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tania andrusiak
Joined: Sep 2, 2002
Posts: 2 (view all)
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Province/State: Victoria
City: Melbourne
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Identity
September 2, 2002 - 02:19 AM
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I believe our generation is in a unique position.
Even more so than our parents, we are continually targeted by advertisers who co-opt youth culture and 'fringe' culture, make it mainstream and use it to market their crap products.
This has lead to a situation where we consume to create our identity. No longer do we just buy jeans or shoes or cars or mobile phones-we pay for rebellion, or fun, or daring or sexy through our purchases, and hope or believe they tack these attributes on to our personalities.
Because we're sharing a growing homogenised Western culture, this shared cultural knowledge is interpreted by our peers in this way: "Oh-she wears Birkenstocks; she must be earthy and wholesome, yet understated in her elegance." Or, "Wow-he's really cute *and* he has the same ringtone as I do. He must be fun-loving and kind to animals, because he's picked the same jingle as me."
It even works in non-traditional spheres such as environmentalism. To be considered 'earth-conscious', people within that sphere wear similar clothes, similar hairstyles etc to tell each other they're really one of 'us'.
And marketers pick this up and run with it. Time, after time, after time. There is only one safe haven that I know of.
How do we feel, as a generation, to be told through repeated media messages that our identity is only valid if we have consumed something in order to create it?
How do we reject this current status quo that we are consumers first, and human beings-with real emotional and spiritual needs-last?
I have some ideas. They're safe, but socially risky... Is anyone willing to share?
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jen b
Joined: Apr 15, 2002
Posts: 61 (view all)
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Gender & Age: Female, 25
Country: Canada
Province/State: Ontario
City: Brampton
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Re: Identity
September 2, 2002 - 08:08 AM
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Why can't people just be pratical and buy things we they need them? Because the media is telling them that they do need them, not just want. I know people who have 15 pairs of pants that fit them but they dont wear them and say they have no pants. I just can't understand that. For me it's i get new pants once i the old ones wear out.
What a crazy world. The media tells us that we aren't cool without some product, then others believe it and who ever dosen't have that product is though to be uncool. It spreds until for some reason we are all buying something we don't need.
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Jessica Cho
Joined: Feb 28, 2001
Posts: 6 (view all)
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Gender & Age: Female, 27
Country: United States
Province/State: Maryland
City: Edgewood
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Re: Identity
September 3, 2002 - 10:12 AM
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I know what you mean...
people buy things when they see something "neat" on tv, thinking that its THE thing that they should wear or use because its fashionable...
People who dont buy things like that are considered to be "out", and belittled.
Whats the deal? "Should I buy that to be like you?" Thats the question, because If I dont, im not "cool"...right?
Cuz you have the things that appear on tv. The popular things...
Any opinion?
Jess
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tania andrusiak
Joined: Sep 2, 2002
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Country: Australia
Province/State: Victoria
City: Melbourne
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Re: Identity
September 3, 2002 - 11:13 AM
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Young people, and older people but not to the same degree, are having our personalities dictated to us by advertising and marketing. We may have 15 pairs of jeans, but that doesn't matter because we're not buying jeans because we need jeans to wear. When advertising works on us, we're buying jeans because of what this will tell other people about ourselves, and what we want to tell ourselves about who we are, or who we wish we were.
It is for the same reason people have stickers on the back of their cars. Why are women happy to have stickers on their cars which say "From zero to bitch in 6.5 seconds."? Is being a 'bitch' really something to aspire to? No-they want people who read that sticker to think that here is a tough woman, who will not put up with any crap from people. But why is that important?
Why do we want everyone who sees us to think they know what we are like? And do our jeans and stickers and mobile phones really tell other people anything about who we really are? If you saw what I was wearing right now, would you think that by my clothes, you could tell very much about me at all?
Very few of us are celebrities, and very few of us will ever be known by everyone with a TV. And thank God! Who would want for the whole world to know us? I have trouble keeping up with my family and friends...
So, here's what I think...
As young people, and people in general, we need to reclaim our identities from advertisers. If fashion is why you buy most things, or you buy things because you want other people to think certain things about you, STOP!
Fashion doesn't care about people or the planet. For Western culture, ethical consumption, and living simply, does.
I stopped buying any new clothes-because if they aren't labelled reliably, I can't tell who made them and under what conditions. I can't tell how much the environment had to suffer for their production, or which communities will suffer because of my purchase. But I can pretty well guess.
I refuse to buy sweatshop clothes because of how the workforce is treated. Even if I liked what they look like, they would not be able to convey to other people who I really am, or that I believe in love, or environmental sustainability, or the energy and life and passion of young people, or my little boy. I know that the people in my life who really matter know who I am. And it wouldn't matter if I wore a garbage bag around, every day.
None of us *needs* money. We can't eat money, or wear money, or sleep safely on money, or guarantee the future of our planet with money. We need individual, local, action. Every single little purchase we make, or don't make, makes a difference.
I buy only what I need, what I *really* need. Not what I want. That is because my spirit tells me what I really need. And it's not a pair of jeans. It's love and acceptance. And I believe that, along with clean air, fresh food, shelter and family and friends is all any of us need. And no amount of advertising, or jeans, will ever give me that.
So, how do young people in Western consumerist societies get buy with only what we *really* need?
How are people not in affluent societies but who are exposed to Western culture, feel about being unable to buy what Western culture has to advertise?
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