We need to petition to ban all forms of advertising that feature normative
statements. As a child of cunsumerism I find myself hopelessly
underepresented in a world which is becomming more and more homogenous, this
must stop, for the sake of my and subsequent generations and for the sake of
this planet. I study Sociology and Economics at Auckland university in New
Zealand and i am looking for a workable political system that uses quality
as its fuel rather than our current fascination with materialistic
consumerism. I walk to my supermarket and see rows upon rows of homogenous
products, not choice that I have been told to believe but something more
perverse, any tiny difference is highlighted and we are told we need it
through the guise of free choice. Free choice is not what it is. We are
bound by so many different constraints, particularly budget, that we end up
choosing between products that are so similar that there is no real choice.
We have lost touch with quality (Quality is best described, I believe by Zen
and the art of motorcycle maintainence and Lila. both by robert M pirsig)
Why is it necessarry for all this pseudo choice? What we need is products
that arent advertised as they are now. We need to have advertising that
shows the product and gives a price, not wrapped up in a shiny wrapper.
FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION. Economically this also makes sense in Aam Smiths
invisible hand concept. People will start choosing product based on how it
best achieves their particular need, not through our current advertising
induced distortion. All fonts should be similar, all colouring removed from
ingredients, this would lead to people not having any pre disposed ideas
about a certain product except for a breif description available on the
packaging (this description must first be approved by a consumer watchdog
organisation) This will allow firms to compete on a far more even footing
as massive capital expenditure on advertising will become almost pointless
(the big pharmaceutical companies spend 3 times as much on advertising than
they do on product development/research), and also meake products less
expensive. This will create a situation where products that have quality
will be what people buy, and I am happy to give cash to these firms. This
would obviously result in quite severe reshuffling of resources and many
people would become unemployed as all these dispensors of poor quality
products would have no marketing to induce people to purchase them, leading
to unemployment. Whilst initially this would be a problem of large
proportions, the market demand will remain similar if the product is
actually needed so unemployed workers will be absorbed into these new
companies who will now have a massively increased demand. Peoples psyche
would be forced to change as suddenly all this nonsense that a lot of people
strive to (material wealth) will be of little consequence - populations
would then have to apply their time to advancement of products - cheaper
methods of production, more ecologically sound, more efficient products and
so on or better still, divorce themselves from this ridiculous consumer
society and start doing some free thinking, which I believe has been almost
bred out of us since the industrial revolution and subsequent mass
production mentality. Without these societal constraints inflicted by
advertising, free will will flourish and as such diversification will occur,
which I believe is vitally important for my particular playstation
generation. All this however can be circumvented in a few generations by a
new schooling system, one which places less emphasis on money generating
occupations and instead teaches children the meaning quality. These
educated people would then choose products and occupations based on thier
utility rather than our corporate induced image of "coolness", and the same
supply and demand issues will arise.. Why do we buy underpants with vastly
inflated prices because it has a mans name on them. Why do we pay markups
of hundreds of % for a T shirt with a small swoosh on it, when in both
situations equal quality products are available at vastly cheaper prices, we
have been raped and decieved. This has got to stop, and I would like to
thank you for providing the facilities to see that people are doing
something about this predicament, for this I thank you in all sincereness.
BUT I dont think it is enough, we MUST get mass exposure, and I think the
best way of doing this is to beat them at their own game. It is futile to
try and stop an avalance with a wall, instead if you can redirect the energy
then you can control it, this is what we need to do - it is too late for the
baby boomers and pretty much too late for generation X, it is in youth that
attention needs to be spent as this youth will obviously be the ones making
the decisions in 20-30 years time, and I know by being in this demograph,
that we are open to suggestions, the combined weight of 100 years of mass
production and 50 years of bombardment advertising has made us ripe for
inserting memes, and also youths biological propencity to rebel against
authority. This is the key I believe, pull the rug from underneath the big
business (I like how they dont call them corporations anymore, big business
sounds much more friendly) no more new consumer drones.
We cant hide any longer,
ANYONE WITH ANY SUGGESTIONS AT ALL ON A WORKABLE NEW POLITICAL SYSTEM THAT
DOES NOT RELY ON CONSUMERISM PLEASE CONTACT ME. i LIVE IN NEW ZEALAND AND
AS SUCH HAVE A FAR GREATER CHANCE OF BRINGING ABOUT CHANGE THAN IS AVAILABLE
TO AMERICA (WE ALSO DIDNT SPAWN THIS WHOLE PREDICAMENT) OUR POPULATION IS
RELAXED AND SOCIALLY AWARE ENOUGH TO CONSIDER AN ALTERNATIVE - WE HAVE DONE
SO IN THE PAST - WE ARE NUCLEAR FREE ( INCLUDING BANNING NUCLEAR SHIPS FROM
OUR WATERS {WHICH HAS AN IMPORTANT STRATEGIC POSITION} AND ARE VERY AWARE OF
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES. WE HAVE ONLY 4 MILLION PEOPLE AND STILL HAVE A
RELATIVE WEALTH SIMILAR TO ALL OTHER 'ADVANCED' NATIONS. OUR FREE MARKET
ECONOMY WAS A BOLD AND UNIQUE EXPERIMENT AND WE HAVE A VERY LIBERAL SOCIAL
ATTITUDE TOWARDS CANNABIS (THOUGH LAW HAS NOT BEEN SO ACCOMODATING, MAINLY
BECAUSE OF FEAR OF REPERCUSSIONS FROM THE US APPARANTLY). dESPITE STRONG
PROTESTS FROM THE US WE HAVE JUST ANNOUNCED THE DISBANDMENT OF OUR AIRFORCE
STRIKE CAPABILITIES AND THE PUBLIC SUPPORTS VASTLY REDUCED DEFENCE SEPNDING
- WE REALISE THAT WE CANNOT COMPETE SO WHY TRY, ANY COUNTRY WHO REALLY
WISHES TO TAKE US OVER CAN WITH LITTLE EFFORT, AND WE ARE GEOGRAPHICALLY SO
FAR AWAY FROM EVERYWHERE ELSE THAT THRERE WOULDNT BE MUCH REASON TO IVADE
ANYWAY (WE HOLD NO REAL COMMERCIAL QUANTITIES OF ANY RESOURCE. i THINK THIS
SHOWS THAT WE ARE FREE THINKING, ASSESS THE PROS AND CONS AND MAKE DECISIONS
RELATIVE TO US, NOT BE PUSHED AROUND LIKE OTHER SMALLER NATIONS AND AS A
RESULT WE ARE PROBABLY MORE LIKELY THAN ANY OTHER INDUSTRIALISED COUNTRY TO
ACCEPT A NEW SYSTEM
Thank you once again and all the very best
evolve
david wilkinson
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