Again, this doesn't fit what I need!

Demographics, economy of scale, market niches, general preferences, risk management, are but a few of the voluminous variables that determine what is mass-produced in today's world. It seems the business sector prefers to analyze what the greatest percentage of people may pay money to buy, or be persuaded to buy. The analysis goes to depths that most people potentially could see as a intrusion into our private lives. This data, its capture, degree of integrity, manipulation, analysis, and finally a statistical probability mixed with current trends of industry create a marketable product or service.

Is this what any of us see when we look at products and services? A set of tires or a battery for your car. The sweater to replace the one you wore out. An hour with a lawyer. So many of our interchanges were created, priced, and marketed to us repeatedly so as to ingrain familiarity. How much to pay for a frozen yogurt was determined after a price point was established. Many say these factors are simply business. And of course none of us would disagree. But there is another aspect that carries substantial weight of its own. Where is the intersection of the purchasing parties needs and the greatest low risk financial return for the producer?

The dictation of style, function, and ultimately culture are in large part predetermined by the art of product sales and the services associated to them. This is almost like the saying, 'the tail wagging the dog'. Is the product 'machine' creating our wants and desires in what is made available for consumption? Or, is it that we dictate our desires to them through a give and take conversation of sorts. Queries, polls, panels, and more feedback options are utilized to 'ensure' customer involvement in this larger process of production. Yet, are the needs met for the consumer?

In giving feedback, there must exist an initial product or service upon which to give the opinions. Here is where more influence can be accounted the producer than the consumer. Recent history can affirm much of this through various examples. What goes into a product was not information deemed necessary for display until the last twenty to thirty years. The completeness of that information was suspect until just recently. The wording used was often too technical for understanding by the masses. Likewise, the inclusion of nutritional information for food products is a newer development. What differences this information will make is yet to be determined until enough data can be gathered over a substantial period.

While these two examples are common knowledge today, there remains a tremendous amount of 'givens' in this banter back and forth between the two sides of consumerism. Yet, the prime question remains, "who is driving the choices available to us as a whole". I contend it is the business side of the equation that takes the lead. Why? Because more needs are unmet than those that are met. Do we collectively have to divine what ingredients are safe for washing our hair? Are they cleaning our hair at the expense of keeping the hair? Will it be too harsh, too oily, too dry? Sure there is an aisle of cleaners, treatments, and more dedicated to these products in most every store that carries any hair product. But is that the need, to have a brand, formula, scent, prime ingredient for each and every possible type of hair? That is more about creating a market than meeting a need.

At the core of any true need (not perceived need, or produced need) is the reason for it. Do I need a dangling scented tree hanging from my car's mirror? Heck no. But is it desired? This is where I see more product targeted than ever before during my lifetime. Fulfill my wants but tread sparingly upon my needs. Can I get a long sleeved shirt that fits my rather long arms without getting one that is wide enough for two people? The answer is most always, No! But can I get that shirt that doesn't fit in some twenty colors and styles, Yes! Now if I were of a body size and shape queerly odd and of a extremely small percentage of  the population, that would be logical. But I am not. There are many, many others with the same dimensions as me wandering in this part of the earth.

Where is the need being met? It is invariably not being met in too many ways. But some might point me in the direction of a 'big and tall' store in the example of the shirt. Certainly that would work, but at a cost to me financially to the tune of 2 to 3 times the price. What need is being met there? Can a manufacturing plant make sizes in long as easily as 'regular'? Certain once again that the mass produced world being marketed today is solely for the profit end of the ‘business side’ of this producer/ consumer relationship.

Less a dissertation on production stratification within a specific consumer society, we are left with a body of evidence where society that is driven by the average, standard, most populous because it is cheaper to market toward this body of demographics. This way pennies per unit can be saved on mass-producing for the median than the whole. The sales sides of needs are being met as can be evidenced through the financial statements of companies and sectors also. The purchasing side of needs lack continuity as seen through decreased spending on specialty items (which typically meet greater needs than standardized goods) during these times of economic redefinition.