D.I.Y … or B.P.T.D.I.Y (Buy Product To Do It Yourself)
So I got this mug for Christmas, great gift, I love it and my mom knows me well. It’s a mug with an outlined illustration on it that I can color with the supplied markers and bake so that it is permanent. Then I thought about it, the business that makes these mugs buys illustrations from other artists to use on their products. So essentially, all the company does is supply the mug and markers, allowing the customers to make their “high-quality” products themselves. This is not a new concept, businesses doing less with what they sell to give customers more customizable options. This was not always how we would buy products. Products used to be exactly what they were supposed to be, and we were to either accept that and buy them as they were or hate them and move on to something else. Accept or reject. Now, products give us the options to accept, reject, or make.
D.I.Y – Do It Yourself. This used to mean do it yourself from “scratch”, or from raw materials. The DIY culture has evolved into something else due to businesses wanting to target the DIY users. Businesses are deceiving consumers, making them think that they are doing it themselves, when they are really following a pre-planned product, broken down to make it look as if it’s from “scratch.”