This novel is about consumerism, but not just as it applies to economics. The novel also thoroughly examines the relationship between consumerism and social, interpersonal relationships. For Akiko, for instance, consumerism has led John to abusive patterns in their relationship, because he only cares about her as an object of his own experience, and when he doesn't get what he wants from her, he is programmed by consumerism to demand what he wants as if he's entitled to it.
This continues to be a thematic problem in the novel as Jane begins to learn the difficulties of approaching the meat market with journalistic intentions. Just like John's abuse makes his wife not fertile, so also his work in the economy makes the food of their community dubious. There, we have the whole mechanism made obvious: consumerism is what makes John abusive, and it is what poisons his own well-being and the well-being of others as he earns money despite them, money that he can spend on himself.
The coupling of these themes with the consumeristic nature of American television, the problem is shown in its full infectiousness. Because the same beliefs about entitlement and pleasure are shown to the impressionable public, the assumption could be made that the ultimate effects of consumerism are not limited to John's life alone, but to all the lives he will eventually effect with his propaganda, leading to more broken homes and abusive, entitled people.
