"Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people that they don't like.” Explain the successes...

This answer is almost completely a matter of opinion.  This is because there is no way to objectively determine which aspects of a culture are a “success” and which are a “failure.”  Aspects of culture are good and bad only as seen from a given observer’s perspective.

One possible answer is to say that consumerist culture has succeeded because it has helped to bring a higher material standard of living to people all over the...

This answer is almost completely a matter of opinion.  This is because there is no way to objectively determine which aspects of a culture are a “success” and which are a “failure.”  Aspects of culture are good and bad only as seen from a given observer’s perspective.

One possible answer is to say that consumerist culture has succeeded because it has helped to bring a higher material standard of living to people all over the world.  If it were not for consumerist culture, people would not want to have as many material goods.  If people did not want as many material goods, companies would have less incentive to create new goods because they would be less likely to make money by selling them.  This might have meant that things like smart phones that have an impact on our quality of life might never have been invented.  Thus, consumerism helps to create the demand that gives companies an incentive to make the products that increase our material quality of life.

A possible way to describe the failures of this culture is to say that it has lost sight of what is important in human life.  In many cultures, dedication to institutions like religion and family is declining.  People no longer build a strong sense of community between themselves and others who live around them.  They care more about gaining possessions than they do about having relationships with other people.  They feel that the greatest imperative in life is to gain material possessions, not to be moral people who treat others well.  All of these are seen by some as important ways in which consumerist culture has failed.