consumer culture

How many adverts does the average person see in a day? If you search for this question online, the surprising answer is that we might see thousands – up to 10,000.

However, the idea that we see thousands of adverts is a strange and confusing one, without any good research behind it. We investigate the long history of these odd numbers, with the help of Sam Anderson from The Drum and J Walker Smith from Kantar.

Presenter: Tim Harford Series producer: Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown Sound Mix: James Beard Editor: Richard Vadon

The National Labor Relations Board is redefining what it means to be an employer by changing the so-called joint-employer rule. We’ll explain how the change could impact the rights of contract and franchise workers across many industries, from tech to fast food. And, polling numbers on congressional approval are sinking lower and lower. Plus, are SEO-bait names and bloated movie runtimes the new norms? We’ll get into it in a round of Half Full / Half Empty.

Here’s everything we talked about:

• • “New labor rule could be a big deal for millions of franchise and contract workers. Here’s why.” from CBS News

• • “NLRB joint-employer rule triggers fears of higher trucking costs” from FreightWaves

• • “Congress’ Job Approval Drops to 13%, Lowest Since 2017” from Gallup

• • “‘Overemployed’ people secretly work overlapping remote jobs” from Marketplace

• • “Why it feels like movies are getting longer” from CNN

• • “In tight labor market, businesses practice ‘strategic retention'” from Marketplace

• • “Do CEOs make too much money?” from Marketplace

• • “The restaurant nearest Google” from The Verge

• • “Halloween 2023: Costumes fuel expected record holiday spending” from Axios

If you’ve got a question about today’s economy, send it our way. Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART or email us at makemesmart@marketplace.org.

You know Andy Warhol from his quip on being famous for 15 minutes and paintings of soup cans, but even as far as artists go he was an eccentric and misunderstood person. 

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When it comes to economics, there are a bunch of different schools to choose from, but pretty much all of them are focused on boosting growth. Except, that is, for the degrowth movement, which aims to refocus economics away from GDP. As more and more complaints about "late-stage capitalism" seem to be piling up, along with worries about the impact of rampant consumerism on the environment, is this the degrowth movement's time to shine? We speak with Noel King, the co-host of Vox's Today Explained podcast, about her new mini-series exploring discontent with the capitalist model. She explains the intellectual origins of the degrowth movement, why it's getting more attention now, and just what an economy that no longer prioritizes "growth at any cost" might look like.

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How much stuff do we really need? The answer to that will be different for everyone, but the point here is that there is a massive difference between genuine need versus wants, and much of the stuff we own (or are encouraged to buy) falls into the ‘want’ category… which is fine, until it has negative effects on your life in terms of clutter, financial challenges and even, potentially, hoarding (or just an inability to let go of stuff). How do you deal with stuff in a healthy way? Well, that’s what I’m covering this week in this week’s episode. So, let’s talk about mental health!

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Let's Talk About Mental Health is a weekly podcast full of practical and simple ideas for better mental health by Jeremy Godwin that draws on quality research as well as personal experience. It's about much more than just talk; each new episode focuses on practical and simple things that you can do every single day to improve and maintain your mental health and wellbeing. Discover the podcast all about better mental health and join listeners in over 150 countries around the world.

Let's Talk About Mental Health. Because the more we talk about it, the easier it gets.

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⚠ Warning: Contains occasional mild coarse language.

The Church of the SubGenius is a religion, but really a parody of religion. Learn all about this group of weirdo outsiders in today's episode.

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In this show recorded live on January 5, 2017 at San Francisco’s Castro Theatre, Josh and Chuck delve into the history and the heyday of the church of consumerism and what it means for local communities and our capitalist society at large when malls die.

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