Quality Seeking?

Whether you've indirectly or directly been affected by the economic downturn, have you found yourself airing on the side of caution? Thinking twice, maybe thrice, before you pull out your wallet; seeking more quality experiences, products and/or services? If you're one of me, I wonder how this collective sentiment of demanding better quality may affect the deliverables from the manufacturers, producers, marketers, and businesses of this world. Will our more determined pursuit of value rid the shelves of superfluous stuff? Will the demand for our attention from marketers and advertisers (for things/experiences we may or may not really need) finally stop the mediocre creativity and herd mentality on website designs and experiences? Will companies really begin to leverage the earned participation of their consumers by listening and respecting their ideas and needs? Excess, inflated costs have been exposed thanks to the downfall, and finally, the eyes of many have been opened. Whether all of the hyper-extending was self-created, the realization that our achievement of success was buying into the fact that we were over paying almost on nearly every item from organic milk to real estate, I think, has provided many of us with relief and the confidence to say, "no thanks" unless it truly meets my needs. In short, will we, the consumers, have the upper bargaining chip? Will the demand for better, produce better goods and services? And yet, will we still operate in the same manner or will we make uber consumerism less of the American dream and find other ways in which we define our pursuit of happiness?
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