This video caught my attention because I too use the Credit Karma app, but only to check my credit score. My app doesn’t give me the magical ability to swipe right and change my surroundings. Credit Karma’s ad offers its audience the false message that if you download Credit Karma’s app, you too will find yourself in a new flat with a new golden retriever by your side. This message comes from the idea that using credit in this type of way will improve your life. Credit Karma advertises a lifestyle of luxury: improving your credit score (in some unknown way) and being able to purchase new furniture, new housing, new clothing, and a new dog.
While this ad came from Credit Karma Canada, the commercial relates to the issue of credit cards and debt in American society, as well as other capitalist societies such as that of Canada. We live in a society in which spending more than we have is encouraged and is the norm. We find ourselves encouraged to apply for credit cards at a young age for the purpose of building our credit score so that we may borrow more money in the future. Credit scores are used for a variety of privileges, such as gaining a landlords trust in order to rent an apartment, getting better car insurance rates, and even getting a job (Issa, 2019). These privileges are meant to help us achieve the ideal lifestyle that Credit Karma advertises.
Similar to Ritzer’s discussion in “The Credit Card: Private Troubles and Public Issues,” credit cards allow the economy to function at a higher level because people are able to spend more money than they have. Because American society has a tendency to blame individuals for social problems, when things go wrong, such as bankruptcy and an accumulation of more debt than one can handle, individuals are blamed for their own spending behavior, despite the fact that individuals are very much encouraged to act in this way (Ritzer, 1995).
Using the sociological imagination, we must place this human behavior within the broader social context in which it exists. In American society, banks and financial institutions benefit from people who obtain loans and credit cards. There is a lot of competition between banks as far as getting consumers to choose them for their credit needs. Even the American government spends more than it has. According to the US National Debt Clock, the US currently has upwards of 22 trillion dollars of debt (USDebtClock.org). This creates a “climate” in which spending more than one has is seen as acceptable (Ritzer, 1995).
According to USA Today, in 2017, the average American household had $137,063 in debt and yet the average household income was only $59,039 (Sun, 2017). This means that the average American household owes more than it can make in two years. This is not the result of individual behavior, but of a lifestyle of spending and consuming that is encouraged by our society.
Instead of looking down upon those, like me, who engage in the lifestyle that is so often advertised to us in commercials like that of Credit Karma, we should hold businesses and our government accountable for the behaviors that they have been encouraging for years. Credit Karma’s commercials and those like it reinforce the idea that this kind of behavior is normal and is the ideal way to live in American society. Banks and other businesses that profit from the debt and credit spending of civilians are at fault for the normalization of credit card spending. It is important to view this issue from a sociological lens in order to understand the underlying causes.
Works Cited
Credit Karma (2019). New Flat - Your Score Can Do More. [video] Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU-IKwDquDg [Accessed 24 Apr. 2019].
Issa, E. (2019). 5 Benefits of Having A Good Credit Score - NerdWallet. [online] NerdWallet.
[Accessed 24 Apr. 2019].
Ritzer, George "The Credit Card: Private Troubles and Public Issues," reprinted from Expressing
America: A Critique of the Global Credit Card Society, 1995. Copyright © by Pine Forge
Press. Pp. 1-30.
Sun, L. (2017). A Foolish Take: Here's how much debt the average US household owes. [online]
Usatoday.com. Available at:
-how-much-debt-the-average-us-household-owes/107651700/ [Accessed 24 Apr. 2019].
Usdebtclock.org. (2019). U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time. [online] Available at:
https://www.usdebtclock.org/ [Accessed 24 Apr. 2019].
I found your broadening of the Credit Karma app to the broader culture of credit and spending more than one has in the US, and in some other capitalist countries. As you mention, a credit score is used in the process of renting an apartment, better car insurance rates, getting a job, and applying for loans. I wonder if a credit score can in this way be seen as cultural capital of sorts, as it is seen by people an indicator of one’s status in society, their reliability, their skills with planning, and their trustworthiness. This type of cultural capital can help someone gain desired things, such as a better apartment or a better job, and it is not directly a reflection of the amount of money they have, but rather the handling and spending of that money, making it cultural capital.
ReplyDeleteThis is such an interesting concept, and your article was very well written and engaging. It seems that in our society it gets easier and easier to consume without having to think about the consequences. I remember reading somewhere that with credit cards, individuals are more likely to spend more money than they are with physical money. I can't remember the source for that, so I can't verify if it's true or not but it does seem to be in line with my own personal experiences. I find it much easier to swipe a card or buy something online with a single click than it is for me to debate in the store whether or not I should spend the money.
ReplyDeleteThis article made me wonder if there's a correlation between the rise of credit cards and the amount of shopaholics and hoarders in the US. It's disturbing enough to think of people's opportunities relying on their credit score like you say, but I wonder if there are other psychological effects on individuals to being encouraged to consume with such ease and regularity.