People in the community can buy cheaper products nowadays

As the essay given below is the advantage or disadvantage essay, you have to write the benefits as well as the drawbacks of the given topic. Below given is the essay on the topic of consumer goods, you can make use of this essay for the practice purpose.

IELTS Writing Task 2 Topic: Consumer Goods

People in the community can buy cheaper products nowadays. Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages? OR

Do you believe the benefits of a consumer society outweigh the disadvantages?

Band 8.0 Model Answer

The development of technology, combined with living in the city, gives people the chance to purchase products at lower prices. While I agree that this opportunity is advantageous to some extent, I am seriously concerned that the drawbacks it brings can be detrimental to the living society.

It is understandable that being able to buy cheaper products is substantially beneficial. Saving money is probably the first and foremost merit of this trend. Instead of spending a significant amount of monthly expenditure on clothes or basic necessities as they used to do in the previous years, consumers can now spare a larger proportion of their budget on critical needs, including better education and nutrition. In addition, the availability of low-priced products grants consumers more spending choices and boost overall consumption. Since products become more affordable and accessible, even low-income people can now purchase a certain range of consumer goods to satisfy their different needs. Thanks to this, people from all walks of life can enjoy sufficient living without paying much.

However, I firmly believe that purchasing cheaper goods has its downsides which seem to overshadow the benefits. Firstly, health threats to consumers and workers are two major problems of this trend. To save costs, manufactures may accept the usage of unsafe cheap chemicals and low-quality ingredients, which undoubtedly affect customers’ health. Moreover, mass production is also associated with worker exploitation and international outsourcing systems that render poor countries labor-intensive. Secondly, the cost-effectiveness of this practice is not guaranteed since products of lower prices usually come with short shelf life and low quality. Therefore, in some instances, customers may not save money but also have to spend more than they should have to fix or to purchase new products.