Think back to the last time you picked up a magazine or catalog and walked away from it feeling better about yourself. If you’re having a hard time remembering such a time, you’re not alone. The only way you would likely feel better about yourself is if you purchased a product you “discovered” by reading said magazine or catalog.
What if you made the conscious decision to stop browsing magazines? Is it possible that you would miss out on the lastest and greatest thing you never knew you always needed? Would you walk around in the “wrong” color eyeshadow or shoes?
What about television commercials? And radio advertisements? Would you miss out if you decided to skip those as well?
Or would you save money and be more content with what you have and who you are?
The thing about not knowing what you’re missing, is that you don’t know what you’re missing. If you don’t know you want something, that insatiable desire to consume sits quietly in the backseat of your life. With the consumption monster under control, you can regain control over how you spend your resources and where you focus your attention.
Advertisements and Dissatisfaction
The entire purpose of most advertisements is to make you feel dissatisfied.
Dissatisfied with your couch, hair, body, car, house, clothes, cleaning products, spouse…you get the idea. Once an advertisement has made you discontent with yourself or your current possessions, it can then suggest a newer, shiner, better product.
But soon, the product you just purchased becomes obsolete (according to a competing manufacturer) and the new dissatisfaction sold to us by way of advertising can only be cured by consumption of a newer, shiner, better product.
And the process repeats itself over and over until we’re drowning in debt and discontent.
Less Exposure = More Happiness and Contentment
You already know this, but choosing to expose yourself to advertisements is optional — to some extent. We are bombarded with hundreds of advertisements each day. Many of those we can choose to refuse (e.g., put down the catalog, turn off the tv).
For the rest of the advertisements we can’t control, we can educate ourselves on where they’re coming from and how they’re trying to persuade us. I’m finishing up an ebook that will help awaken your inner advertisement detective. I’ll help you see where and how advertisements influence us each and every day.
I promise once you’re tuned in to the ways in which we’re affected by advertising, you’ll be better able to withstand the negative effects constant advertising exposure can have on our self-esteem, spending habits and overall contentment.
For now, close that magazine, turn off the tv and revel in the perfection of who you are and what you have today. Realize that it’s enough. And enjoy the holidays with the people that matter most to you.
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Jenny it is funny, you don’t realize how much you are marketed to on a daily basis until you pull yourself out of it. When we cut off our cable TV last December my wife and I realized how often TV tells us how to act, dress, eat, smell, etc. It is kind of amazing when you think of it!
But this post is making me look forward to your upcoming e-book. Can’t wait to read it.
I know Jon. It’s usually once we choose to limit our exposure that it becomes so clear. They when we’re re-exposed to the advertising messages, they look much differently to us!
This is so, so true! Once we got our Roku & Netflix, we haven’t watched TV since. When we go to a relative’s house, I find that I can’t sit through a show because of all of the commercials. As for magazines, there are a few I enjoy reading and find fulfilled by (like Mental Floss and Psychology Today). However, I read them and just skip over all the ads. One other area where ads go crazy are for groceries! If I ignore the ads, I don’t worry that I could’ve saved at another store. It’s freeing just to hand the money over for the goods I want and move on instead of obsessing over every penny!
Such a great read! Thanks for this!
Hi Megyn – We have Netflix and a Roku also. Ehen we had cable, we fast forwarded through commercials. But even when we fast forwarded through, we could make out brand names and such. And who knows what our subconscious was picking up!
It’s impossible to completely eliminate our exposure to advertisements, but — like you’ve experienced — we can certainly reap benefits from choosing not to expose ourselves to excessive advertising messages!
Jenny, magazines are INSIDIOUS! I think the sneakiest one of all might be Real Simple, because it’s styled to appeal to one’s minimalist aesthetic, yet makes you feel substandard unless you ante up for the stuff that’s featured and promoted. It’s pricey stuff, too.
Our 10-year old dvd player is becoming increasingly unreliable, so we have purchased a roku with the intention of cancelling basic cable and going the Netflix route. I’m praying there’s enough programming of interest that’s captioned, but it will be wonderful to no longer watch those annoying ads.
Happy holidays to you and yours and best wishes for a great 2012!
Hi Meg! How interesting that Real Simple is one of the culprits trying to pry us away from our money. It’s pretty ironic, no?
We don’t use captioning, but we’ve been thrilled with our Roku/Netflix choice. There are lots of Documentaries available for live streaming, which has been fun. Oh, and the Showtime Original series to which my husband and I have enjoyed immensely! And I do much more reading now that it isn’t a given that we’re going to watch tv at night. Many nights can go by where the tv never even comes on.
Happy holidays to you and your family too!
You might want to investigate that pretty carefully before you make any comittment, Meg. As I understand it, lack of captioning and/or subtitles are even more lacking than recent content in the streaming video world. You might be just as well off picking up a new DVD player (under $50, and often as low as $30 if you shop carefully) and stick with discs-by-mail for a while longer. Not only will you be assured of captions or subtitles, but you’ll also have a much better selection. For whatever reason (probably paranoia on the part of the content providers) what is available for legitimate streaming is hardly worth the monthly fee they want to charge you.
Totally agree, Jenny. I think media literacy needs to play a much bigger role in our education systems. Especially as more and more of our everyday lives becomes covered in advertising. I remember the first time I noticed ads for ipods plastered on the subway steps in Toronto.
I couldn’t agree more Josh! I’ve already decided that I’ll volunteer to give talks to the kids at my sons’ high school when my sons get a little older. I remember how impressionable I was at that age (teenage). It would have been fantastic to have someone explain to me what advertisements were and how they affected me. My mind would have readily soaked up the truth and I would have awakened so much sooner.
Oh, and financial literacy. Personal finance should be given the same level of importance in schools as Algebra, Geometry, etc. And personal finance education should start early, in my opinion.