Affluenza

Af • flu • en • za noun 1. An epidemic of stress, overwork, shopping and debt caused by dogged pursuit of the American Dream. 2. The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from one's efforts to keep up with the Joneses. 3. An unsustainable addiction to economic growth. 4. A film that could change your life.

Affluenza is a groundbreaking film that diagnoses a serious social disease - caused by consumerism, commercialism and rampant materialism - that is having a devastating impact on our families, communities, and the environment. We have more stuff, but less time, and our quality of life seems to be deteriorating. By using personal stories, expert commentary, hilarious old film clips, and "uncommercial" breaks to illuminate the nature and extent of the disease, Affluenza has appealed to widely diverse audiences: from freshmen orientation programs to consumer credit counseling, and from religious congregations to marketing classes.

With the help of historians and archival film, Affluenza reveals the forces that have dramatically transformed us from a nation that prized thriftiness - with strong beliefs in "plain living and high thinking" - into the ultimate consumer society.