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| The man himself! |
Galbraith said it is because advertising tells us we need it! Think about it. To quote him:
"A man who is hungry need not be told of his need for food. If he is inspired by his appetite, he is immune to the effect of Messers. Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn. The latter are effective only with those who are so far removed from physical want that they do not already know what they want. In this state alone men are open to persuasion." [Note: I am assuming the aforemention Messrs. are advertising gurus. Also, the italics were my own.]
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| This water came from a pure mountain! |
With the surplus of production in Western society, producers had to do something to entice us to buy beyond our needs. Hence, the rise of advertising. I find this very interesting. A whole sector of our business is perpetuating the constant consumerism that causes so much trouble environmentally. In order to change it, we wouldn't just have to change people's habits, but also remove or completely alter portions of our economy.
After coming to this realization, I will be more suspicious of advertising I see and attempt to see past all the bru-ha-ha about the newest toy. Even though iPads look pretty sweet ...
Very interesting post! --Right up my hippie/conspiracy theorist alley! :)
ReplyDeleteI once took an Intro to PR class in which the professor praised the "PR greats" whose campaigns persuaded people to buy things like bottled water or even encouraged women to wash their hair daily (when only three or four washes per week are actually necessary) so that they'd consume more shampoo.
It's unsettling to think how few of our wants and needs may actually be our own and how much of Western society's self-destructive lifestyle might have developed simply from ad campaigns.
But then, I guess it all circles back: the U.S. develops large, juggernaut companies; these companies begin to look less desirable; the companies design ads to convince us they're a necessity.
...Soylent Green is people!!
What solutions did Galbraith offer to this production-consumption-production-consumption treadmill that we're on (now China's getting on it, too)? I wonder if he would vote for Ralph Nader for President. As we learned from the McDonald's french fry reading, these marketers and advertisers are very clever -- they know how to appeal to all our senses without our even knowing! Why do we always have to grow the economy? is steady-state feasible? what would it be like? You prompted me to think of more questions than answers this time!
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