Some people think that products should be made to last as long as possible, while others think making the products cheap is more important. Describe both views and express your own opinion.

While some attach greater significance to durability of manufactured goods, critics tend to value affordability. However complex, both views put forward rational arguments which will be explicated. On the one hand, the multitudes’ purchasing power is a key factor which should never be neglected. This is mainly justified by the notions of social justice and congruity among the majority including those from lower income brackets. More specifically, if citizens fail to meet their daily needs owing to the existence of high-priced commodities, this would give rise to class conflict. Take workers in low-paid manual jobs as a salient example; irrespective of how resilient and well-built consumer products are, they are unable to purchase them because of their financial constraints. This breeds inequity, widening the unbridgeable gap between the poor and the affluent. On the other hand, living in a throwaway society has its own downside. The main unfortunate byproduct of this would be the spread of consumerism which encourages an insatiable appetite for more and more products causing irreparable harm to nature. These frail products soon end up in overflowing landfills where rotting waste emits methane and CO2. A typical example of such consumerist culture is the tendency to buy inexpensive products wrapped in low-quality plastic to ensure reasonable pricing; easily damaged and failing to preserve the content properly, such packaging, no matter how affordable, may not serve its primary function. On balance, despite the fact that both sides have cogent arguments, I am convinced that longevity must be prioritized. This is because consumerist behavior and its attendant environmental problems can be kept at bay.