The Rebel Consumer

JUST SAY NO TO THE CANDY MAN: How Candy Advertisements Tempt Us To Eat Too Much

2006-08-25T23:45:00.000-07:00

I think candy advertisements are the worst. Why? Because they are selling a high calorie food that has virtually no nutritional value -- known as empty calories -- and selling it to us with the belief that we can be kids again.

A slew of ads present the idea that those wonderful feelings of childhood can be recaptured by savoring the candy you liked when you were young. At best those feelings will be fleeting, but the long term effect will be to add tons of calories to your diet -- a diet that probably has too many already. Think I am exaggerating? Consider this: Nestle's Crunch has trade marked "For the kid in you (TM)" and you can go to their web site: www.forthekidinyou.com

Some ads even flat out call their candy 'comfort food' or say that it will bring you happiness. So when you need a hug or a lift or you think no one loves you, eat a chocolate bar instead of having a real relationship with a living breathing person. And gain a pound or two.

In this culture as adults, we are rarely allowed to be silly or whimsical or playful. Candy ads often show grownups doing funny or dumb things to demonstrate that candy can help find expression for an adult's 'inner child.' Now all adults have an inner child and in this society they probably have trouble finding a means of expression. Candy is marketed to us as a 'safe' way to feel childish because in eating it, there is no risk, no chance of someone criticising a person's childlike feelings.

Another pitch of ads is to appeal to the vulnerabilities of women. One, for example, shows an incredibly thin young woman eating a chocolate cake as though it were a bit of heaven. Another appeals to busy women and says that by eating their product she will regain some personal time for herself. Neither ad, of course, mentions the health or weight consequences.

And try to get away from candy. We are tempted at the check-out counters of virtually any store such as supermarkets, dollar stores, discount department stores and convenience stores. I have even seen displays at hardware and auto parts stores. Candy consumption has increased by about twenty percent in the last twenty years according to the candyindustry.com

It's no accident that we are vulnerable to candy ads. We all have a sweet tooth and candy is often associated with happy times as a kid. Candy might have been used as a reward or been part of a special time like the county fair, a birthday, a holiday or especially Christmas. Once these feelings are associated with candy, it does not take much to get us to eat more as adults.

And it's no accident that candy and sugary cereals are today heavily marketed to children. This is a way of both selling a highly profitable food to kids and then to build future consumers who will be vulnerable as adults to the pitch of the 'candy man.'

Now don't get me wrong. I love candy just like everyone else, but that is the problem. We like it so much, we are ready targets.

While I cannot get rid of your sweet tooth -- that is hardwired into your brain from millions of years ago -- I can alert you to the siren song of candy ads that, like many ads, promise you a feeling or a means of expression that is at best temporary and not deeply satisfying.

If you want to really deal with these emotions, you can do it in a much better, cheaper and healthier way by learning to be a child again at times that are appropriate.

Raise Your Hand If You're Sure!

2006-06-28T04:21:00.000-07:00

What is the number one feeling that ads sell?

I was walking with my wife the other day through one of those fake small-town Main-Street type shopping-center-malls. We looked at large posters of beautiful women smiling in the window of a cosmetic shop. Now my wife makes and sells her own jewelry designs, so she is tuned into what women will buy and why.

"What are they selling most of all?" I asked her. "Beauty," she said. "No," I replied, "not just that." "Glamor," she said. Again I said, "Yes, but in addition to that." "What then?" she asked.

"Confidence," was my reply.

When you look behind almost any advertisement, it is selling a kind of certainty, a security. When you buy this product you can feel good about yourself and know that you did the right thing and you can depend on it; you can have self-confidence. Or something like that.

It does not matter if it's cat food, or lipstick, or beer, or cell phones, or cars or insurance. When you buy our product, congratulations. You've made the right choice, you can relax since you've made this wise decision.

And this is why everyone is smiling in ads; it's because they feel confident, as I have pointed out in a previous blog, Why Is Everyone Smiling?

Now, what is the number one feeling that advertisements use to get us to buy?

Lack of confidence.

If you don't buy the right antiperspirant, will you be sure? If you buy the wrong makeup, the man in your life might not love you.

Just about every ad is designed to make us feel discontented, unsatisfied, and uncertain about who we are and what we are doing. The combined effect of all advertising is to make us feel inadequate. We should have more, be further along, be admired more, look different, be something else.

I have talked to women of quite different ages and they have universally volunteered on their own (that is without my prompting) that they feel tremendous pressure from the media to alter their looks. Just about every woman feels vulnerable. Her hair is too curly or too straight, her lips are too thin or too thick, her skin is too pale, her eyelashes are all wrong, her nose is too big, her ears standout, and on and on and on.

But if she buys the right lipstick, she can feel confident that she looks good, or the right hair color or the right bra or the right shoes...

Now I've written about this before and I will do it again. The very ads that make us uncertain about ourselves, sell us certainty. The ads that undermine our sense of ourselves sell us an identity. The advertisements that make us feel inadequate sell us confidence.

Is that really that way you want to live your life? Is it an agenda you want to follow? Isn't there something better than this?

Keep reading the Rebel Consumer.

Less Is More

2006-06-07T00:18:00.000-07:00

You've heard all the slogans: Get Yours. Go For It. You Only Go Around Once. Live The Dream. You Can Have It All.

Together these convey one message: The more you have the better, the more fulfilled, the more admired you will be. Yet, in fact, owning less might make you much happier.

Lets apply cold logic. First: the more you have, the more you must store, keep track of, worry about, insure, pay taxes on, keep from getting stolen, buy accessories for and repair. So unless you really need something, just having more can be a royal pain. I knew a man who owned several boats. The first thing he did when he retired was to get rid of them. "Why?" I asked. "If I want one, I will rent one. I don't need all that worry anymore."

Studies have been done at all levels of income and just about everybody wants more money. Most believe that they will be happier when they reach the next level. It does not matter if they are making $20,000 or $500,000 a year. Samuel Brittan has written that there are numerous "opinion survey studies which suggest that increasing real income does not itself make people happier." In fact some studies have shown that marriages and families suffer when incomes go up because spouses are more likely to be unfaithful.

However, by less I am not talking about basic necessities. In the United States families need one or more cars, a home, health insurance, food, money for retirement and even cable TV. Yet you do not need a new car, for example, because late model used cars are actually a much better value (more about this in another blog article). And you do not need to pay for or worry about a huge house. Consider that the size of the average home in the USA has more than doubled in the last fifty years while the number of people living in these dwellings has gone down.

And when you have a lot of stuff you are often busy, busy, busy because there is so much to tend to.

Also the more you possess the more worry you have. In the movie The Comedians, a lowly paid official say something to the effect "The rich have a lot to worry about. They have a lot to lose."

And once you have acquired stuff it is almost impossible to go back. You get locked into a lifestyle. The best solution is to add possessions slowly as you really need them. This is because losing stuff you once owned is psychologically very difficult. Going down a notch feels humiliating and degrading, especially in a consumer society where we were all taught to climb the ladder of success and where we believe that we will be 'better off' as we get older.

And what do you gain by having less? You will have more time to begin with, time you could spend with your family, for example. Many reports state that Americans are over scheduled and over committed while their marriages and children suffer.

Or you could just go out on a clear afternoon and watch the sun slowly sink below the horizon and think of absolutely nothing. Now there's a novel idea!

For another article about this read Less can mean more at The New American Dream web site.

Quotations About Advertising And Marketing

2006-05-31T02:58:00.000-07:00

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you have heard me rant about the lies, the deceptions, the damage to our culture caused by advertising and marketing. Well, don't take my word for it. What follows are a slew of quotations that tell the same story I have been telling. Here are 15 quotes from thinkers like H.G. Wells, comedians like Bill Cosby, and advertising gurus such as Morris Hite.

HOW ADVERTISING LIES

"Advertising is legalized lying."
H. G. Wells

"Advertising is the art of making whole lies out of half truths."
Edgar A. Shoaff

"The very first law in advertising is to avoid the concrete promise and cultivate the delightfully vague."
Bill Cosby

"Life is pain, princess. . . anyone who says differently is selling something. "
Wesley The Princess Bride

HOW ADVERTISING CHANGES THE CULTURE

"Advertising makes people discontented. It makes them want things they don't have. Without discontent, there is no progress, no achievement."
Morris Hite

"Yes, I sell people things they don't need."
John O'Toole

"Advertising is the art of convincing people to spend money they don't have for something they don't need."
Will Rogers

"Advertising gets people to buy things they don't want, with money they haven't got, to impress people they don't care about."
Credit Counselor friend of Rick Doble

"People are unhappy (and neurotic) in America today because advertising has caused them to have unrealistic expectations of life, themselves, their jobs and the Fantasyland products and services that are constantly pushed on them."
Curtis Smale

"You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements."
Norman Douglas

HOW ADVERTISING PUSHES ITS MESSAGE

"We find that advertising works the way the grass grows. You can never see it, but every week you have to mow the lawn."
Andy Tarshis

"Advertising moves people toward goods; merchandising moves goods toward people."
Morris Hite

"Kodak sells film, but they don't advertise film. They advertise memories."
Theodore Parker

"It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both incisive and probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted by twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper."
Rod Serling

GOOD ADVERTISING

Note from blog author Rick Doble: Yes, Virginia there really is good advertising. This kind does not lie, does not manipulate, does not go beyond a simple direct statement of what the product or service can actually do. Here is a quote from an ad executive that says this very well.

"Advertising says to people, 'Here's what we've got. Here's what it will do for you. Here's how to get it.'"
Leo Burnett (Pioneer American advertising Executive, 1891-1971)

Rebates Are Legal Scams and Legal Fraud

2006-05-24T01:30:00.000-07:00

The deal looks really good. For a limited time you can buy a laptop computer for only $800. Then you see an asterisk. You read the fine print -- it says 'After Rebate'.

A rebate is just another kind of discount, right? Just another method that marketers use to get buyers to buy, right? So why not? You go ahead and purchase your new computer.

Then you look at the rebate form. There are tons of rules, conditions, documentation, deadlines, etc. Hum, seems a bit more complicated than just a discount.

So you put all the material together, forget about the deadline for a while and then with just a week left you send in what you think is needed because some of the language is not very clear.

And you wait and you wait and you even forget until after a couple of months you realize that you have not gotten your check. So you dive through a stack of papers looking for the address where you sent your rebate documentation. You mail a letter asking for your rebate. Again you wait a month and finally you get a reply. Sorry, you forget the UPC code on the side of the box, therefore you do not qualify for a refund. Now you still have the box and the UPC but it all had to be sent together -- so guess what: They Gotcha!

Rebates are a marketing trick, plain and simple. They entice buyers with the lure of a discount, but only about half of the buyers actually get around to filing for the rebate according to the latest statistics. Next about half of the people who buy, send in the rebate forms, but only about half of those are acceptable to the company, again according to the latest estimates. Bottom line: one quarter of the people who buy a product with the promise of a rebate actually get a check in the mail.

Think that this happens because people are lazy or just can't do the paper work? Guess again. It is a well planned strategy by marketers to give the appearance of a good deal, while not really offering very much. It's the old advertising adage, "Sell 'em the sizzle and not the steak."

For openers marketers know that half of the people will never send in the forms. It is called slippage in the business. And the longer the deadline, the less likely you will remember. Next if they make the paper work complicated and the language vague, you are bound to make a mistake, so they can deny you the refund. In addition a rebate is not really a discount. As a result, unlike a true discount, you pay tax on the full amount of the purchase before the rebate kicks in.

When only a quarter of the people actually see any money from a legitimate offer something is very wrong. I call this 'rebate scam', 'rebate fraud', even if it is legal.

And as consumers you should avoid rebates like the plague UNLESS you read all the find print before you buy and make sure that you will actually file long before the due date. In addition you should make copies of everything you send in and mark on your calendar when you mailed in the rebate, the date of the deadline and when you should expect your check. WHEW? Sounds like a lot of work. And it is, deliberately.

I suggest you only go for rebates of fifty dollars or one hundred dollars or more. And if you have trouble collecting, be a big nuisance. Contact the Better Business Bureau in the city where the company is located, the fraud section of the US Federal Trade Commission and post details of your problems on related Internet newsgroups.

Don't let marketers push you around because they are counting on you to give up and not really make a fuss.

Overview Of The Rebel Consumer

2006-05-17T00:24:00.000-07:00

I have been writing this blog now since early February 2006. During this time I realized my articles fell into three different categories. This week's blog is an overview of my approach.

#1. One group of articles reveals how advertising and media operates and manipulates us to buy things and identify with products. This set of articles aims to provide an understanding of how we are being persuaded so that we will become less vulnerable to the siren song of the consumer culture.

#2. The second group of articles concentrates on the effect of advertising on our values and culture plus the cumulative effect of advertising over time -- how advertising in general is changing the society. With most American youngsters having seen about 1 million ads on TV by the age of twenty, the combined effect of all these ads is important.

#3. The third group of articles focuses on steps people can take to control the effect of advertising in their lives and in the society. We are not helpless. We can fight back and keep the consumer forces at bay.

#1. ARTICLES PRIMARILY ABOUT THE TRICKS OF ADVERTISING

Why Is Everyone Smiling?
In most ads people smile all the time - why?
Hostage to the Visual OR How Modern Culture Misses A Lot
Since we are in a visual culture of movies, TV, billboards and magazines, the society often overlooks non-visual aspects and concentrates on things and products.
PART 2: Hostage To The Dramatic OR How Modern Culture Misses the Boat
A visual culture is often overly dramatic which is unrealistic.
SEX SELLS
Marketers use sex to sell even to very young people which is troubling.

#2. ARTICLES ABOUT THE EFFECT OF ADS ON OUR VALUES AND OUR CULTURE

Honey, We're Killing The Kids OR How Advertising To Children Has Led To Obesity Problems
The marketing of food to kids is a major part of the reason young people are overweight.
ADVERTISING AND VALUES: The Impact Of The Consumer Mentality On Marriage And Family
The concepts of marketing are even effecting how we think about marriage and children.
Does Your Identity Come From Advertising?
Many people feel that they can buy their identity off a shelf. Why is this wrong?
Are You Worth It? OR How Advertising Impacts Our Values
The culture has become money and number obsessed due to its consumer bias.

#3. ARTICLES ABOUT STEPS WE CAN TAKE TO THWART THE CONTROL OF ADS AND MARKETING

My Identity Does Not Come From Advertising
Author Rick Doble gives examples from his own life about avoiding the effects of the consumer culture.
How To Unplug The Effects Of Advertising OR Turn Off The Sound
How turning off the sound when ads come on the TV can have a major impact.
AMAZING SECRET MAGIC MIRACLE! Or: How To Unplug The Effects Of Advertising
Ads often use the same words over and over to sell us. Which words do they use and why are they so powerful?
Super Size And Save!
By understanding how food is being marketed to us, we may be able to avoid the temptation of overeating.
UP-SELLING, SUGGESTIVE SELLING OR: Don't You Want Fries With That?
By understanding how marketers try to sell us more than we intended to purchase, we may be able to avoid the traps they have set.
Dress To Impress!
If you get the latest and greatest brand name clothing, car etc. will everyone notice and be impressed? It turns out that most people won't even know the difference.

PART 2: Hostage To The Dramatic OR How Modern Culture Misses the Boat

2006-05-10T01:05:00.000-07:00

"The camera lies all the time; lies 24 times/second," according to film director Brian De Palma. Yet we spend so many hours with this distorted reality, it cannot help but shape our beliefs and expectations.

In Part 1 of this article I discussed the effect of a visual medium such as film on the culture. But visual media also requires excitement and this constant drama in movies and advertisements has a major impact on our culture as well.

Nothing is more dramatic than death and dying. So by the age of eighteen, children have seen about 16,000 murders on TV. Much has been written about the effect of violent TV on children. At the very least it helps desensitize young people and prevents them from understanding the true tragedy of death.

And then there is the everyday unreality that is common in the movies: heroes plunge effortlessly through glass windows, villains get killed in increasingly bizarre and sadistic ways, and at the end of the movie we get swept up in the obligatory chase which must be a bit different each time.

Things occur so effortlessly on film, we may think that our slow step-by-step and day-by-day lives could somehow move more quickly or be more exciting.

Take for example, the first time a couple connects. The initial kiss is often followed by a passionate throwing of clothes which leads to extended love making in which the partners move together in perfect harmony.

What nonsense. In reality the first time a couple makes love, things are often not right. They are usually nervous and a bit unsure, which is natural since they are just getting to know each other. Yet if you were to compare your life to movie stars in bed, you might feel disappointed.

Time also operates differently on film than it does in the real world. Process is almost completely left out. The audience is often presented with culminating dramatic events but not shown a hint of the long tedious work that was required to bring the drama to this point.

Yet time not only moves rapidly it also moves slowly: scoundrels swan dive leisurely off high rise buildings, bullets take their time penetrating a victim's skull before blood splatters on the wall behind the head, and houses explode with choreographed billows of flames as the hero leaps onto the ground.

If we spend four hours a day watching TV with such reality, how do we know what is real and what is not? What now is our point of reference?

Hostage to the Visual OR How Modern Culture Misses A Lot

2006-05-03T02:14:00.000-07:00

Lets cut to the chase: We live in a visual age of television, movies, billboards, posters, magazines and colorful packaging. If the visual did not dominate so heavily, there would be nothing wrong with this. But by focusing primarily on what can be shown, we miss a lot such as the almost invisible play of emotions, the complexity of thought and the quiet communication that happens between people.

When I was getting my Masters Degree in Media we were taught over and over, "Don't tell me, show me." While this is good advice for people writing movie scripts or ad copy, it reveals what is wrong with an exclusively visual age: some things are actually better told than shown.

Visual media often requires the use of 'things' rather than subtle exchanges between people. For example, a man who wants to show a woman that he is interested, will send her flowers. Flowers photograph well and they serve as great props for the story line. They can be carefully cradled by the woman who received them and then lovingly placed in a vase or they can be angrily thrown in the trash. So in movies the delicate interplay of love is often replaced with boxes of candy and gifts of jewelry.

To take an opposite example, the powerful and deep felt emotions of James Joyce's book The Dubliners, a collection of short stories, is not suited to the big screen. At the end of each story the characters experience an epiphany, a sudden profound understanding. Considered to be some of the finest short stories ever written in the English language, they do not translate well to the visual media. And as many readers know, novels and stories often do not do well on film because they are not visual.

Joyce's character Stephen Hero defined epiphany as, "a sudden spiritual manifestation, whether in the vulgarity of speech or of gesture or in a memorable phase of the mind itself. He believed that it was for the man of letters to record these epiphanies with extreme care, seeing that they themselves are the most delicate and evanescent of moments."

I have an undergraduate degree in English and a graduate degree in Media, so I can see both sides of the coin. Visual art can be marvelous yet the culture should allow more of a range so different art forms that deal with other ideas and emotions can be brought into play.

The problem with an emphasis on the visual, is that we are focused on 'things' which means we will become increasingly hardened consumers. For example, guns, cars, fancy houses, elegant clothes and upscale restaurants are all part and parcel to telling a story on film.

But more than this, the camera lies. "The camera lies all the time; lies 24 times/second," said director Brian De Palma. And we are exposed and influenced by this false reality for much of our waking life.

According to A.C. Nielson (the authority on TV viewing) the average American spends about 4 hours a day watching television and the TV is on about 7 hours a day in the average American household. In addition Americans rent tons of videos and go to movies on the weekends. The unreality of movies and TV has become a major part of the reality of most people's lives. And it is inevitable that the bias of the visual media will rub off and also shape our values. Which means consumer goods, and things and more things.

I'll have a lot more to say about this in future articles, so stay tuned.

Are You Worth It? OR How Advertising Impacts Our Values

2006-04-26T02:40:00.000-07:00

Are you worth it? Do you worry that you won't amount to anything? Or instead, do you feel like a winner, like a million?

Our commercial, consuming society is obsessed with numbers, commodities, contests, and celebrities. After a hundred years or so of intense consumerism, expressions and values that reflect this have become part of our thinking, so much so we hardly notice.

People say things like, "I've got too much invested in my marriage to give it up." Some educators have even gone so far as to say, "Children are our most precious commodity."

These are, of course, all metaphors. But why only imagery that deals with dollar values and stardom? There are plenty of other expressions such as, "our marriage is on the rocks" which invokes a nautical metaphor or "a person has a sunny disposition" that refers to the weather. And while these sayings are still used and understood, the imagery of money seems to be taking over: "The cost of loving her was too high" for example.

Advertising, naturally, appeals to this modern way of thinking. Ads often say things like "buy this product because you're worth it;" the implication being that if you are a loser and believe you have less value, you won't buy it. Talk about manipulation! Ads that use this approach often sell more expensive stuff and use the 'worth it' pitch as a way of justifying a higher price.

But what's wrong with this? Do these expressions really make a difference? I believe so. They are an indication of what the society thinks is important. And today money is important.

There are plenty of other metaphors such as those about nurturing, growth and growing, steadfastness, commitment, pleasure in simple things, friendship and closeness. Oddly many of these disappearing values are now used in advertisements as a nostalgic appeal to the 'good old days'. So if you still want a taste of this 'old fashioned lifestyle', there are now products you can buy that will evoke days gone bye. Ain't the consumer culture great!

So let me ask: do you really count? Do you think you'll make it to the top? If you've read my article to this point, you know the score. What I've written here is as good as gold. And you can take that to the bank.

How To Unplug The Effects Of Advertising OR Turn Off The Sound

2006-04-19T03:19:00.000-07:00

Are we helpless beings subjected to the onslaught of advertising or can we do something? Maybe something simple but very effective?

While it is easy to rant and rave about how bad advertising has become, much of the responsibility for dealing with it lies with us, the consumers. If you don't like ads, don't just sit there and take it. Do something.

The most powerful thing you can do when watching television is to turn off the sound when an ad comes on. Doing this is very effective because it defeats the coordinated sound-picture combination so carefully crafted by advertisers. Sound with picture is much more that one plus one. In a sense its: one (sound) plus one (picture) equals three (the powerful combination of the two). So by turning off the sound you have reduced the effect of advertising by two-thirds.

David Lynch, the director-writer of movies such as Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive, has spoken about how effective this combination can be when used for artistic purpose: "Sound and picture moving together in time is a magical thing. And sound does so many things. You can have a scene and introduce the right sounds and the scene changes before your eyes and ears, a whole other world opens up, moods sweep in and those sounds can march us through and indicate so many things as we go. And it's one of the elements that's the most critical to the whole."

Advertising words and music are designed to stay in our heads. They are a major part of the conditioning that marketing employs. They are designed to be carried internally by consumers into the stores when they shop. I suspect many people hear an associated jingle when they buy a product. So by turning off the sound, you have thwarted this intrusion. You have accomplished more than avoiding the noise of ads at the moment, you have prevented them from continuing inside your mind.

If you haven't used the mute button regularly, it will take a while to get into the habit and may seem like a lot of effort at first. But simply picking up a remote and hitting mute is not all that hard! And it even burns a few calories while you are veging on the couch.

I have been doing this for at least thirty years. It has become so habitual that I don't notice. But I do notice when an ad comes on with sound. It is quite annoying, grating and irritating.

And turning off the sound is an active positive step we all can take. We can teach our children and keep others in the next room from hearing the ad. We can add to the silence instead of to the noise.

Honey, We're Killing The Kids OR How Advertising To Children Has Led To Obesity Problems

2006-04-12T03:11:00.000-07:00

Children are eating too much sugary, fattening, high calorie foods and that's a fact. The consequences of this diet will stay with them for their entire lives resulting in problems with diabetes, cancer and heart disease along with a reduced life expectancy. The Learning Channel (TLC) is presenting a new series called Honey, We're Killing The Kids showing a family how to reverse this lifestyle. The show is a kind of emergency diet makeover.

As I pointed out in my blog article, Super Size And Save!, there are a number of factors that have lead to this health crisis. But especially with children, advertising and marketing are a major part of the problem.

Our children are getting the hard sell. Food ads make up the largest category of advertising on TV shows aimed at kids. These ads feature bowls brimming with cereal, overstuffed sandwiches, and youngsters happily gulping down humongous drinks. The package design of these products often displays a favorite cartoon character.

The hard sell continues at the supermarket. What parent has not been nagged by a child to buy a certain toaster pastry or candy? These highly advertised products are often placed on the shelves at child's eye level so that a son or daughter will see the brightly colored package pitched on TV and nag parents until they buy (known as the "nag factor" by consumer watchers).

But is this just conjecture? A study done at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill looked at government data dealing with 21,000 children from 2 to 18 years old during the time period of 1977 to the mid-1990s. They discovered that young people in recent years were getting 25% of their calories from sugary, fattening snacks vs. 18% in 1977. All this adds up to about 150 extra calories a day.

Marketers know that children are vulnerable, easily swayed and impressionable. At the supermarket, there are a full range of television-advertised meal choices for kids from morning to night. A child can eat sugary cereals for breakfast, a "lunch kit" with their favorite action hero on the package, a frozen special kids meal for dinner and then crackers, cookies, candies and sodas for snacks. This category of food is also expanding rapidly. New products include breakfast bars of popular cereals, microwavable pasta dishes just for kids and munchy mixes of chips, pretzels, candy and sugar-coated cereals.

Even the food choices presented at school can be troubling. Many vending machines only offer large portions, such as 20 oz. soft drinks and gigantic candy bars so that if a child is hungry, he or she must accept this too large size. In addition the Center For Science in the Public Interest stated that, "A nationwide survey of vending machines in middle schools and high schools finds that 75 percent of the drinks and 85 percent of the snacks sold are of poor nutritional value."

Recent studies now are beginning to prove conclusively that such marketing and advertising are bad for our kids. For example, Commercial Alert, a non-profit organization, reports, "Research into the dietary and viewing habits of more than 162,000 children in 35 countries has revealed that their consumption of sweets and fizzy drinks rises with each hour they spend in front of the box. By contrast, the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables falls."

So it all comes back to the same basic question: Are we going to let advertisers have unbridled access to our children or are we going to do something?

ADVERTISING AND VALUES: The Impact Of The Consumer Mentality On Marriage And Family

2006-04-05T00:11:00.000-07:00

Marriage aint what it used to be. Couples tie the knot and then break up after a year or two or three. First marriages that last five years or less with no children have been dubbed 'starter marriages' or 'rehearsal marriages' by the media. And they're even cool. Angelina Jolie, Drew Barrymore, Uma Thurman, and Jennifer Lopez were married and divorced while still young. If the stars are doing it, in our celebrity obsessed culture, it must be okay!

The word 'starter' is a commercial word usually attached to products such as 'starter homes' or 'starter hobby kits'. Marketing departments like to 'bundle' stuff together into packages. This gives the appearance of making things easier by removing difficult consumer choices and allowing marketers to sell more at the same time. The implication with the word 'starter' is that you will soon outgrow it and move on, but it is a good and low cost introduction.

Like many commercial ideas, the prevalence of 'starter' this and that has now invaded our thinking. Moreover, we live in a 'throw-away' culture with new models becoming available regularly. Ads are always tempting us to try another product or trade-up or improve ourselves. So if things don't work out, do like you do with your automobile or your toaster, dump the old one and get the latest and the greatest.

But wait there's more! The consumer culture breeds dissatisfaction. The proliferation of merchandise means that long term decisions are hard to make. 'Post-purchase depression' (PPD) often follows many consumer buys because with so many choices, how do you know you got the right one at the right price?

On the Simple Living With Wanda Urbanska TV show which airs on PBS, Ms. Urbanska referred to a study designed to measure satisfaction when a commitment was made or not made. Those who made a commitment which could not be changed were more satisfied with their choice than those who were allowed to change their minds. This study reflects our consumer society. No matter what the choice there might always be something better made, easier to use, prettier or less costly. Real commitments are hard because so many other choices are available.

As a result this way of thinking is changing people's expectations about marriage. If it doesn't work out, just trade-in your wife or husband and get a new model.

And it's not just marriage, it's children. If you don't like your kids, throw them away. There are a slew of youngsters neglected by their parents because the kids are too demanding or take up too much time or are too much trouble or who have become 'damaged goods'. They're known as 'throw away kids'.

I believe a society's attitude toward commitment, marriage, children and divorce speaks volumes about the depth of shared values and the quality of our culture.

Now don't get me wrong. There are certainly times when divorce is appropriate and necessary. No man or woman should be forced to stay in a marriage that is abusive, for example, or one in which the partners are no longer compatible.

I know. I was involved in such a ten year marriage. However, before I ended it, I spent years exploring every option. My wife and I went to marriage counseling, to individual therapy and we tried to start fresh with a new understanding between us. After struggling for three years, it became clear that our marriage was broken and could not be repaired. Although it was painful and exhausting, I am glad we spent that amount of time because our choice to divorce was not taken lightly.

AMAZING SECRET MAGIC MIRACLE! Or: How To Unplug The Effects Of Advertising

2006-03-29T00:31:00.000-08:00

If you are older than 21, you have seen over one million TV ads. If you are under fifty years old, you have been exposed to these since birth. You have become accustomed to advertising even before you could speak. In a word you have been programmed.

So to deprogram you, I will have to resort to extreme measures. And I apologize for this, but hypnosis may be the only way to unplug the effects of advertising.

Look into my eyes: You are getting very sleeping. Soon you will hear only the sound of my voice. Now this is my message: when you hear the words 'amazing', 'secret', 'magic' or 'miracle' in an advertisement you will not be swayed. These words will have no effect on your buying decision. Instead you will make a rational carefully considered purchase. When I count to three you will wake up. One, two, three. Now you have been deprogrammed.

Why did I pick on these particular words: amazing, secret, magic and miracle? For a variety of reasons.

First, they are used frequently in TV ads. For example, I heard them in an advertisement for a new hi-tech coffee maker. A bit later I saw a commercial for a new diet system with these same words sprinkled throughout.

Second, these words are emotional. They evoke a sense of wonder. They take us back to a childhood frame of mind where we are less critical and more trusting. They go below our rational radar and hit us in that part of the brain where childhood feelings still lurk. In addition these words relate to the actual practice of magic which most adults claim they do not believe. Yet as we know from ads for Disney World, the word 'magic' has a powerful appeal taking us back to a playful, happier and simpler time. I am talking about Disney slogans such as 'the magic kingdom' and 'Discover The Magic'.

Third, these words have no legal meaning. This is important because ads cannot misrepresent products and services. So vague emotive words are perfect for the art of persuasion.

Other ubiquitous words and phrases in advertising are: 'can help' and 'you'.

'Can help' is fabulous because it sounds really good but is worthless. Everyone likes to be helped and a product that assists evokes a sense of trust. For example, you might see ad copy that says, "This facial cosmetic can help a woman look younger and feel more confident."

Last is the word 'you'. If there is any word that is overworked it is this. Unfortunately in English, the word 'you' is the same in singular and plural and is used as an address to someone you know well and to someone you barely know. This is not true in other languages such as Spanish and French. So the word 'you' has become a bonanza for commercials in English.

For example, when you see an ad for that new miracle coffee maker, there will be a brief introduction explaining the product's features but then the pitch will quickly change to, "in the morning when you make your cup of coffee with your new amazing coffee maker..." By using the word 'you' over and over, the advertisement gives the impression that you already own this gadget or have made a decision to buy. This is because advertisers want you to identify with the product immediately and to think of it as part of your life and who you are.

"Buying this amazing secret magic miracle coffee maker will help you become happier, more confident and your neighbors will envy you." So why not? Call that toll free number right now, don't wait. It is a limited offer. Hurry, hurry, hurry.

But wait a minute! If you read this article from the beginning, advertisements such as this have stopped working. You have been deprogrammed and these ads can no long cast their magic spell.

Super Size And Save!

2006-03-22T03:31:00.000-08:00

Overeating has resulted in a population that is overweight (surprise! surprise!). Obesity and related problems such as diabetes are fast becoming the number one public health issue in the United States today. Think that this is just a rant by a disgruntled blog writer? Think again. In March 2004 US Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson said, "Far too many Americans are literally eating themselves to death."

Yet not even I will blame advertising and marketing completely BUT it is a major part of the situation along with kids watching too much TV, sedentary lifestyles and workers who labor long hours so that they come home tired with little time for exercise.

Before we get started, we need to get a bit of perspective. Dr James Hill, Director of the Center for Human Nutrition, Denver, Colorado said, "It takes about 1 extra lifesaver a day to gain a pound of weight for a year." Another nutrition author, Roy Thomsitt said, "... the cause of that 2lb weight gain each year could be as little as an extra 100 calories a day regularly over the year." And 2 pounds a year for ten years is 20 pounds overweight. So the bottom line is this: a little bit of extra food can get you fat over time.

So how are marketing and advertising to blame?

Lets start with marketing. Food is sold everywhere: at convenience stores, at drug stores, at Wal-Mart, at Kmart, at dollar stores, at gas stations, at vending machines and as an impulse item in many unrelated businesses. So in a word food is widely available and therefore people are constantly tempted.

Next is portion size. Marketing and advertising are directly responsible for the growth in mega-portions. For example a standard soft drink is now 20 oz. when it used to be 12 oz. or 16 oz. just a few years ago. And the difference in size is 50 -100 calories.

But soft drinks are only one obvious example. Candy is bigger, muffins are bigger, huge cookies are sold at famous cookie stores. At the supermarket "Hungry Man" dinners and "Family Paks" offer a lot of food in convenient packages.

Next comes pricing. Once a customer is in a restaurant, the business can make a profit by selling a lot of extra food for just a little more money. So discount combos are offered at fast food restaurants along with the notorious super sizing where for just a few cents more the fries and the drink are 'upgraded'.

In addition because consumers have become so used to large portions due to the forces of marketing, many people have lost all sense of how much to eat.

But instead of thinking this writer is exaggerating, I am going to quote from the Obesity Society: "During the past 20 years there has been a dramatic increase in obesity in the United States. Currently, more than 64% of US adults are either overweight or obese, according to results from the 1999-2000 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). This figure represents a 14% increase in the prevalence rate from NHANES III (1988-94) and a 36% increase from NHANES II (1976 -80). (Prevalence is the percentage of the population that falls into the designated category.)"

Do I blame marketing? Absolutely. Buying an extra half-price pizza, because it looks like a good deal, is not good for your waistline. Drinking a 12 oz. soda everyday instead of a 20 oz. soda would make a big difference. Being less tempted at check out counters by rows of candy would help.

In our advertising and marketing friendly society, we must resist food being pushed on us everyday at every turn. This is not healthy and something is terribly wrong.

UP-SELLING, SUGGESTIVE SELLING OR: Don't You Want Fries With That?

2006-03-15T01:40:00.000-08:00

Have you ever gone into a store and bought more than you meant to buy?

How about a restaurant? Have you ever eaten more than you meant to eat?

I doubt that anyone in the United States, Canada or Europe would answer no to these two questions.

While there are several reasons why you might have paid more than you intended, "up-selling" and "suggestive selling" are specific targeted sales techniques designed to get a customer to spend more than he or she planned.

While you may not be familiar with these terms, you know the drill. Businesses have a set routine and train their staffs to increase your order. They do this in a very careful fashion. They do not want to appear to be selling but instead to be helpful. In fact if done right, it does not seem to be a sales technique at all. The customer may be thrown off guard since the suggestions will be seen as thoughtful and not crass marketing.

The principle idea is this: Once customers have made a decision to buy and their wallets are open, they are vulnerable. A significant number can be influenced to pay for extras or add-ons or accessories or to supersize an order.

Here are some basic rules for the retail business:
#1. Suggest additional sales to a customer that are related to the purchase the customer is making.
#2. The additional sales should cost less than the principle purchase.
#3. The add-on sales should not be suggested until the customer has made a commitment to buy, nor should suggestive selling be used after the customer has completed a purchase. In other words the sales staff should approach the customer when he or she has made a firm decision to buy and his or her wallet is still open.
#4. The salesperson should not suggest more than a few things as this will appear to be pushy.

So at a clothing store a "helpful" saleswoman might suggest a scarf to go with a blouse or a belt to go with a pair of pants. At an electronics store the salesman might remind you to buy batteries with the gizmo you are getting. At an audio-visual store, a salesperson may encourage you to get an extended warranty.

As Rufus Mudsucker points out in his article, Do You Want Slaw With That?, "It doesn't matter if it's chicken or Cadillacs son, if you ever expect to sell anything, you've got to ask for it."

I have done a bit of research into these sales techniques and in many cases, the businesses make a large part of their profit from up-selling. For example, one expert told me that a major electronics chain made most of its money from the sale of extended warranties and not the products themselves. Batteries and other suggested accessories are often overpriced high profit items and thus suggestive selling adds significantly to the company's bottom line.

There are numerous variations of up-selling for different businesses. At a major appliance store, for example, a salesman might recommend a slightly higher priced refrigerator or washing machine or dish washer than the one you wanted to buy. And, believe me, there is always a higher priced model.

At a restaurant, a waiter might suggest desert which the party could share. In fact, up-selling is so important in the food business, I will devote a separate article to this.

So what's a customer to do? The more you know about these sales techniques, the less vulnerable you will be. Just by reading this article, I believe you will avoid spending some money you never meant to spend. And now you are starting to become a Rebel Consumer.

Dress To Impress!

2006-03-08T04:48:00.000-08:00

I keep thinking about the Rebel Sell article by Dr. Joseph Heath that I have written about twice now in this blog.
Does Your Identity Come From Advertising?
My Identity Does Not Come From Advertising

To remind you he wrote the following:
"What we need to see is that consumption is not about conformity, it’s about distinction. People consume in order to set themselves apart from others. To show that they are cooler (Nike shoes), better connected (the latest nightclub), better informed (single-malt Scotch), morally superior (Guatemalan handcrafts), or just plain richer (bmw)."

I would suggest that in addition to people attempting to buy their distinctive identity from advertising, these consumers also believe they can impress others with their purchases. Why buy an expensive car if people don't care?

One of the specific goals of all advertising is to make us self-conscious and a bit afraid of how others might view us. Advertisers know that people are terrified of being embarrassed, for example. Fear of embarrassment is ranked above the fear of death in some studies! However, as usual, the advertisers offer a solution. Just buy their products and you can be confident and secure and you won't need to worry any more.

Amazing when you think about it. The advertisers have worked at making us insecure and then offer a solution to that insecurity. How convenient.

But they have sold us a phony bill of goods as usual. The assumption is that people will notice if you are not wearing the latest and the greatest, that others will know what brands you wear and that people will think less of you if you do not own top products.

I suspect that few people could tell you what brand of clothing others wear unless the label is on the outside. And that is, of course, why manufacturers started putting the label where the public could see it.

And how many people could tell you what year a car was made if given a parking lot full of autos made at different times? I doubt if many would get a passing grade.

My point is this: Advertisers have sold us another fiction. The fiction is that people will take note, will judge you or will care about the specific products you own. However, advertisers have succeeded only in scaring buyers into believing this because the public really doesn't know or care.

After writing most of this blog article, I remembered an odd incident when I was in high school. In the 1950s pupils were required to wear coats and ties. One of the students was obsessed with the idea of high class brand-name clothing. He would come up to a classmate and quickly open his coat so that he could read the label below the inside pocket. We all thought he was very odd, sort of a brand name nerd. But in any case it was clear that he could not tell the quality or brand of our jackets just by looking. And by doing this he revealed the secret that advertisers don't want you to know. Most people cannot tell even if they are brand-name self-conscious.

SEX SELLS

2006-03-01T00:26:00.000-08:00

In a recent Tyra Banks Show, parents were shocked at the sexual activity of their teenage children. These kids were going to 'flyer parties', for example. These were parties whose locations were printed on flyers passed out at malls. At one event there were rows of mattresses where party goers engaged publicly and openly in a variety of sexual activities with other young people they had just met. But the bad news did not end there. A number of these teens had experienced oral sex, many before the age of 16. Off stage at the Tyra Banks Show, mothers listened to their sons and daughters reveal what they were doing. The mothers were aghast.

To her credit, Tyra Banks pointed out that the media was sending powerful messages to these young people.

Advertisers and marketers have always used sex to sell their products. And they will do it as explicitly as the current morals will allow. While it might be okay to market this way to adults, to approach children in this manner is inexcusable.

Now don't get me wrong. I am not a prude. Yet most adults will agree that young teenagers are not ready to handle the emotions of sex or the possible consequences such as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and pregnancy. Further I believe many of these kids will be severely damaged by becoming involved in sex too early in their lives.

Young people have a strong sexual drive which is normal and healthy. However, they look to parents, the media and each other for guidance. While most parents want to put on the brakes, the media has essentially given young people permission to be sexually active and promiscuous. In our advertising friendly society we have allowed marketers to come between us and our children in this important matter.

For example, I believe the same parents on the Tyra Banks Show would be shocked to open a magazine aimed at teenagers, if the parents understood the true meaning of some of the ads.

In the September 2005 edition of a mainstream magazine aimed at young teenage girls, I found the following ad: A clothing advertisement showed two happy excited guys and one provocative girl leaning against an expensive car. The caption of the ad asked "Are you a player?" Now that sounds innocent enough, except that being a player in street language means having lots of sexual partners. According to the Urban Dictionary 'player' means, "A male who is skilled at manipulating ("playing") others, and especially at seducing women by pretending to care about them, when in reality they are only interested in sex." Another definition of 'player' from Wikipedia is, "Someone who cheats on his girlfriend or wife (or if a woman: boyfriend, husband)."

Another ad in the same issue showed a girl in a very short skirt on the lap of a boy whose hands were on her buttocks and her naked thigh. And a two page spread showed an enticing woman lying on her back in her jeans on a shag rug with her legs spread wide. The women in all these ads sent a message that they were sexually available -- ready, willing and able. And generally the models were older than the target audience of the magazine. This gave the impression to the young readers that they should grow up and be sophisticated like these advertising models.

So these are the kinds of messages young teens are seeing. Advertisers know that most adults won't interfere because they don't look at magazines or tv shows or movies or music targeted to the young. And even if they did, most adults would miss the messages which are carefully crafted so that younger people will understand the hidden ideas but older people won't.

Young people are trusting, open and vulnerable. If the society does not object, these ads will form a significant part of their value system.

We live in an advertising friendly culture where just about anything goes. Are we going to allow the forces of advertising to continue in this manner? Or are we going to set limits?

Why Is Everyone Smiling?

2006-02-21T23:23:00.000-08:00

The Rebel Consumer wants to know why people smile so often in advertisements.

Early in actor James Coburn's career he appeared in an electric razor ad for television. He said the hardest part was smiling while shaving. This was not a natural thing to do but a big grin was obligatory.

We have gotten so used to ads we have stopped noticing that everyone is smiling no matter how odd it is. People eating a slice of pizza are smiling, people losing weight are smiling as they bounce around now suddenly free of twenty pounds. People who were depressed are instantly happy leading full lives because they now take a prescription medicine. People with arthritis can dance freely with big grins on their faces. People who want whiter teeth are smiling because their teeth now light up a room.

I mean, come on! How absurd. And yet it is this nonsensical reality that we are exposed to hundreds of times a day in ad after ad. It is as though there were another world out there where everyone is always happy and confident.

As consumers we accept this reality, because we have no choice. If we watch commercial TV, the ads will be there. If we drive down the road, billboards will be there. If we walk into a supermarket, the displays will be there.

While critics of media often focus on a particular ad campaign or advertisements to a target group such as tweens, I believe the most destructive aspect of advertising is its cumulative effect. If everyone is smiling in all the ads, what do they know that I don't? Why are their lives happier than mine? Why can't I find a product that will make me feel that good? My life seems so drab and the world of ads seems so exciting; why can't I live like that?

Of course, this is all nonsense but when children grow up with ads, mature with ads, become adults with ads, when they have seen about one million ads on TV by the age of twenty-one, it may be hard to shake the feeling that ads present a better way of life. While we may deny it rationally, deep inside advertisers have convinced us that they offer a warm, smiley world by repeating their message day after day.

They have programed us. And those who think they are not programmed are the most vulnerable. This is because these people are not aware how media forces operate on individuals and on the society and thus they cannot resist these forces.

Yet if you want to unplug the influence of advertising, there are places to start that are quite effective. Here is step #1.

For just one day, pay attention to how often people smile during all TV ads. When you really notice, it's quite ridiculous. You may even start laughing after the two hundredth ad. It's like watching gangs of lunatics who believe everything is wonderful all the time no matter what.

And once you have done this, you have started to remove some of the sting and power that ads have over your life.

My Identity Does Not Come From Advertising

2006-02-15T03:39:00.000-08:00

In the last blog article, I quoted Dr. Joseph Heath (Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto) from his article entitled "The Rebel Sell: If we all hate consumerism, how come we can’t stop shopping?" He argues that anti-consumerism leads to simply another consumer choice and that rebels with their different tastes are only encouraging businesses to add rebel consumer goods to the marketplace. So instead of getting rid of the problem, rebels are actually making the problem worse. In the article he says,
"What we need to see is that consumption is not about conformity, it’s about distinction. People consume in order to set themselves apart from others. To show that they are cooler (Nike shoes), better connected (the latest nightclub), better informed (single-malt Scotch), morally superior (Guatemalan handcrafts), or just plain richer (bmw)."

So I thought I would take his test myself and list some of the products that I use, for example: a Buick Park Avenue Ultra (top of the line), a Brooks Brothers shirt, an Eddie Bauer down vest and Beck's imported dark beer.

What do these products tell you about me? Take a guess and then read on.

First the Buick: My Buick may be top of the line, but it is 15 years old, a 1991 model. I don't really like Buick's (or at least I thought I didn't) but this car was in mint condition and was unbelievably comfortable. I bought it only after doing thorough search for the best deal in the area where I live. I paid $2000 with a 40,000 mile 3.8 liter six cylinder engine that some consider to be the finest engine built by GM and that gets 23 mpg in town and 31 mpg on the highway. Also Buicks are common where I live, everyone knows how to repair them and I can find parts easily. I bought a quality model because I knew that a top of the line car in the used market only costs a bit more than an economy model and that luxury models are usually better made to begin with. The new price for this car is about $35,000. So if you see me coming down the road in my Buick put away your preconceptions; I bought it because it was the best deal and *NOT* because of the image that people have about Buick owners.

But what about the Brooks Brothers shirt and the Eddie Bauer down vest? I know that Brooks Brothers makes excellent shirts, certainly some of the best, but my wife paid 50 cents for mine in the thrift store. It retailed for $65. And I know that Eddie Bauer has made excellent down products for decades but my wife paid only $2 for what was listed in the catalogue for $88. Again I was after quality and the best deal not the image that I would present.

This picture is from my interview on MSNBC about buying clothing.

But what about that Beck's dark beer? I love the taste of a good German or Irish dark beer more than any other kind. I only drink one or two at the most in an evening, so it does not cost that much. At my bar, draft Guinness is served in plastic cups, so I don't impress anyone. And when I took two bottles of dark beer to a NASCAR race in Roxboro, North Carolina, I was definitely not cool since they were all drinking Budweiser!

So what image am I trying to project? Am I trying to impress people with my Buick Park Avenue, Brooks Brothers shirt, Eddie Bauer vest and refined German dark beer? No! I found excellent quality that met my needs for a great price. Image was not part of my thinking.

But did I buy things that will encourage businesses to add new goods into the market place as Dr. Heath has asserted? No, the Buick and the clothes were all used. I was, in fact, recycling. As for the Beck's beer, it has been made since 1553; it is definitely not a new product.

So Dr. Heath was flat wrong. Rebel consumers can live 'outside' the regular marketplace, shop for what they really need, find quality stuff and pay a lot less. At the same time rebels can avoid the problem of adding more junk to the marketplace.

The false 'trap' of Dr. Heath's article was to assert that we are all stuck with equally bad choices no matter what consumer products we buy. While we all live in a consumer society, some choices are much better than others and these can help individuals, families, and the environment while avoiding the siren song of advertising.

Does Your Identity Come From Advertising?

2006-02-08T01:39:00.000-08:00

The Rebel Consumer is about getting free of the advertising-marketing-consumer culture. Yet critics say that to be rebellious is simply another choice in today's market place. In short there is nothing you can do.

This is undiluted hog-wash.

If you derive your identity from the products you own, then yes, you are stuck. If instead you get your identity from your mate or family or close friends or your dog or the hobby or art that you create or all of the above, then brand image is unimportant.

Yet critics keep insisting we are stuck.

As noted in the excellent Frontline report (PBS), advertising does not want to fill our environment, it wants *TO BE* the environment. This means that there is no escape. It also means that as a culture we have let advertising define who we are and what we want. Yet, quite simply, if we do not accept that definition, we are free.

Nevertheless critics keep painting people as helpless consumers at the mercy of marketing. In this article called The Rebel Sell the author emphatically makes this point:
"Many people who are, in their own minds, opposed to consumerism nevertheless actively participate in the sort of behaviour that drives it.
"What we need to see is that consumption is not about conformity, it’s about distinction. People consume in order to set themselves apart from others. To show that they are cooler (Nike shoes), better connected (the latest nightclub), better informed (single-malt Scotch), morally superior (Guatemalan handcrafts), or just plain richer (bmw)."

I can only have pity on a person who would care about this list of products and think that they are important to his or her identity and who would work and go into debt and worry over such things.

If you really like Nike shoes and they fit and wear well, great, buy them. Yet anyone who presented me a full list like this, is saying that he/she has no real identity. She/he is instead trying to choose her/his identity from the marketplace. They are doomed to failure and also disappointment.

The things that you care passionately about like the person you love, the relationships you have, the quiet moments when you are at peace -- these are where your identity comes from. Yet as a culture we are vulnerable. In a mobile society like ours, people may feel rootless and look for their identity in products. Marketing takes advantage of such people.

Advertising and brands give us a false choice. Buying a product can make you comfortable for a time but as Jean Kilbourne as said, "We can never be satisfied, because the products we love cannot love us back."

If your primary identity comes from the marketplace, you have made an empty choice.