Once again I find my self considering Americas fascination with luxury and material things, its a part of culture that fascinates me. First I must admit at risk of loosing some credibility here that I'm guilty of liking expensive things, and the powerful emotional fulfillment of purchasing these lux items. It has really made me feel good many times in the past. Its kind of like fast food. Taste good feels good but interestingly it is downright harmful to your body. Why else do you think they make Tums. But whay does it feel good, its mostly for the wrong reasons. Secondly since I have ads on my site it may seem that I contradict my beliefs. Well as a poor artist trying to pay for school I am trying to take a little back. If you find this outrageous then say so or dont click on them.
Ad Pollution and Branded Clutter
I was thinking to myself the other night what would this world look like without all of the commercial branding? I mean how many places do you see trademarks, symbols and visual cues promoting consumption and ideals. Even though I may be stating the obvious here I feel like listing a few in hope to make you consider the shear saturation of these images starting with the basics; television, billboards, magazines, newspapers, internet, busses, trucks, bus stops, bathroom walls, subway stations, store fronts, shirts, pants, shoes, sunglasses, watches, sidewalks, the packages in your fridge and cabinets, on your cell phone in the elevator, at your desk right now. Brands are everywhere. Its not only that these are sources of advertisement but its the fact that we spend so much time surrounded by them that it becomes a new type of pollution a branded clutter and it disturbs me that people just take with a grain of salt. People are lining up to work in high paid advertising firms, (its not to hard to see why they might be so high paying) just so they can create cleaver images to sell products back to us and themselves. Meanwhile they are creating more clutter that most of us perceive as invasive, yet we do nothing about it. We look up to their giant posters in the sky as if they are images of gods high above the highways and buildings and then enter their stores make financial sacrifices to them then leave with a smile and sense of acceptance.
Acceptance;
Lets consider Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman who meets a man with money and power, hes at the top of it all the penthouse man. But shes just a hooker, symbolized by the clothing she wears and the way she is perceived by others. This movie presents a perfect example of cultural acceptance by means of personal possessions. Richard Gere gives her money to go downtown to purchase what he calls respectable attire. She asks someone were to go and they said Rodeo Dr. the emerald city of american consumption where you can probably buy ruby red slippers. In order for Julia to go on a diner date with Richard she needs to wear something to achieve acceptance by those who are more fluent and justified by their taste in food, polo and Gucci suits. But the irony is that when she enters these stores she is not accepted. Why? She has entered a place that is for the wealthy. No! I don't think so its not that simple. first of all she has not mentioned her spending limits and two she does not know these people and they do not know her affiliation or past. But do they? Well for one she does not carry the latest Prada bag or wear the latest Cartier sunglasses and her dress is not from Rodeo Dr. These sales people would know, but do we all know this some how? Can we know is everyone tagged and labeled? Overall it seems to be that simple here in the U.S. Just by the clothes she is wearing indicate the size of her wallet and in the mind of those clerks in the store her likeliness of purchasing anything in it. These symbols are created by advertising. We can no longer just wear clothes drink certain wine or carry our labeled coffee around we must consider what they mean and to whom it attracts. Its not just about showing up to the interview with a suit and a tie anymore but entering daily life with symbolic class starting with a jog in the park iPod in hand, evian water at the gym, a starbucks coffee on the train a wallstreet paper in the elevator and gucci sunglasses at lunch on the patio all so that we can meet and associate with those whom judge us for our taste. I feel like you can't completely hold it against them but we should and we should feel guilty for doing the same. I feel like we have been trained to do this against our will. When you go to the mall today you commonly see people dressed to the nines and its not because they are fashion models its so when they enter the stores of luxury they will be welcomed by the salesperson as fluent and exit the store branded bag in hand without resembling new money. These people strive to look like they are part of the big league. Some of them might actually be and I feel that they may be wasting their money on these $15,000 handbags but this is a whole other topic. Why do we want these symbols and images on our clothing especially since everyone else is wearing the same thing. Dont people want to strive to be different from the rest. I read about trend setters that try to be ahead of the game so that to avoid being like the rest. This doesn't mean that they are buying the latest brand or lux items either it may be something of lesser expense, until the big labels start to sell this trend and market it. I am beginning to ramble here.
What I really wanted to say is how cleaver these companies are. They can create cultural norms acceptable tastes for everyone to emulate. All while setting the price ridiculously high. How does it get so high? Why do we go to extreme measures and buy fake items that resemble the lux ones? Is it so that the companies can control the higher price of the authentic ones. Do we really want ourselves to be human billboards? We walk out of a store with logos on our bags and purchase clothing with emblems on them. What makes these stores so popular and howcome? I'll have to save this for another entree, for now I have said enough. Maybe its not as wide spread as I make it sound but I can honestly say that I see this trend on a daily basis.
