Between 1995 and 1999 Parr made the series "Common Sense" about global consumerism. "Common Sense" was an exhibition of 350 prints, and a book published in 1999 with 158 images. The exhibition was first shown in 1999 and was staged simultaneously in forty-one venues in seventeen countries. The pictures depict the minutiae of consumer culture, and are intended to show the ways in which people entertain themselves. The photographs were taken with 35 mm ultra-saturated film for its vivid, heightened colours.