Materialistic Culture

Do I think that the U.S. culture is overly materialistic? Yes. After learning about the incident at that Wal-Mart in New York I wasn’t surprised at all. Every black Friday the news glamorizes the frenzy that consumers have as they trample one another to get the big new item for the season. Whether that item is a new toy for their child or a big fancy plasma TV. the lust for materialism is the same. I always wondered how we as a culture have gotten to this point but I quickly realized that mankind hasn’t gotten worse, it simply hasn’t evolved. Lust for materialism and greed for power has existed for thousands of years but now it has crept into the holidays. The holidays are supposed to be a time of reflection and appreciation for the gifts that we already have, but is has turned into a time of ones upmanship.
As a kid growing up my parents didn’t have much money. My extended family would give me some small gifts and I would then get one “big” gift from my parents. I never complained because the kids I hung around as a kid also were not well off. I suppose I was ignorant to the massive amount of toys that other kids got until my family moved to the suburbs when I was nine years old. I had a friend who actually got gifts on every holiday. He got video games on Christmas, his birthday, Easter and yes even Valentine’s day. When he asked me what I got for Valentine ’s Day one year I pulled out some candy my mom gave me and showed it to him. The suburbs did open my eyes to just how much I was supposedly missing out on and I feel bad now for the times I complained to my parents about not having what my friends had. My sister and I had clothes from K-Mart and shoes from Payless. A pair of Levis jeans was a luxury item. I wasn’t poor my any stretch of the imagination, I just wasn’t rich and it was obvious.
I’m not sure if advertisers are completely guiltless in the way we as a society have become more materialistic. Parents are responsible for what their children watch and if parents don’t let their kids watch certain shows they wouldn’t want to buy certain toys. That being said it is difficult to not let advertising influence your children. McDonalds is an example of marketing towards kids. Ronald McDonald and all the other characters are not there to get adults to buy hamburgers. They are there to promote fun for kids. Happy Meals and the toys inside of them are specifically used to grab a kid’s money while they are still young and impressionable. By the time these kids hit middle school they’re like zombies for fast food. You see the golden arches and you’re reminded of all the fun you had as a kid getting a happy meal and a toy and like a moth to flame you supersize your gut and mini size your wallet. It happens at a subconscious level at times. I’m sure if you watch an episode of any Disney show, kids must be bombarded by toy commercials and fast food commercials. Advertisers know that the way to get parents to buy their kids toys is to advertise to kids and let them nag their way to a new playstation 3.
The best way to sell a product is to sell a lifestlye. If you want girls to like you, buy a special cologne. If you want your coworkers to be jealous of you, buy a Lexus. If you want your wife to love you, you better buy her the biggest diamond ring she’s ever seen. Marketers know that we as people are insecure pawns who are always looking to be led somewhere. People roam the earth aimlessly looking for a purpose or someone to follow. Advertisers know this so they get celebrities to endorse their products. Be like Mike and drink Gatorade. Advertisers understand human nature and realize that people will do or buy anything that distracts them from the grind known as reality. Materialism distracts people from reality because material things evoke emotion. You don’t buy a fancy car because consumer reports said it tested best in a crash, you buy a fancy car because of how it makes you FEEL. When you’re behind the wheel of a Lexus you FEEL rich, you FEEL envied you FEEL powerful. People do things for emotional highs. Even giving money to charity ironically causes people to feel good. People don’t do things just to do them there is always a reason behind it.
I always felt the society as a whole would benefit from being less materialistic. I quickly realized that without materialistic people and greed the economy would be in shambles. Without people buying products, people who make those products would lose their jobs. Since those people don’t have jobs they won’t buy other products which would make others lose their jobs. It would be a vicious cycle. What’s best for the human spirit may not be what’s best for the material world. I’ll end with one of the wisest phrases that I was ever told, “everything in moderation.”