Planned obsolescence: a keyword analysis

Abstract

Purpose – Marketing approaches have shifted towards consumer oriented approach throughout the 21st century and accordingly, marketing applications mainly tend to satisfy consumers and earn their trust. However, unethical applications may damage consumer satisfaction and trust. One of these unethical applications is planned obsolescence, which exists for years but became popular in recent years with some popular brands. This paper mainly aims to find out the most related keywords related to the popular term of recent years, planned obsolescence. After providing the relevant literature, history of planned obsolescence, planned obsolescence applications and types of planned obsolescence are provided in the literature section. Methodology - After giving the relevant literature, keyword analysis has been used. To conclude the keyword analysis, 70 articles related to planned obsolescence have been downloaded from Scopus database. After downloading the relevant articles, VOS Viewer has been used for keyword analysis and germane keywords have been interpreted. Findings – According to the keyword analysis, 28 items were found to be related to the planned obsolescence keyword. These keywords have been grouped as five clusters which are mainly related with; durability, sustainability, waste and product perishability. The fifth cluster includes two unrelated terms of consumer culture and environmental law. Without grouping clusters sustainability, sustainable development, economics, e-waste and product design are found to be the most frequently used keywords. Sustainability, sustainable development, and economics have the highest total link strength with planned obsolescence main keyword. Conclusion – According to the keyword analysis conducted, keywords show that planned obsolescence has been determined to be related to negative consequences for both environment and consumers. Sustainability has found to be the most related keyword. As sustainable marketing is one of the popular concerns of the marketing discipline, unethical applications like planned obsolescence and sustainability come across. Additionally to sustainability; economics, product design are found to be the other most related keywords.