America is no longer land of the free; it’s land of the bling. You name it, we want it: new plasma televisions, Dior sunglasses, X-boxes, Citizen Jeans, MAC makeup or the latest iPod. We love stuff! Stuff, stuff, STUFF! It’s amazing how much stuff we can accumulate in the cramped residence halls.
The United States are united through materialism. And, of course, this isn’t anything new. We slowly have attached more and more holidays to spending. First Christmas, then the day after Thanksgiving -and now Halloween, even, is a rush for new candy, decorations and costumes. Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer was invented by Montgomery Ward’s marketing department. FDR moved Thanksgiving a week earlier to extend Christmas shopping another week. Seriously. We don’t joke around when it comes to buying crap.
However, more and more we have come to equate what we have to who we are. We are what we eat. We are what we wear (OMG you wear WAL-MART? Ew.) We are what cell phone we use our daytime minutes on. Just think of those online quizzes that you can take to see what kind of car you are. I’m a Geo Metro!
Think about it. Products allow you to express yourself through them and, in turn, define your identity. Some do this more blatantly than others. When you buy Abercrombie and Fitch, not only are you connecting your persona with them, you are helping them advertise. You cute little walking billboard, you. How much did you get paid to wear that again? Oh, right. You paid them.
What about those of us who cannot afford some of those classy class-a-lot brands, but still want bragging rights? We’ve got the imitation brands! How many people have I seen with faux Louis Vuitton bags? (you can totally tell if the LV is cut off anywhere, p.s.) And the buyer knows the knockoff product they are buying is probably nowhere near the quality of the original, but hey, the price is right. Pretending to have the product is more important than just not having it.
And why shouldn’t it be? We are Judgmental Judys! What you look like, the kind of car you drive and how you present yourself is crucial! These factors affect how others treat us. Americans do not want to fail. Failure sucks. Hard. So we replicate what we see as a success, which generally is what marketing companies tell us. We’re PUPPETS, I say! Puppets!
Here’s an idea: next time you are watching television or flipping through the latest issue of Maxim, check out the advertisements. De Beers attempts to woo you with classical music, passionate “couples” and a romance defined by a diamond, which just happens to be their product! It seems that if your lover gives you that hot, multiple-carat diamond, he or she must really love you. And conversely, if they don’t give it to you, well, it’s not looking good.
Think about the slogans. What do they really mean? McDonald’s is “I’m Loving It.” Loving what? Being overweight and not being able to see your own genitals? Or maybe “I’m Loving It” is McDonald’s sharing its sentiments about bulging profit from using chemicals instead of natural, organic ingredients! But I digress-
As students, we have a lot of choices in our future. Financial choices will become more and more important as we get older and start flying solo. Mom and Dad are going to put up a fence around that money tree (if they haven’t already) after graduation. We as consumers need to learn how to not consume. I am one of the many who could use a lesson on how to balance the ol’ checkbook and save that sweet scrillah.
It is perfectly fine to buy things you want. Get those new subwoofers if you really want them, but before you do, why don’t you think about why you want them and who is producing the product (i.e. a unionized company or Thai teenage girls making sixty cents an hour in a sweatshop). Buying a product has long-term effects: health, environment or even safety issues. We need to start being smarter than the marketing companies that are targeting us and ask these questions.
Money doesn’t make you happy. More money, more problems. Blah blah BLAH! Money is freaking awesome. Just be a smart consumer, friend.
Don’t let those marketing companies tell you to put more value on the product they are pushing rather than yourself, your relationships and the impact you can have on your community.
 
Laura is a communication studies senior. Contact her at [email protected]