bulbs? (You can see it for yourself on a webcam that refreshes every 30 seconds.)įor the multiple generations of us who have since swapped out more burned-out light bulbs than we can remember, the Centennial Bulb’s longevity must seem like a slap in the face. An astonishing, record-setting 115 years after someone first flipped it on, this light bulb is still faintly shining in a fire station in Livermore, California. So it would seem for the Centennial Light. “They don’t make ‘em like they used to,” as the idiom goes.
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