Consumed by Consumerism

Flipping through the pages of a magazine I realized that without the abundance of advertisements littering the pages the magazine consisted of only ten pages of actual written articles. The glossy airbrushed model sporting a diamond rolex watch on her boney wrist proudly interrupts the article I'm reading about Mary Kate Olsen's eating disorder. On television a commercial for Clairol hair dye tells me that I too, can be beautiful. Ninety pound models on the billboards of the city make me feel like a pig in my one hundred and ten pound body. The samples of several mixed colognes in the magazine leave my fingers and hands smelling like a glade plug in.

Everywhere you turn you're stalked by "limited time offers" and "deals of a lifetime." If I skip out on eating today maybe I can splurge on that size two Gucci dress. Advertising is ironic, because after purchasing the dress you starved yourself for a week to fit into, you were rewarded two coupons for free French fries at Burger King. What kind of confusing message is society sending?

At age twenty five my friend obsessively scans her face for wrinkles and decides that botox is her only option. We over consume to avoid ourselves. Advertisements become bolder and more extreme as people try to seek solace in material items to fill personal voids. While skimming through the newspaper I came across an Ad for a virtual reality summer camp for kids. It proclaimed "A place where kids can have a wonderful time and make new friends from all over the world" I picture children sitting in front of their computers on a hot and sunny summer day, the pool in the backyard vacant and lonely. I was shocked this summer that I was surprised when I saw a group of kids fishing off a local bridge. I mean, what possessed them to go outside, what caused them to leave the playstation idle? Pay attention next time you are out on a nice day, how many children do you see in the park throwing a Frisbee?

Take a look at your family, look at all the damage advertisements have done. My sister plots out her Christmas and birthday lists several months in advance. She tallies up the total and tries to explain to our father why she must have an ipod and a tiffany's bracelet. Depression statistics have increased drastically over the last decade, my sister, like many Americans ignores her actual needs by falling into the dark tunnel of consumerism and commercialism. I never thought I'd utter the familiar saying that so many of my elders have spoken "Well, when I was a kid..."

Life is becoming unaffordable and as the prices increase, the jobs decrease. Money is replaced by a few strips of plastic leading you to believe you're okay - at least until the day when the bill comes in the mail and you find yourself face to face with reality. Every form of entertainment is cashing in on your desire to be someone else, to be noticed, to be that one person everybody wishes they could be. Except there is no person, but each day we stray further from the truth of what is important.

Achieving happiness is simple- but with people consuming more than they can possibly take in - we are binging on the plastic promises of wealth that are advertised constantly in our society. Plastic promises and deals of a lifetime merely distract us from the reality and from ourselves.

There are extremes in advertising and as competition to sell becomes greater, companies take drastic measures. I think it can't get any worse, but there is always something that shocks me. My mother uses credit cards to pay off other credit cards, and she takes out loans for groceries. She buys five ugly rugs for the price of four, when only one rug was needed -but a bargain is a bargain right? Our basement and closets are full of impulse buys, The clutter an attempt to replace whatever emptiness exists inside my mothers soul. The time has come for consumer rehabilitation, a peaceful place where billboards don't exist on every street corner.