IELTS TASK 2 - Please Check This Essay!!!

Topic: More and more people today want to own famous brands of clothes, cars and other items. What are the reasons for this? Do you think it is a positive or negative development?

In today’s society, people have an ever-increasing demand for luxury possessions. This phenomenon could be ascribed to various factors. Furthermore, I personally believe that this ongoing trend is negative development overall.
In the current consumer-driven society, wealth has grown to be strongly correlated to a higher social status as well as, perhaps, personal value. Such a view is widely promoted through mass media and social media platforms, in which owning branded items and leading luxury lifestyles are celebrated. The more materialism is encouraged, the more people, regardless of their finances, are prompted to buy branded items in order to appear trendy and gain respect from others. This is most prevalent among, for example, impressionable young people eager to gain acceptance among their peers.
I believe that growing materialism is a harmful tendency. On an individual scale, it might put increasing pressure on people to live beyond their means. Without effective financial management, this would lead to financial difficulties and unpayable debts in the long run. On a larger scale, a greater emphasis on the accumulation of material possessions may lead to more individualistic behavior at the expense of the shared values of family bonds and the wider community. As a result, societies are at a greater risk of suffering social problems, namely, crime, perpetuated by an increased socioeconomic divide.
In conclusion, growing materialism seems to be the main factor triggering people’s desire for branded items. Such a trend might hamper people’s financial stability which might result in further inequality and consequently instability in society.