Corporations Making You Feel Bad
Corporations exist solely to make money, and as a side affect, they deliberately make you feel bad (but they don't care as long as the money keeps rolling in).
Adverts
There are two kinds of advert :
- Encourage you to buy brand X rather than brand Y of something you already want/need.
- Make you desire a product that you wouldn't otherwise want.
I don't have a problem with type 1, its type 2 that makes your life worse.Unfortunately, type 2 are by far the more prevalent.Many adverts may superficailly look like type 1, but really they are type 2.For example, a Renault advert not only makes you aware of the the Renault brand, it also makes you want a new car.Of all the new cars bought, how many replaced cars no longer worked?Car adverts don't explain why their model is better than their competators, they are slick "liefstyle" pieces.They show beautiful people, with beautiful lives and imply that you would be as happy as the actors appear to be, if only you had one of their cars.
They Give you a sense of Loss
Companies like to give you a sense of loss. If they can make you feel loss, then they can sell you something to fill that gap.
Sky and Cable TV guides list channels to which you haven't subscribed. Its designed that way to make you want more. Wanting more makes you feel bad. Subscribing to more channels doesn't make you feel better, it makes you feel the same as you would have felt if you hadn't known about the other channels.
The Solution
- Avoid adverts
- Avoid companies that like to give you a sense of loss.
- Think about what you want/need, and then look to see if somebody prodives it.
That's easily said, but near impossible to achieve.
With the aid of Myth TV, I watch the TV that I want, when I want and I can skip over the adverts too. I wouldn't go near any of the popularist magazine such as FHM, Hello etc - too revoluting even to think about.
Be a person, not a consumer.