The second most potent four-letter word starting with the letter ‘F’ is ‘FREE.’
Be it a behavioral psychologist, marketer, or even capitalist, each of them will agree that this word has its own intrinsic value. The moment we hear the word ‘FREE,’ it grabs our attention – the attention span which has now become even less than the goldfish’s attention span.
We lend our attention span unconsciously to evaluate what is being offered ‘free,’ in return, we give our most important commodity -our time. We give our time without realizing its trade value for something we will avail as ‘free.’ The product we consume labeled as ‘free’ is mainly driven by the carpe diem.
Although the product is labeled as ‘free,’ there is always an exchange of value, which is oblivion to the recipient of the free product. In a typical trading transaction, the buyer and seller are clearly identified during the sale of goods, but in a ‘free’ transaction, the seller is oblivious to the exchange of trade commodities, especially when the product is labeled as ‘free.’ The seller is not the one who offers something for free; it is, in fact, the buyer who is disguised as a seller. On the contrary, the seller is deceived by being a buyer. The goods labeled as free have their value, but they are perceived as free because the person who will consume them doesn’t realize what has already been exchanged to get that ‘free’ product. The exchange of value to avail that ‘free’ product could be your personal data, geo-location, browser cookies, and most importantly, your time being traded for a free item, and you have become oblivious to it.
The rule of thumb to unveil such trade is simple: anything free or unbelievably cheap consumes you. No one will ever give you a free loaf of bread, a packet of paracetamol, or a toy that comes along with a Happy Meal labeled as ‘free.’ However, you still find access to all social media platforms free and access to almost every video streaming portal free, followed by the subscription rate, which is still drastically cheaper compared to cable TV subscription or rental of DVDs from the Blockbuster store at the corner of your neighborhood.
Policymakers know that consumption is controllable by adjusting the pricing or by creating a scarcity of the product, but there is no regulation for the products that are offered ‘free.’ Unfortunately, most of the policy regulations prepared by the authorities at the state level are designed for the materialist consumption of goods, be it a new drug or a new food venture. Explicit approval from the relevant authority is required to sell the pack of a new medicine or market the opening of a new burger joint. The regulator controls materialist consumption through its pricing. The price of sugary drinks or tobacco products in most developed markets is positioned high to keep a mass away from consumption. In return, people start consuming less. In the absence of regulation for the consumption of non-materialist goods, the consumption of ‘free’ products has expanded omnidirectionally, which consumes your time and, more precisely, where you are the product on their shelf. After all, it is ‘free,’ and no law regulates the ‘free’ commodities because they cannot be taxed.
It’s a well-known fact that the price of a product plays a significant role in its consumption; if you reduce the price, consumption goes high, or if you increase the price, the product will obnoxiously become scarce.
Now imagine a world where people will pay exorbitant amounts of their hard-earned money to access some of the world’s largest social media or video streaming websites or a place that is invite-only and not based on a penny subscription. But that imagination will never become a reality because there is no sight of a checkered flag at the end of the circuit in the race of consumerism. It is a rat wheel, and there is no smell of cheese.
Alas, there is nothing wrong with consuming freebies as long as you are conscious and such consumption positively impacts your life.
And lastly, the first most powerful four-letter word starting with the letter ‘F’ is ‘Food.’
Asif DURRANI
29 April 2023
https://www.linkedin.com/in/asifdurrani
Also published at Medium
Asif Durrani 