ob·jec·ti·fy
Degrade to the status of a mere object.
Kalle Lasn (2000). Culture Jam. New York: Harper Collins. Pxiii.
"We are being manipulated in the most insidious way. Our emotions, personalities and core values are under siege from media and cultural forces too complex to decode. A continuous product message has woven itself into the very fabric of our existence."
- become part of us that we no longer control
- part of our coding
"We ourselves have been branded."
- become an object represent by what we wear, drive, listen to
"The most powerful narcotic in the world is the promise of belonging."
- best achieved by conforming to the prescriptions of society
- you get it on every corner for the right price
P4
"Most of us are now fully detached from the natural world"
- caused an effect where we brand ourselves by what we own and come immersed by consumer culture
P11
"We embrace the value of More to compensate for lives that seem, somehow, Less."
- the media has made us want more through manipulative advertising
- buy into the consumer culture in the ideal of gaining the life the person in the media has
P41
"Hunger equals Big Mac. Drowsiness equals Starbucks. Depression equals Prozac."
- people now associate emotions with brands and objects
- these brands now define the person
- depending on what brand you go to for each emotion determines what makes you up as a person
P55
"The cult rituals spread themselves evenly over the calendar: Christmas, Easter, Summer Olympics, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Halloween. Each has its own imperatives - stuff you have to buy, things you have to do."
- through the media every aspect of our lives eg. holidays, occasions, emotions, growing up have been branded by objects
- seen as outcast if you don't celebrate in the way your supposed to
- no longer religious events but media and consumer economic booms
- supposed to be about family - end up going shopping in the sales immediately - no content with all the gifts they got the day before
("The Cult You're In" Kano Matsu, Adbusters, P32-33)
"When you get depressed you go shopping."
- consumer culture becomes the answer to solving your emotions
- doesn't deliver the promises the media gave
- keep shopping in hope of happiness
P63
"Our culture has evolved into a consumer culture and we from citizens to consumers"
- changed us from people into an object to be aimed at in order to sell something
- feed our in securities and manipulate us
- 1992 survey of 11-15 yr olds Canadian girls thought they should be thinner
- didn't wish they were but thought they should
- as if being thin were a cultural law
- manipulation has wittered down to even 5 yr olds
- seduce us and give us a sense of security in society
(Kunda Dixit, Media Asia, P950)
"a bureaucratic society of controlled consumption"
Henri Lefebvre, Critque of Everyday Life (english translation, Verso, 1991)
Helga Dittmar (2008). Consumer Culture, Identity and Well-Being - The Search for the 'Good Life' and the 'Body Perfect' . East Sussex: Psychology press. P7.
P7
"Through the advertising and fashion industries, consumer culture presents individuals with images that contain "lifestyle and identity instructions that convey unadulterated marketplace ideologies (i.e look like this, want these things, aspire to this kind of lifestyle)" (Arnould & Thompson, 2005, P875). The symbolism inherent in consumer goods can be defined as the images of "idealized people associated with [the good]" (wright, Claiborne & Sirgy, 1992), and the message is that buyers not only consume the actual good advertised, but also its symbolic meanings (successful, happy, attractive, glamourous) thus moving closer to the ideal identity portrayed by media models."
- tells people what to do
- controls them like an object and all the objects they own present them as a certain type of object, the identity of an object - trendy etc.
P8
"A 'material self' was identified early on in William James's Principles of Psychology, first published in 1890, where a persons identity is extended beyond the physical boundaries of the body to include material goods."
- identity determined by goods not you yourself
P12
"In other words, consumer culture and material goods have become modern means of acquiring, expressing and attempting to enhance identity: they signify social status, express unique aspects of the person, and symbolise hope for, better, more ideal identities."
- the adverts present the problem producing self doubt and negative emotions but also present a solution
- buy this and it will enhance your sense of worth - "because your worth it"
- trying to constantly improve yourself
"A significant aspect of the impact that consumer culture has on individuals is linked to the ideal identities that are portrayed and privileged in the mass media and advertising."
- don't just promote products but also lifestyle and identity instructions
- providing cultural ideals of beauty, success and happiness
- aren't aware of what extent these ideals effect how they think about themselves and others
P13
Fig 1.1
P22
"Materialistic values can be defined as "the importance ascribed to the ownership and acquisition of material goods in achieving life goals" (Richins, 2004, P210)"
- prime indicator of success
- key to happiness and self-definition
- in the past people status were determined on the clothes they wore, the house and possibly the car they owned
- 'a mans self is the sum of what he can call his' William James's Principles of Psychology first published 1890
- still relevant today
Helga Dittmar (2008). Consumer Culture, Identity and Well-Being - The Search for the 'Good Life' and the 'Body Perfect' . East Sussex: Psychology press. P7.
P7
"Through the advertising and fashion industries, consumer culture presents individuals with images that contain "lifestyle and identity instructions that convey unadulterated marketplace ideologies (i.e look like this, want these things, aspire to this kind of lifestyle)" (Arnould & Thompson, 2005, P875). The symbolism inherent in consumer goods can be defined as the images of "idealized people associated with [the good]" (wright, Claiborne & Sirgy, 1992), and the message is that buyers not only consume the actual good advertised, but also its symbolic meanings (successful, happy, attractive, glamourous) thus moving closer to the ideal identity portrayed by media models."
- tells people what to do
- controls them like an object and all the objects they own present them as a certain type of object, the identity of an object - trendy etc.
P8
"A 'material self' was identified early on in William James's Principles of Psychology, first published in 1890, where a persons identity is extended beyond the physical boundaries of the body to include material goods."
- identity determined by goods not you yourself
P12
"In other words, consumer culture and material goods have become modern means of acquiring, expressing and attempting to enhance identity: they signify social status, express unique aspects of the person, and symbolise hope for, better, more ideal identities."
- the adverts present the problem producing self doubt and negative emotions but also present a solution
- buy this and it will enhance your sense of worth - "because your worth it"
- trying to constantly improve yourself
"A significant aspect of the impact that consumer culture has on individuals is linked to the ideal identities that are portrayed and privileged in the mass media and advertising."
- don't just promote products but also lifestyle and identity instructions
- providing cultural ideals of beauty, success and happiness
- aren't aware of what extent these ideals effect how they think about themselves and others
P13
Fig 1.1
P22
"Materialistic values can be defined as "the importance ascribed to the ownership and acquisition of material goods in achieving life goals" (Richins, 2004, P210)"
- prime indicator of success
- key to happiness and self-definition
- in the past people status were determined on the clothes they wore, the house and possibly the car they owned
- 'a mans self is the sum of what he can call his' William James's Principles of Psychology first published 1890
- still relevant today
Celia Lury (2001). Consumer Culture. Oxford: Polity. P8.
(Helga Dittmar - 1992 P205)
"Material possessions provide people with information about other people's identities."
P12
"It is in acquiring, using and exchanging things that individuals come to have social lives."
Bauman (2004), Identity, page 71
‘[The] family trip to a shopping mall is the present-day incarnation of the sacred’
David B. Clarke (Editor), Marcus A. Doel (Editor), Kate M. L. Housiaux (Editor) (2003). The Consumption Reader . New York: Routledge.
David B. Clarke (Editor), Marcus A. Doel (Editor), Kate M. L. Housiaux (Editor) (2003). The Consumption Reader . New York: Routledge.
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