Zadok Paper S101 Winter 1999
The Abuse of Consumerism
by Dave Collis

The myth of consumer inadequacy

Zooropa, vorsprung durch technik [advancement through technology]

Zooropa, be all that you can be

Be a winner, eat to get slimmer

Zooropa, a bluer kind of white

Zooropa, it could be yours tonight

We're mild and green and squeaky clean

Zooropa, better by design

Zooropa, fly the friendly skies

Through appliance of science, we've got that ring of confidence.[24] 

Consumer culture tells certain simplistic myths, or stories, primarily through advertising. They are stories without depth, superficial collages of advertising truisms like the U2 song quoted above. Although it could be argued that advertisements are harmless images which have no real effect, I will assume that advertisements do indeed affect those who are exposed to them_ otherwise powerful why would corporations have such large advertising budgets?[25]  The effect of advertising that we are interested in, however, is not the specifics of consumer choice between products but rather the framework of meaning that continual exposure to advertisements provides.[26]  Of particular relevance to this section is the fact that the framework of meaning provided by advertising is abusive; it tells the myth that the consumer is intrinsically inadequate, always needing to adopt a posture of searching for salvation from their inadequacy, a salvation which only the consumption of the product can provide. Many advertisements introduce and reinforce a sense of inadequacy in people. Acting like an abusive parent, advertising makes the consumer feel bad about himself and, in the psychic space thus created, dictates to the consumer their 'true' needs. Christopher Lasch notes the breadth of this tendency in the following passage:

The propaganda of consumption turns alienation itself into a commodity. It addresses itself to the spiritual desolation of modern life and proposes consumption as the cure. It not only promises to palliate all the old unhappiness to which flesh is heir; it creates or exacerbates new forms of unhappiness-personal insecurity, status anxiety, anxiety in parents about their ability to satisfy the needs of the young . . . Advertising institutionalises envy and its attendant anxieties.[27] 

Before I illustrate this salvation motif within advertising, let me first qualify my use of the term 'salvation'. In using this term I am not meaning to imply that there is anything intrinsically religious about advertisements, nor that advertisements have simply replaced religion. Instead, the reason I use religious language is to highlight the extent to which advertising establishes the meaning frameworks of the consumer. Whereas for primitive cultures some writer see religion as the primary provider of meaning frameworks, in consumer society advertising performs this role. We will now turn to look at two examples in order to illustrate this replacement.

The first is an old (early 1980s) television advertisement for soap: a man joins his partner in bed and is angling for sex. Unexpectedly, she pulls away scrunching up her nose suggesting that he smells bad. Stung by the rejection but recognising a way to overcome the crisis, the man takes a shower washing himself with the soap being advertised (whose brand name is conspicuous). After consumption of the product the lighting is almost darker, the music smoother, and upon his return to the bed he is warmly received by his partner. The inadequacy is resolved; salvation has come. In case viewers misunderstood the message of the ad, a voice-over announces "Don't wait to be told; you need Palmolive Gold."

Another more recent ad depicts a grown man returning home to visit his father. The scene is set for their encounter: They are on the back porch of a house out in the country; the father had been waiting. Unexpectedly the conversation is difficult. Both men look uncomfortable and frustrated as they sense their inadequacy to communicate-not an implausible scenario in today's social climate. The difficulties dissolve, however, when the wife brings out two cups of Nestl‚ coffee. Suddenly the sun is out, they are laughing and smiling, and the music shifts upbeat to a more relaxed feel. Their inadequacy is resolved; salvation has come.

In each case we see advertising creating or exaggerating a sense of inadequacy within the consumer, while at the same telling the consumer that relief is available only through purchase and/or consumption of the product. There is no freedom for the person to explore their felt needs, only freedom of choice between competing pathologies. Although useful for showing the abusive nature of consumerism, the myth of intrinsic inadequacy is a peripheral myth which finds its proper place in relation to the myth of money.

To: Money makes the world go round

Dave Collis is project worker for Jubilee 2000 Campaign in Australia, and is involved with street ministries with the Urban Mission Unit of Collins Street Baptist Church and the St Vincent de Paul Society.