A Materialistic Society?

[thercbray]

I sincerely believe that we, those that lead a more westernized lifestyle, are in fact slaves to fashion and to marketing. We are bombarded with a beautiful person and told they are "cool" (the definition of cool changes based on the target audience). From there the marketers and media executives pair up with various brands and tell they are are wearing this, eating that, drinking this, shopping here, doing whatever. It is human nature to want to belong, so making us want to identify with that person or a particular group does not take much effort on their part. However, they have to make that particular scene, if you will, more appealing than others. With the increased awareness of how exploitative marketing is, more people are trying to resist their tactics and become more of an "individual". Not realizing that they are still part of a demographic that shares the same ideals the consumer thinks they have outsmarted the marketer. The marketer knows this and uses more subliminal techniques to do what they can do more overtly with others.