When too much is never enough
03/06/2005 08:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
izmeinaStrange coincidences. Last week at our public speaking group, Izzie got assigned the word of the day. This involves choosing a word, explaining its meaning and encouraging the audience to add it to their vocabulary – preferably using it during the course of the meeting.
Izzie picked “Affluenza” Instead of consulting the Oracle of Google, we made up our own definition which we gave as “An incurable condition characterised by an obsession with the acquisition of $tatus $ymbols.
So it was with much amusement that this word turned out to be the topic today of a talk back show on our favorite radio station. They used the simpler, sadder and infinitely more expressive definition “When too much is never enough”
On the show as guests were a company director, an advertising executive and a social researcher Clive Hamilton who was the man who has recently written a book with this very title. Izzie was most fascinated indeed. The execs were accusing Mr Hamilton of gross simplification and asking if he honestly believes that the public is so stupid to think that drinking such and such a brand of whisky makes a man a chick magnet or driving a pajero makes you popular (It actually proves that you truly are a world class wanker and like to spell it out for folks who would otherwise not have noticed ;) )
Mr Hamilton said most likely not but at the same time the advertising companies employ the cream of the psychology crop in order to find out what makes people tick and how to push their buttons. He mentioned an advert he had seen on television where a little girl asks her father if she could have such and such a bike. He says no because he cannot afford it to which she replies that if he got a loan from such and such a bank he would have the money to get her this bike for Christmas.
Strangely, the executive did not dismiss this advert asking if Mr H thinks the public are so stupid that they would get a bank loan because their eight year old kid asked them to but rather got all indignant and denied that such an advert would ever have been made and accused Mr H of making the story up. To which he replied that he would give details of the bank in question off air. (Izzie is sure that she seen this very advert at least once and found it rather offensive as it squarely aims at some very basic buttons – the same ones that Luscious Lucius so nastily pushed in Flourish and Blotts with the Weasleys)
But all their ranting about adhering to standards when it comes to kids and their pester power came to nothing when a parent rang in to ask what on earth adverts for $$200 flip back mobile phones were doing in magazines aimed at the 8-12 tweenie market. He had seen it in one of his kids' magazines and was most peeved indeed.
Actually, Izzie loves the game that Alain de Botton does with such adverts by showing how they are subliminally trying to associate products with the things that people really desire such as friends, family, freedom and self fulfilment. Switch and bait – sort of.
As far as the Izzie is concerned, advertisers are just like the designers of poker machines.
They know from experience and experiment what turns people on and then design their products with the appropriate bells and whistles. Even the fast and furious chop chop chop pace of advertising and television programs in general all seem designed to produce a trance like mindless state. It actually annoys the Izzie who is a die hard introvert who goes out of her way to avoid stimulation and prefers lots of peace and quiet. In fact, we find shopping centres to be quite soulless places to be avoided at all costs – exceptions made of course for book stores which next to libraries are like the holiest of shrines
They then got to accuse him of being a puritanical party pooper who wants to spoil the fun for everyone. This he denied and claimed instead to be more interested in a middle way where people buy stuff as part of their life but not at the expense of other areas of their life such as time spent with family and certainly not as the main or even sole source of meaning.
It's funny. Along with 'affluenza', Izzie is not aware of the expression 'retail therapy' having been a part of the language back in the 80s or even early 90s. Late 90s – not so sure about that.
But Izzie is the treacherous serpent from marketing hell – the creatures that advertisers have nightmares about. Not only does she not watch television but listens to non commercial radio stations and takes great delight in getting her consumables in the thrift shops. Our badge of honour is not how much we spend but how little. We also enjoy dissecting adverts and trying to spot which buttons they are trying to push.
And when the purpose of a purchase is practical or for pure pleasure and NOT yet another attempt to impress the Joneses then it becomes most difficult indeed to sell us stuff that we don't want to impress people that we don't like and to buy it with money that we don't have.
In fact – we almost go the other way. Izzie has a special contempt for what she calls the Harrods Hags, Vuitton Vamps and Burberry Bitches. The minute we see some one sporting one of these so called status symbols – it does not matter if it is real or fake – it is the belief that such brands make you somewhat special – the Izzie automatically thinks Brainless Bimbo. And don't even get us started on suburban assault vehicles whose only acquaintance with the dirt tracks is the brochure in the glove box.
We suppose you could call it inverse snobbery.
But Izzie is not a total puritan – all sack cloth and ashes. We do have our vices. Strange – one of them which is red wine. Petunia just does not understand it. Izzie gets more enjoyment out of sharing her bestest bottles with friendses (leaving less for herself) than drinking them alone. Except for certain special ritual occasions, will never drink the really good stuff except in company.
Izzie's other Achilles heel when it comes to gadgets and stuff is books and Portkeys to Cyberia. As long as the Izzie can listen to Radio National, has access to books – either got from the libraries or bought – and can get her paws on those Portkeys to visit her favorite online creatures – then that is mostly what we need to be a happy contented little serpent – the basics such as food and shelter being assumed.
Izzie picked “Affluenza” Instead of consulting the Oracle of Google, we made up our own definition which we gave as “An incurable condition characterised by an obsession with the acquisition of $tatus $ymbols.
So it was with much amusement that this word turned out to be the topic today of a talk back show on our favorite radio station. They used the simpler, sadder and infinitely more expressive definition “When too much is never enough”
On the show as guests were a company director, an advertising executive and a social researcher Clive Hamilton who was the man who has recently written a book with this very title. Izzie was most fascinated indeed. The execs were accusing Mr Hamilton of gross simplification and asking if he honestly believes that the public is so stupid to think that drinking such and such a brand of whisky makes a man a chick magnet or driving a pajero makes you popular (It actually proves that you truly are a world class wanker and like to spell it out for folks who would otherwise not have noticed ;) )
Mr Hamilton said most likely not but at the same time the advertising companies employ the cream of the psychology crop in order to find out what makes people tick and how to push their buttons. He mentioned an advert he had seen on television where a little girl asks her father if she could have such and such a bike. He says no because he cannot afford it to which she replies that if he got a loan from such and such a bank he would have the money to get her this bike for Christmas.
Strangely, the executive did not dismiss this advert asking if Mr H thinks the public are so stupid that they would get a bank loan because their eight year old kid asked them to but rather got all indignant and denied that such an advert would ever have been made and accused Mr H of making the story up. To which he replied that he would give details of the bank in question off air. (Izzie is sure that she seen this very advert at least once and found it rather offensive as it squarely aims at some very basic buttons – the same ones that Luscious Lucius so nastily pushed in Flourish and Blotts with the Weasleys)
But all their ranting about adhering to standards when it comes to kids and their pester power came to nothing when a parent rang in to ask what on earth adverts for $$200 flip back mobile phones were doing in magazines aimed at the 8-12 tweenie market. He had seen it in one of his kids' magazines and was most peeved indeed.
Actually, Izzie loves the game that Alain de Botton does with such adverts by showing how they are subliminally trying to associate products with the things that people really desire such as friends, family, freedom and self fulfilment. Switch and bait – sort of.
As far as the Izzie is concerned, advertisers are just like the designers of poker machines.
They know from experience and experiment what turns people on and then design their products with the appropriate bells and whistles. Even the fast and furious chop chop chop pace of advertising and television programs in general all seem designed to produce a trance like mindless state. It actually annoys the Izzie who is a die hard introvert who goes out of her way to avoid stimulation and prefers lots of peace and quiet. In fact, we find shopping centres to be quite soulless places to be avoided at all costs – exceptions made of course for book stores which next to libraries are like the holiest of shrines
They then got to accuse him of being a puritanical party pooper who wants to spoil the fun for everyone. This he denied and claimed instead to be more interested in a middle way where people buy stuff as part of their life but not at the expense of other areas of their life such as time spent with family and certainly not as the main or even sole source of meaning.
It's funny. Along with 'affluenza', Izzie is not aware of the expression 'retail therapy' having been a part of the language back in the 80s or even early 90s. Late 90s – not so sure about that.
But Izzie is the treacherous serpent from marketing hell – the creatures that advertisers have nightmares about. Not only does she not watch television but listens to non commercial radio stations and takes great delight in getting her consumables in the thrift shops. Our badge of honour is not how much we spend but how little. We also enjoy dissecting adverts and trying to spot which buttons they are trying to push.
And when the purpose of a purchase is practical or for pure pleasure and NOT yet another attempt to impress the Joneses then it becomes most difficult indeed to sell us stuff that we don't want to impress people that we don't like and to buy it with money that we don't have.
In fact – we almost go the other way. Izzie has a special contempt for what she calls the Harrods Hags, Vuitton Vamps and Burberry Bitches. The minute we see some one sporting one of these so called status symbols – it does not matter if it is real or fake – it is the belief that such brands make you somewhat special – the Izzie automatically thinks Brainless Bimbo. And don't even get us started on suburban assault vehicles whose only acquaintance with the dirt tracks is the brochure in the glove box.
We suppose you could call it inverse snobbery.
But Izzie is not a total puritan – all sack cloth and ashes. We do have our vices. Strange – one of them which is red wine. Petunia just does not understand it. Izzie gets more enjoyment out of sharing her bestest bottles with friendses (leaving less for herself) than drinking them alone. Except for certain special ritual occasions, will never drink the really good stuff except in company.
Izzie's other Achilles heel when it comes to gadgets and stuff is books and Portkeys to Cyberia. As long as the Izzie can listen to Radio National, has access to books – either got from the libraries or bought – and can get her paws on those Portkeys to visit her favorite online creatures – then that is mostly what we need to be a happy contented little serpent – the basics such as food and shelter being assumed.
