What Happens if You Make People Want What They Can’t Have
Here’s my latest Adnews piece – appeared in Adnews on August 26th. It draws a long bow – I’m not entirely sure it’s right but I like the direction it’s heading in
On opposite sides of the globe two very different stories are unfolding. Both concern a sub-plot of disenfranchised youth, amongst much more complicated issues. The two seemingly unrelated stories are ‘the St Kilda schoolgirl’, and the young rioters of London. It is not just their prolific use of anti-social media that binds them, but a far greater dilemma facing powerless youth living within powerful economies – unchecked consumerism.
The link between the two is the nihilistic result of blending together; a lack of education mixed with a bombardment of consumerist messages, against a backdrop of lower socioeconomic conditions, within absurdly rich societies. What that wank filled sentence just said was; if we tell kids they must consume stuff to be happy, yet they can’t get the means to consume, whilst at the same time we flaunt the fact that lots of others can afford it – well there’s going to be trouble.
Take the St Kilda schoolgirl; I’ve followed her and her 17,000 followers for the past year. It’s a warts and all Twitter reality (Twitality?) drama full of disenfranchised teens, sex, drugs, and self-destructive behavior. However, one theme that stands out more than most is the protagonists desire to ensure she is seen as wealthy, and spending lots of money. She frequently reports of shopping trips, how much she’s spent on clothes, and photos of her new consumer goods are commonplace. Many of her tweets show how much she uses consumerism and material possessions to gain acceptance. Now what if same young person does not have the means to consume at this level? Jump to the sad sight of youth rioting in London.
These riots are remarkable for many reasons, not least of which was the looting. It was reported by The Guardian that most looting was of consumer goods stores, not for basics, but the ‘nice to haves’. The very things youth are told over and over again will make their lives better if they consume them. But many of the looters normally can’t afford them.
Marketing exists, some would argue to magnify the difference between actual self and ideal self. As the equation goes Actual Self (AS) + Brand (B) = Ideal Self (IS). Make a big enough gap between actual and ideal and insert brand here. So if I want to achieve my ideal self, and I can’t afford it – the if the opportunity comes along to just take it – then why wouldn’t I?
So are we starting to see real chinks in society, the sheer desperation that results in a supersaturated marketing solution? Today’s young adult is by far the least marketing savvy generation we’ve ever seen. Many lack the discretionary powers older generations took for granted. They live in a super saturated world of marketing, and this doesn’t make them more adept at understanding it – they’re sinking in it, and can’t get out. The younger the person, all other things being equal, the less marketing savvy or sophisticated they are.
The time has come for consumerism to be on the national educational curriculum. Not media studies, or economics, but consumerism. How one consumes has such a massive impact on ones personal well being that it needs serious contemplation. The impact will only be positive, for the more educated the consumer, the more the brands they consume will have to live up to their respective promises. Image and artifice is out, walking the talk and delivering on your proposition is in.
Fritz Bachen is a Consumer Psychologist and Founding Partner at Naked Communications. Fritz can be seen, read or heard at; The Gruen Transfer, ABC Radio (Sunday nights), Adnews columnist, as well as The Australian, Cleo, Mumbrella, Shop Till You Drop and so on. He speaks at numerous conferences on marketing, ideas, contemporary culture, and consumer behaviour. Fritz has degress in clinical psychology and commerce (marketing). A registered psychologist and has worked in private practice, forensic settings, advertising (Saatchi & Saatchi) and marketing consultancy (Added Value). He was also state under 12 chess champion on WA, and has a board game called The Analyst selling well in the Benelux countries.
Comments
Chris Allison
Sep 4th, 2011Seems like you are headed in the right direction like you said. Not really convinced on the correlation between age and marketing savvy, though…
Fritz Bachen
Sep 4th, 2011Hi Chris thanks for your reply. Here's a question for you. Imagine person A growing up in a cult. It's all they have ever experienced. Imagine person B who spent 1 year in that cult and 1 year in a whole lot of other living environments as well.
Who do you think is in a better position to compare what the cult is like to live in compared to other ways of living.
The younger we are the more we have grown up in a super-saturated marketing solution. Making it difficult to see the wood from the trees. It doesn't make youth marketing savvy, it makes them marketing saturated.
mizchief
Sep 4th, 2011Alternatively,
Having a personal marketing mix means that we keep the end product in mind, who and what we want to be. This requires awareness of ones values and how one is perceived by others but most importantly what we stand for and how this impacts others. The only difference is you cant buy a conscience but you can sell one.
George
Sep 5th, 2011I totally agree but somehow, considering consumption is two thirds of GDP, the powers that be won't add it to the sylabus
Sabina
Sep 20th, 2011Being saturated, unsaturated, polyunsaturated is just icing on the cake, the root of the problem is much deeper than exposure to consumer goods via advertising/ marketing. The subliminal messages of making people want what they can’t have comes from social groups/peers where the pressure is there to conform; feel valued, and achieve a false sense of respect. What kids are craving for are strong role models to help them out of this social mess. Yes materialism=happiness. I’m just waiting for someone to say "Who exactly are the Jones?"
Christina
Oct 6th, 2011I think Sabina hit the nail on the head. Marketing as a process is not the problem. It is the companies that want to make money at all costs and use marketing to do so.
It is widely known in marketing that the biggest influence on an individual is their peers and/or social groups. Not an ad or a website. So it would be more effective to review the social connections these teens have – their parents, schools and friends.
This would be a more effective approach because the wider problem is the emphasis on material goods and economic growth as a vital part of society. People have come to think of material possessions as the providers of power and happiness – mostly because of an unchecked age of excess and growth. Where once economic growth did mean more stability and satisfaction, we passed that tipping point years ago. Unfortunately the values attached to economic growth. Somehow the means have now become the end.
While I'm not saying marketing is off the hook – it's only a small part of a much bigger problem that needs to be solved. And the sooner society can address that problem and realize that the true goal should be increased happiness and quality of life rather than economic growth, the sooner we stop seeing these kinds of social problems.
Sabina
Oct 13th, 2011Thanks Christina!I was brought up in Tottenham and its not all bad : ) The government needs to invest in this generations well being, anti social behaviour is on the rise and so is mental health, there needs to be a form of early intervention,these kids are bored and need positive stimulation in the form of sports, lets hope the 2012 Olympics is of influence!
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Nov 29th, 2011The world would be a total disaster nd most of countries would finish devastated. Humans are terrible when they wanna be like that.
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