With the first day of Fall now behind us and the Holiday season fast approaching, stores are already beginning to put out Thanksgiving decorations (if you don’t believe me, check the home section of any Target or Marshall’s), and it won’t be long until Christmas shopping madness begins. And as anyone who owns a television knows, with holiday merchandise and Black Friday sales come a plethora of commercials. But how exactly does advertising work to make certain items desirable? Advertising is a $500 billion industry that has been developing effective selling techniques since the first Tobacco ads in the 1880’s. Advertisements turn consumerism into a competition and transform the way Americans shop by making them feel as if they need to own certain items to maintain a desirable rank in society.
Picture this: a few attractive teenagers, no older than 18, run down a snow-covered street, laughing and throwing snowballs at each other while upbeat music plays. Zoom in on their clear, made-up faces, then pan down to their identical UGG boots. If a pair of sheepskin boots can make you as care-free and fresh-faced as the kids in the ad, then UGGs aren’t looking too bad to you, huh? Advertisers rely greatly upon the fact that people will buy their product if they feel that having it will make them cool or accepted among their peers. Merely describing a product will rarely cause it to fly off the shelves; ads must also demonstrate how owning a new phone or designer purse will improve someone’s life. Customers in commercials are usually portrayed as well-dressed, well-liked, and wealthy. These idyllic representations of the modern consumer cause Americans to shop, just to keep up with the standards that advertisements set. Professor of Sociology Juliet Schor argues that Americans shop so much in order to keep up with the pressure that society puts on them to consume. “My term,” says Schor, “is ‘competitive consumption,’ the idea that spending is in large part driven by a comparative or competitive process in which individuals try to keep up with the norms of the social group with which they identify.” If you’ve ever bought a certain type of sneakers because all of the kids in your class did, then you’ve done what advertisers want you to do- consumed for the sake of fitting in with your peers. Effective advertisements also make people feel as if they are losing out by not buying a product, whether it be by missing a “once in a lifetime” deal or by passing up the chance to own something unique that others won’t have. Have you ever noticed how much more desirable something seems if it’s limited edition or sold for half its regular price, no matter how steep the cost? Companies use advertisements to take advantage of these desires and sell their products to impressionable consumers.
Since advertising first took off for cigarette and canned goods companies in the 1880’s, advertising has transformed Americans’ attitude toward shopping. With an average credit card debt of $15,000 per person, Americans’ purchases make up almost 40% of the world’s private consumption spending. Why do Americans feel the need to consume at such a fast rate? The “prestige” that comes with owning luxury sports cars and designer clothes is derived from the way the products are marketed. A pair of 7 For All Mankind skinny jeans costs $198.00, while Mossimo brand jeans from Target go for $29.99; both are 98% cotton, 2% spandex. The two pairs look and feel similar, so why do the prices differ? Because consumers recognize 7 as a luxury brand, one that only sophisticated upper-class members can afford. Shopping very rarely comes down to necessity; if it were, any brand of jeans would do, as long as they fit and could last a long time. Shopping serves many purposes, including as a form of therapy. You don’t need the item that you set out to buy- you crave the feeling that you have attained something that not everyone can afford, or that will make you a cooler person. Modern advertising reinforces the notion that one needs certain brands to keep up with social norms by portraying sophisticated and attractive people using their products.
