We are constantly barraged by newer, better products, and the theory is that it is our duty to consume.
The primary goal of advertising is to gain customers. This is done by making people want something so intensely that it becomes a necessity. Whether businesses capitalize on innate insecurities, hidden desires or repressed sexual fantasies, their ads make us believe that by buying their products, we are the beautiful people in their commercials. Furthermore, being those people will make us happy.
Volkswagen commercials make us feel like if we drive their cars we will be safe. Tide ads make us feel like better parents if we use its detergent. Smirnoff ads make us feel sexier if we drink its alcohol. When broken down into a list, it is obviously ridiculous, but that is what we are being told, and subconsciously, what we believe, which is evident by some of our purchasing patterns.
Objects are sold along with the fantasies we have been created by the ads. We are almost more interested in the fantasy than the product.
Commercials affect us even though we do not realize it and when that happens, we
begin to believe that we need something we might not even like or want.
One day, I bought a drink from Starbucks, got into my car and began drinking it. This might not seem strange, except for the fact that I never drink coffee because it upsets my stomach, and I am lactose intolerant.
After seeing so many advertisements selling this product to me, without realizing it, I had been suckered into thinking that this beverage would give me a sense of comfort. It is baffling every time I think about it. A commercial told me to buy something that I know will make me physically ill, and I did it without question.
Scarily enough, that is the efficacy in modern advertising. It successfully manipulates the mind until it thinks and feels exactly what a company wants it to. Racy commercials may gain attention, but great commercials make customers out of even those who can usually see beyond the ads.
How then are we to proceed? Nobody has time to analyze all the objects they buy, or question every necessity and desire.
However, every now and then, people have the urge to indulge themselves with random purchases. Think of why you have chosen the product at hand, whether or not your decision was swayed by an advertisement you may have seen and if your expectations are based on the tone of the ad.
The objects of our interests are influenced by all that is around us – a fact that should be investigated. We should be concerned that we are told what we want, need and believe, and sometimes buy, without even realizing it.
Perhaps the biggest irony is that companies are selling products in order to buy us as loyal customers. In the grand scheme of things, we are the products for sale and our spending potential is the service we provide. Sadly, big companies buy us by the millions, often for the cheap price of one ad.
Sarah Al-Mulla is a junior journalism major and a weekly columnist for the Daily Forty-Niner.
