it's just about you

well, this is at least what advertising tells to all of us, be it guys or gals, old or young. we are so important, our needs absolutely need to be fulfilled immediately, otherwise - well, probably nothing, but possibly the world would end.

so what is just about us? the whole world around us? - i don't think so, even though sometimes it would be nice to believe that everyone else existed just to make our own life as pleasant and interesting as possible. but who seriously believes this?

all this stuff they are trying to make us buy? because afterwards we will be happier? more beautiful? more intelligent? more loveable? - if it would work, one wouldn't need advertising in the first place, nor would one need all the subsequent products as their predecessors already made us happy, beautiful, fulfilled etc.

now i wonder: which interest do advertisers and producers have in selling us things that really make our lives better? i daresay NONE.

everything that could possibly lead to a more sustainable happiness would be deadly for their business. so instead of making people discover their uniqueness, their individual strengths and their place in the world (which admittedly can be a cumbersome and exhausting process) the strategy is to keep them in their self centered bubble and to keep their emotional emptyness EMPTY. and - in the absence of former enforced role models - why not use the chance to draft one which the good customer will willingly follow and buy whatever one places in front of them?

of course people are not stupid - they still have their intuition left and feel they are lacking something. but following the loud consumeristic advices they are told wherever they go is so much easier than listening to that little voice of doubt. apart from that, distracting people from thinking about anything serious by flooding their perceptional capabilities seems an effective way to go.

look around - it works.