Longevity dates. How Long Will It Last?

There’s growing pressure for manufacturers to certify the longevity of their products. While this sounds like a great idea—and a step toward sustainability—it overlooks a key aspect of consumer behavior. Most of these initiatives focus on durability and how long a product physically lasts. But most products don’t reach the end of their life because they wear out; they’re replaced because consumers want something new.

Think about all the stuff in your home—old gadgets, clothes, or appliances that are still functional but unused. They sit in closets or storage units, not because they’ve failed, but because they’ve been replaced by something newer or trendier.

Quality is often seen as the solution for sustainability, but that’s only part of the picture. The consumer experience matters more than the material durability. Consumerism isn’t driven by things breaking down; it’s driven by emotional engagement and the desire for something better or more exciting.

Take a simple example: an SLR camera. A good camera can last for decades—many old 35mm cameras still work today. But they’re rarely used because the experience around photography has changed. Smartphone cameras with better features have made older cameras feel obsolete, even though they still function perfectly.

So when we ask, “How long will it last?” we shouldn’t just focus on a product’s physical lifespan. We should also consider how long people actually use it. Let’s say someone buys a camera, then upgrades a few years later to one with a bigger sensor, and then buys another for travel. In a decade, they’ve bought three cameras—not because any of them broke, but because their needs and desires changed. The cameras didn’t fail mechanically; they became outdated in the consumer’s mind.

What we need is a better way to tell consumers how long people typically use a product, not just how long it could theoretically last. If people only use a product for a few years before upgrading, even if it’s built to last decades, that’s important information. This could help consumers reflect on their own habits and make more thoughtful purchases.

This tension between longevity and consumer desire is not new. It’s something the car industry dealt with almost a century ago, between Ford and General Motors.

Ford’s Model-T was a massive success—affordable, reliable, and built to last. But Ford was slow to innovate, and when they needed to update their production for the Model-A, the company had to shut down its factories for more than six months. General Motors took a different approach. They introduced new features and styles more frequently, well before the product’s lifespan had ended. This made consumers feel like their car was outdated, even if it was still perfectly functional.

GM’s strategy of planned obsolescence—frequent updates with minimal production disruption—fueled consumer desire. By constantly offering new models, GM turned cars into status symbols, and consumers eagerly upgraded each year. Advertising campaigns spurred competition between car owners—the Buick driver felt superior to the Chevrolet driver, but both aspired to own a Cadillac.

The idea of planned obsolescence, where products are designed to be replaced before they wear out, has shaped consumer behavior for over a century. While longevity targets are a great idea, they can’t focus solely on material durability. Doing so would ignore the entire history of marketing that encourages consumers to want more, faster.

Thorstein Veblen, in his 1957 book Theory of the Leisure Class, observed that people gain status not by showing off wealth, but by displaying their consumption. This creates a cycle where people buy newer, more aspirational products to keep up. It’s not about how long a product physically lasts; it’s about how long it satisfies the consumer.

If we want to set meaningful longevity targets, they should reflect the full consumer experience—not just physical durability. People move on when they’re emotionally done with a product, not just when it breaks. Any true longevity initiative should capture that. We need to have longevity targets that are part of the consumer’s experiential duration. These should show the average active usage of a product.