(Another installment in the ECSTASY series: Ending Consumerism...)
Emotions lead, and reason follows. Emotions decide, and reason explains.
If you understand this point, you understand how elections are won and lost, and how consumers are kept merrily running in their gerbil wheels. Perhaps you'll decide to get off that gerbil wheel, altogether or in part. The first step off that gerbil wheel is liberation.
On the billboard, the SUV is perched near the Grand Canyon, with wide-open spaces as far as the eye can see. Or the luxury sedan is pulled up in front of the gleaming office tower, at the beck and call of someone who is clearly a Winner.
Meanwhile on the freeway below, commuters look at the billboards... and inch through the stop-and-go traffic... and yearn for the wide-open spaces and the feeling of being a Winner. A precisely predictable number of them will go home and say "Honey, the old clunker just doesn't cut it any more, let's go shopping for a car!"
Remember "someone you can have a beer with"...?
A rational narrative begins with a premise, then states a set of facts, and finally sums up with a conclusion.
An emotional narrative begins with a feeling, then introduces a contrasting feeling, and finally sums up with a motivation to act.
Which do you think makes for a successful advertising campaign? Which makes for a successful political campaign? You already know the answer. "Someone you can have a beer with." This time around, it was "Hope."
Two terms of Al Gore might have saved us from a climate catastrophe, but the thought of having a beer with the leader of the free world was irresistable to enough voters that it became the narrative for the outcome, regardless of whatever corruption and election fraud and overt tampering might have actually done the trick. Twice in a row.
Introducing the iWant!
How many people on dKos ran out and bought an iPad during the first week it was available? Now ask yourself: What does it actually do that some other device you already have doesn't?_
Just to be clear, I'm no Luddite. I bought one of the first laptop computers that used the modern laptop form factor: a Toshiba machine that ran MS-DOS off a floppy disc and had no hard drive. I bought it for one purpose: to use as a programming terminal for Ericsson ASB-101 PBXs. In hexadecimal.
If you're a programmer or a sysadmin or an IT professional of whatever kind, you may have a real need to keep up with the latest in computer hardware. It may be essential to your job functions. If you do a lot of media production either professionally or otherwise, it may also be useful in a very real way.
But otherwise, the various iWants are just candy. There's nothing wrong with a little candy once in a while, but beyond a certain point, you're not just eating it, it's eating you.
Eating it and drinking it.
Take a look at the graphics on the boxes of cereals marketed to children. See those cartoon characters that are constantly in motion, eyes bugged out, hopping around and pursuing frantic adventures...? Know what they look like? Meth fiends on a binge. But to a little kid who knows nothing of meth, they're exciting and they're inviting. And so the kids beg and plead until Mom or Dad relents. (see for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/... )
But now take a look at the characters in almost any ad for major brand alcohol beverages. Ask yourself what the narrative is. Take a close look at the facial expressions, the body language, and the proxemics (who is standing how close to who). It may be a tired stereotype but it is also true: the story line is usually a variation on the theme of "drink this stuff and you'll get laid." You'll get laid by the person who everyone else at the party wants to take to bed, so you'll get Alpha Monkey status as well as a good screw.
Being a grownup doesn't make you immune to this stuff. In fact it makes you more vulnerable, since you don't have to beg and plead and explain to Mom or Dad that "Super Sugar Craaks contain eight important vitamins and minerals!"
Analyzing it.
The way to analyze any come-on for consumer goods, whether it's in the form of advertising or the excited words of your best friend, is to look for the emotional narrative. What is the story that's being told here? Specifically, what are the feelings that make up the story? It may help to write out the story line, and then write out the feelings that each part of the story is suggesting. After a while you will start to notice some patterns.
That ad for an SUV that shows the whole family climbing aboard, with their big fluffy white dog hopping in back: that narrative isn't about how many people you can cram into the vehicle. It's about the feeling of warm & fuzzy, family togetherness, setting out on a fun trip, perhaps vacation.
That radio ad for cable TV that records four shows at once: it's about an idiot who can't make up his mind and lets someone else tell him what to do. He even speaks with the voice of a stereotypical idiot. Do you really want to be that idiot?
Do you want to be the obviously anorexic woman in the clothing ad? The ineffectual husband in the insurance commercial who really thinks he can buy "a secure future"? This nincompoop, that nincompoop, or the other one down the block?
The way to de-nincompooperize yourself is to start by writing out the emotional narratives behind the ads. The more you do it, the more you'll be able to use it against other targets, such as Glen Beck. (By the way, stop wasting time getting angry about rightie-winger hypocrisy. The contradiction-detector in righties' brains is impaired. Eventually the American Psychological Association will assign a diagnostic label to this.) Ignore the words and focus on the feelings these people are weaving together in their propaganda symphonies.
Resisting it.
Start by analyzing the emotional narratives in advertising. Then ask yourself, do you really want to be part of that story?
Write your own story instead: Where you get hugs & kisses for fixing the old whatever-it-is instead of buying a new one. Or where the romantic night with your partner begins with a walk around the block together, holding hands and saying Hi to the neighbors and paying attention to your senses. Or where you feel proud of yourself for not going along with the latest lemming-rush to the new product unveiling at the mall.
Write the humorous one where someone asks why you don't own a such-and-such, and you have an answer for them that's funny without being a put-down. For example when people ask me why I don't have a cellphone, my version of that answer is: "Because I already get all the surveillance I want for my tax dollars. Why pay more?"
Write the story line where you manage to encourage a friend to not buy something they don't really need. Then go out and do it. While you still can.
If present trends continue, there will probably come a time when encouraging people to not-consume is seen by The Powers That Be as a form of sedition, like encouraging people to engage in armed revolt. Calling for non-consumerism in the abstract will still be protected speech (for a while anyway). But inciting people to not-consume a specific product or service, will be seen as similar to inciting them to go out and shoot an elected official.
If you think I'm slinging hyperbole, go here:
http://www.salon.com/...
and here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Oprah Winfrey of all people, was sued by the beef lobby, after one of her guests gave a presentation on foodborne illness and she said she'd swear off hamburgers. They sued her under a "food libel law." Oprah fought back and she won, and the beef lobby crawled back under their rock.
You can too. Write that narrative, and then do it.
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Here are a few important links:
- Annie Leonard's crucial movie, The Story of Stuff.
- An invaluable tool for calculating the ecological footprint of your lifestyle, from the good folks at Redefining Progress. What's your score?
- The Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping
- SCRAP - a creative reuse center, store and workshop space.
Donations of high quality, low cost, re-usable materials such as textiles, paper, jewelry findings, wood, buttons and plastics are collected from businesses, institutions and individuals then sorted, displayed and distributed by SCRAP for artists, educational and community groups.
For more creative reuse centers around the country, click here.
- Philosophical perspectives on sustainability, civilization and the role of human nature from Jason Godesky. (there are holes in his reasoning, but radical critiques are useful)
- Freecycle.
The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,793 groups with 7,208,000 members across the globe. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer (them's good people). Membership is free. To sign up, find your community by entering it into the search box above or by clicking on “Browse Groups” above the search box. Have fun!
If you have a resource that should be included in ECSTASY diaries, please include the link and a few words about it in the comments.
ECSTASY diaries will appear most often on weekends and Wednesday evenings. All diaries dealing with the problems of living in a Consumerist society are potential candidates. If you think you've got something to contribute, please contact WarrenS and he'll schedule you in.
The next diary planned is expected on Sunday, May 2, when WarrenS will reflect on the problems of timescale.
The ECSTASY series thus far:
February 28: Introducing ECSTASY.
March 7: The Work of Julian Lee and Juliet Schor: Two Voices of Sanity.
March 10: G2Geek's Measure The Power.
March 14: Earthfire promoted Annie Leonard's appearance in Washington, DC
March 21: RL Miller tells us about Chickens
March 24: G2Geek prompts an unbelievable discussion about the
difference between Consumerist Time and Hunter-Gatherer Time.
March 28: citisven shares a thought-provoking and aesthetically satisfying look at the ways that one person's trash is another person's art materials.
April 4: WarrenS gives us the good word on Making Homemade Musical Instruments.
April 7: G2geek talks about what makes for robust and sustainable technology.
April 11: B Amer tells us how to find ECSTASY on our bicycles.
April 18: rb137 reviews Judith Levine's book, "Not Buying It!"
April 25: mwmwm's extraordinarily powerful rumination on our collective complicity in consumerism.