Its as if my thoughts are wild elephants on anti-depressants and writing a blog involves a sole mahout with a stick trying to herd them into alignment. I wonder how regular writers manage t orient their thoughts enough to sit down and start writing. Even if the elephants dont trample the mahout, I would imagine he will die from the sheer stress of the job ahead of him.
Anyhow, this post is not about mind control or how I generally get myself into writing posts. I just had to get that out of my head so I can talk about more um.. useless things.
If in the earlier days there were just elephants, the anti depressants are provided today by smartphones, social media and general malls. You cant walk inside a mall without "SALE" being shoved at your face. You cant stay on FB for a few minutes without feeling inadequate and being inspired ( mostly by guilt and little bit jealousy) to do something facebook worthy. Invariably you start questioning your lifestyle, your aspirations, your abilities. ( As always a non-negativity disclaimer- I dont know why I feel compelled to put these- perhaps to tell myself that i am not going to be old cat lady ( if anything i might be old cheerful dog lady))- Of course, if you visit the right sites and follow the right people you cant spend a few minutes on these without laughing and shaking your head disbelievingly about how you are so thankful for the internet and wondering (with a slight hint of pity) as to what people did right after they woke in those pre-technology days. ( Gasp! you mean they had to be one with their thoughts? perhaps think about what they wanted to do that day and just peacefully reflect on it? The horror! ) Wow, that was one long tangential disclaimer and I have surely made a mistake in paranthesis closing. See what i mean by elephants on anti-depressants?
What I was trying to say in the previous paragraph that got lost in the dense foliage of random thoughts is this : We are constantly surrounded by advertising. One is the direct advertising by brands- Axe telling you you are not good enough for girls, Surf excel telling you you are not a good mom, Dove telling you that you are average looking and you should be proud of it etc. While its designed to make you feel ill equipped to face this formidable world and induce you to rush out and buy their product it is the safer method because you are at least aware of it. You know that the Axe man smirking at you is trying to make you conscious about your girl attracting abilities, you know that the Nivea woman raising her hands is doing so in an attempt to make you hide your armpits so that you only raise them next to buy that magic lotion. You can still fight this if you have some sanity.
The other more dangerous form of advertising is remarkable because neither the advertiser nor the receiver is aware of it. Its the more insidious " Oh I just <bought a house/vacationed in exotic location/jumped to fancier job> whats up with you?" It makes you want to take the next flight to Micronesian islands just so you can prove that you are exotic location vaction do-er as well. Everyone competes with everyone else on their list to have cover pic so beautiful that makes you want to renounce pride, jealousy, materialism and be content. And if you are not competing with them you are parodying them( Thus competing with them- saying I am so much better than you at this game that I am going to play a differnt game).
Receiving the advertising info from humans and trying to live up to it is not a new phenomenon. Its the information overload thats new. Its the same old wine in the same old bottle. Just that now there are lot more bottles. And before you know it you are piss drunk and cluelessly wondering where your life went, how you came to be in this state, and hey, are there more bottles left?
While the saner amongst have might have realised that there is no value in Gucci over a non-branded handbag, very few of us are even aware, let alone equipped to fight, this stealthy war that we are waging against each other and ourselves. Shutting ourselves down is not the answer, just like abstinence isnt. Its about knowing when to stop- that precarious point between happy high and depressing low. And its almost impossible to achieve it. You invariably make that slip and from there on its a downward spiral.
What started out to be a post on how advertising generates false needs seems to have morphed into my favourite FB bashing rant. Well, there is only so much controlling a solitary mahout can do.
Anyhow, this post is not about mind control or how I generally get myself into writing posts. I just had to get that out of my head so I can talk about more um.. useless things.
If in the earlier days there were just elephants, the anti depressants are provided today by smartphones, social media and general malls. You cant walk inside a mall without "SALE" being shoved at your face. You cant stay on FB for a few minutes without feeling inadequate and being inspired ( mostly by guilt and little bit jealousy) to do something facebook worthy. Invariably you start questioning your lifestyle, your aspirations, your abilities. ( As always a non-negativity disclaimer- I dont know why I feel compelled to put these- perhaps to tell myself that i am not going to be old cat lady ( if anything i might be old cheerful dog lady))- Of course, if you visit the right sites and follow the right people you cant spend a few minutes on these without laughing and shaking your head disbelievingly about how you are so thankful for the internet and wondering (with a slight hint of pity) as to what people did right after they woke in those pre-technology days. ( Gasp! you mean they had to be one with their thoughts? perhaps think about what they wanted to do that day and just peacefully reflect on it? The horror! ) Wow, that was one long tangential disclaimer and I have surely made a mistake in paranthesis closing. See what i mean by elephants on anti-depressants?
What I was trying to say in the previous paragraph that got lost in the dense foliage of random thoughts is this : We are constantly surrounded by advertising. One is the direct advertising by brands- Axe telling you you are not good enough for girls, Surf excel telling you you are not a good mom, Dove telling you that you are average looking and you should be proud of it etc. While its designed to make you feel ill equipped to face this formidable world and induce you to rush out and buy their product it is the safer method because you are at least aware of it. You know that the Axe man smirking at you is trying to make you conscious about your girl attracting abilities, you know that the Nivea woman raising her hands is doing so in an attempt to make you hide your armpits so that you only raise them next to buy that magic lotion. You can still fight this if you have some sanity.
The other more dangerous form of advertising is remarkable because neither the advertiser nor the receiver is aware of it. Its the more insidious " Oh I just <bought a house/vacationed in exotic location/jumped to fancier job> whats up with you?" It makes you want to take the next flight to Micronesian islands just so you can prove that you are exotic location vaction do-er as well. Everyone competes with everyone else on their list to have cover pic so beautiful that makes you want to renounce pride, jealousy, materialism and be content. And if you are not competing with them you are parodying them( Thus competing with them- saying I am so much better than you at this game that I am going to play a differnt game).
Receiving the advertising info from humans and trying to live up to it is not a new phenomenon. Its the information overload thats new. Its the same old wine in the same old bottle. Just that now there are lot more bottles. And before you know it you are piss drunk and cluelessly wondering where your life went, how you came to be in this state, and hey, are there more bottles left?
While the saner amongst have might have realised that there is no value in Gucci over a non-branded handbag, very few of us are even aware, let alone equipped to fight, this stealthy war that we are waging against each other and ourselves. Shutting ourselves down is not the answer, just like abstinence isnt. Its about knowing when to stop- that precarious point between happy high and depressing low. And its almost impossible to achieve it. You invariably make that slip and from there on its a downward spiral.
What started out to be a post on how advertising generates false needs seems to have morphed into my favourite FB bashing rant. Well, there is only so much controlling a solitary mahout can do.
No comments:
Post a Comment