BY SOFO ARCHON
This is the transcript of a video published here.
Since the moment we were born, the advertising industry has been making a massive effort to convince us that we are not good enough as we are, and that the only way to feel well with ourselves is to buy products.
Just look around you, and you will see almost everywhere advertisements trying to persuade us to buy stuff. And they are pretty good at it.
By associating our primitive social urges, such as sexuality and status, to products, advertisements make us want things we don’t actually need.
Do you feel unattractive? Don’t worry! Get these high heels for just 99 dollars, and you will attract the attention of others on you like a magnet!
Do you feel unimportant? Get this expensive, shiny car, and you will immediately feel like the king of the world!
Having fallen victims to manipulative advertising, most of us spend our hard-earned money on products we can’t even afford, believing that by obtaining them we will feel happy, loved or esteemed.
But no matter how many products we have, we still want more, and no amount of them is ever enough to quench our emotional thirst.
That’s because what we deep down crave for are things like intimacy, connection and creativity, and products can’t provide us with any of these.
They can only offer us momentary substitutes of what we long for, but eventually they always let us down.
Yet we are so focused on our instant selfish gratification that we keep on shopping without end, and we don’t even realize the impact our consumer behavior is having on the environment.
The result is tremendous resource extraction and incredible waste, with pollutants ending up in nature, poisoning the very planet we inhabit and that sustains us.
It’s about time that we wake up to the fact that consumerism is ruining our lives and the world, and that unless we change the way we behave, we’re about to face dire consequences.
But personal behavioral change isn’t enough – we need to alter the very foundation of our economic system.
The earth is a finite planet with limited resources, and therefore an economic model of endless growth is unsustainable.
Hence, we need to move from a consumption-driven economy to a resource-based economy – that is, an economy based on the sustainable use of natural resources.
Then, and only then, will we be able to live in alignment with the natural world, as well as stop foolishly running after things that leave us dissatisfied, and instead pursue what truly helps to bring us joy and fulfillment.