A co-worker told me a very long time ago that our economy depends on people buying things they don’t need.
I thought at the time it was a pretty cynical view, but I couldn’t say he was wrong. As the years pass and my own cynicism has grown, I’ve come to embrace that concept entirely.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not above spending money on an occasional luxury. I do resent marketers trying to convince me I have to have something I don’t need, however. That’s why some television commercials get under my skin.
The worst are the ones that try to convince us we don’t love our pets unless we feed them ridiculously expensive food.
One of them features a guy I have dubbed “The Lonesome Loser.” He has somehow convinced an attractive woman to come to his apartment for a date, and she discovers boutique-y dog food in his refrigerator. When she asks him why there’s dog food in his refrigerator, he replies, “It’s not dog food. It’s (brand name I refuse to promote here).” When she tries to inject some reality into his bubble, he throws her out and ends up eating dinner on the floor with his dog — a situation that I’m guessing is the norm at his place.
Other ads compare the ingredients of two brands of dog food, obviously in an attempt to make the expensive brand seem superior, while text on the screen actually says the two brands are equal in nutritional value.
I guess they hope we don’t notice that part.
Now, I have owned and loved a lot of dogs in my life, and I’m here to tell you they don’t care. We’re talking about creatures that will happily chow down on some rancid, dead animal they found in a field, then mine the cat litter box for nuggets for dessert.
But TV ads have convinced people they need to special order “artisan” pet food, so here we are.
The other marketing campaigns that strike me as silly are the ones that try to convince us that deodorant is no longer just for armpits. No, they say! We need it all over our bodies, now.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m a big fan of deodorant. I wish everyone used it. But treating our pits has gotten the job done for decades (since 1888, if Wikipedia is to be believed).
Having taken marketing classes as part of my media education (again, a long time ago), I know the people who sell things like to “reposition” their products to sell them to wider audiences. I can imagine the meeting of the marketing department at some deodorant manufacturer:
“How are we going to sell more of this stuff?”
“I know! Let’s convince people they need to put it on their feet!”
“Yeah! But why stop at feet?”
Next thing you know, many are convinced that coating themselves from head to toe in odor-blocking chemicals is vital their well-being and attractiveness.
Of course, after the first company had this epiphany, the others jumped on board.
There are other examples. So many.
A lot of people don’t have the luxury of being swayed by such nonsense. They have all they can do to make ends meet without indulging in consumption that is driven by emotion rather than fact. I hope they’re not feeling bad about feeding their dogs affordable kibble rather than individually packaged servings of perishable food that needs to be kept in The Lonesome Loser’s refrigerator and contains ingredients, such as pumpkin, that no self-respecting carnivore would touch if left to his own devices.
So, maybe we need to buy things we don’t need to keep the economy going. But let’s be cynical. Smart. Wary, even.
Don’t be The Lonesome Loser.