A new Pandemic
I’m going to speak my mind, so this shouldn’t take long. In this modern civilised world of ours we are constantly reminded of the growing number of threats that could ruin our perfect little existence. While we are left blinded by news of how the terrorists are coming to get us, how drugs are destroying the country’s youth, while we are being openly stalked by a different kind of threat. This threat greets us with a big cheesy grin when we wake up in the morning; it accompanies us on our daily journey to work, it sits behind the kiosk when while we buy our paper and looms on every street corner in plain view. This threat, this new pandemic, is of course our good old friend advertising.
By the way if anyone here is in advertising or marketing... kill yourself. – Bill Hicks
On average we see 3,000 ads per day. At the petrol station, in the cinema, on TV, during sporting events it would seem that there’s no place to run, no place to hide as ads have become impossible to avoid. There have been particular moments in my short time on this earth where I felt completely assaulted by media and advertising, when it crossed the line between expected annoyingness to an offensive breach of personal space and boundaries. During a trip to visit family we stopped off at a service station , taking a quick bathroom break I sat down in the toilet stall, with my jeans round my ankles when at my most vulnerable I’m bombarded from all directions by adverts. In front of me I’m being told how I can save massive amounts on my car insurance, from the sides I’m being drawn into buying a new miracle cream that can help prevent the development of dark circles. I think to myself what the hell is going on? My greater wonder is, what do they think is going to happen by crossing these lines? Do they really think people are going to buy their products because they advertised them in a place where few others dare go?
Fuck off with your sofa units and string green stripe patterns, I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say let... lets evolve, let the chips fall where they may. – Tyler Durden
Advertising has caused a consumer nightmare; it would seem that in this modern and tolerant world of ours where all people are to be seen as equals, if you don't have the latest up to date straight off the assembly line product you are treated as an outcast and like the lepers of Rome are to be avoided at all costs. This is most common among the younger more impressionable generations. We are told if we don't have this product we need it, we need it to fit in and to be accepted by the people who judge us for not having these things.
Advertising is the art of making whole lies out of half truths - Edgar A. Shoaff
Beauty, a word that because of advertising has become a stereotype in its self. We are led to believe that we should look how Calvin Klein and Gucci tell us we should, I feel real sympathy for people packed in to gyms trying to get those rock hard abs that the guy on the TV advert has, or the women buying any product that Cheryl Cole tells them to. Companies use these celebrities to make us feel inadequate about ourselves, to make us feel like we need their products to be complete, to make us think that their products make us better. But let me ask you the question, is someone wearing a Ralph Lauren Polo shirt better than someone wearing a Primark t shirt? Does eating walker’s crisps make you better than someone who eats Morrison’s own brand crisps? Of course not, but that is what advertising is spending millions of pounds a year to make you believe. But the truth is that the things you own end up owning you, and then dictate how you perceive and treat others.
You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet- Tyler Durden
I’m part of the generation that’s been raised on television and adverts to believe that one day id be a millionaire, a movie star, a music legend, but this is just part of advertisings big plan to get you caught in the never ending cycle of consumerism, to shape you into the perfect little shopper that doesn’t ask questions and just keeps buying and buying. It’s not until we break these bonds that tie us to our meaningful piles of crap that we will be able to move forward and evolve. If you’re still with me at this point your probably wandering what is the point to all this? And to be fair there isn’t a point. Advertising has become part of the family, we embrace it every day and there is no way of escaping it. Freewill has just become another illusion created to make us think we are in control but once again we are not.
Peace out!
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