It’s not like this is anything new, but I wonder how many people notice how often they are being advertised to. For example, there are ads in bathroom stalls, ads on buses, in movies, on television, on the side of the road, in restaurants, in schools, on the internet, while you pump your gas. There are ads EVERYWHERE. It seems you can not escape it. Not only is there pretty much nowhere in a city you can be and not be bombarded by someone screaming at you to buy something, but people don’t seem to realize why they want things. I don’t even know myself sometimes.
I was in Target the other day with one of my clients, and was looking at the Swiffer sweeper mop things. I felt so compelled to buy one. I even picked it up and was carrying it around the store thinking how easy and clean my apartment was going to be once I got it home. When we got to the register and I realized I was about to spend twenty bucks on a disposable mop, I set it down and watched my client buy some shit she didn’t need. I don’t need a mop. I have a mop in the corner that I use once a week to clean the three square feet of linoleum floor I have in my kitchen. What the fuck would I need a Swiffer for? Then I saw the commercial in my head with the super stoked, smiley housewife cleaning in her white sparkly-fake kitchen, and I realized I just wanted the kitchen and the uncluttered existence. The Swiffer is not going to give me that, but THAT is exactly what they are selling to “consumers”. The illusion of comfort; the illusion of perfection. You see those things, and your brain makes the connection without you even knowing it. Why do you think all that SHIT sells for a year or two and then suddenly disappears? People use it for awhile, it doesn’t transform their kitchens into perfect linoleum clean rooms or their toilets into bidets, so they don’t buy it again and they have to create something else that changes nothing to sell for a year or two.
Disgusting disgusting America.
Not only are you being told to buy things to make your life easier, but you are also told to get skinny, get rid of your pimples, build some muscle, get a makeover, paint your nails, fix your nose, perk up your boobs, get a bigger penis, leap tall buildings in a single bound. Fuck.
Basically what they are trying to tell you is that you are not good enough. You simply aren’t, and your life isn’t easy enough. At least not until you buy what they are selling. Not until you fill your house with plastic shit that will be broken in a week. Not until you change your appearance so that you look like the swelling masses of brainless sheep that flock into the Metrodome every week for some sporting event where the players are paid more a year than you could ever even dream of making in a lifetime. Not until then will you be good enough for…for…for whom? For what? Does anyone even know why they buy, buy, buy, and want, want, want? Do people know why they need all the shit they buy constantly? No they don’t. They have no idea, they are just told they need it and they believe they need it. They spend their evenings sitting in front of a television set watching shows about other people’s lives edited to keep them glued. Then between the high fashion, dramatic happenstance, clever banter, celebrity craze, and brain sucking mediocrity are the commercials. Ten minutes of TV show, five minutes of TV commercial. If you want to be like those people you’re watching, BUY THIS!!! If you want to look like these people and feel like these people, BUY THIS!!! Actuality: you will never be or look or feel like those people, because they don’t exist. They are not real. Reality TV is not real. Reality TV exists so that you feel a sense of community in a society where genuine community is frowned upon. It exists so that you can relate to these “average” people you see on your screen, so you can feel like good things can happen to the average Joe. Sure, they can, but not the way they’re portrayed on television and not while you’re sitting there watching it. Good things happen when you get out of your house, when you leave your comfort bubble, when you take a chance. When you go over to the neighbor’s house and invite them over for dinner tomorrow night, or out for a drink on Saturday. Good things happen when you have conversations with a stranger on the bus, when you pick up something you saw someone drop and give it back to them, when you read a good book and talk with someone about it, when you go to concerts and craft shows, record stores and coffee shops. And hey, leave your computer at home. You can live without it I promise.
Can we make some good things happen? That’d be nice.
Tags: America, celebrity, Community, concert, Consumerism, Good things, metrodome, money, neighbor, record store, sports, Swiffer, Target, Television, TV