pull down to refresh
77 sats \ 4 replies \ @79c9095526 27 Mar \ parent \ on: The Future is More Stuff econ
Capitalism/marketing has made people feel these "unlimited wants of human desire". Those are not natural feelings, but rather ones that we have been conditioned to believe. In the words of Noam Chomsky:
- Advertising is meant to fabricate consumers. The PR and advertising industry were developed in the freest countries [Great Britain and the US].
It quickly became very clear that it wasn't going to be very easy to control the population by force —too much freedom had been won.
(...) It was understood and expressed that you have to control them [the people] by the control of beliefs and attitudes. And the best way to do this is by "fabricating consumers."
- Measurement of a decent life [Internet and Television] present you what the proper life would be, what kind of gadgets you should have.
You spend your time and effort gaining those things which you don't need, you don't want, and maybe you will throw them away...
But that's the measure of a decent life.
- Advertising create uninformed consumers
If you have taken an economics course, you know that markets are based on "informed consumers making rational choices."
Well, if we had a market system like that, a market system, then a television ad of, say, General Motors, putting up information, saying, "Here's what we have for sale."
That's not what an ad for a car is.
An ad for a car is a football hero, and actress, a car doing some crazy thing like going up a mountain or something.
The point [of advertising] is to create uninformed consumers who will make irrational choices —and for politics, it works in the same way.
I think it's a little reductive to blame it all on advertising.
Just curious, would you also consider yourself an uninformed consumer?
reply
I think I'm well informed about certain things and less informed about other things. With that said, I'm a minimalist, at least by typical American standards so I'm less of a consumer in general (despite how uninformed or informed I may be).
"Your personal experiences make up maybe 0.00000001% of what's happened in the world, but maybe 80% of how you think the world works."
-Morgan Housel (The Psychology of Money)
reply
I don't disagree with you on advertising that it can create useless and irrational wants... but I think the endless desire would still be there, even without a big advertiisng industry
reply
Yeah, perhaps we just disagree on the percentages? My guesstimate is that 80%+ of material wants/desires of man are driven by the advertising industry.
I think there are natural evolutionary desires that push humans (or any animal for that matter) to survive, make themselves an attractive mate in order to procreate and pass on their genes.
Advertising/PR industries have bastardized those desires by making brainwashing society into believing that the Rolex or BMW or Prada shoes signify you are an attractive mate. Their advertisements make it clear they are trying to brainwash the population into believing these things. The man with the Rolex is a jetsetter with an attractive lady at his side. The gorgeous lady with the Prada shoes is an attractive mate.
They are trying as hard as possible to link their product to the fundamental human desires of survival, procreation, love, happiness, etc... and I must say they are quite successful at it!
reply