Entries Tagged as 'Commercialism'
My memories are all artificial. Pre-packaged marketing tools designed to foster brand identity or sell toys. A twisted commercial entourage of ‘80s icons. Thundercats, TMNT, Transformers, Gumby, Ghostbusters, G.I. Joe, Smurfs, Care Bears, Popples. X-men comics. The Olsen twins. That impatient owl licking to the center of Tootsie Roll Pops. Me begging to stop at McDonald’s and get a Happy Meal. Or even better, to go inside and play in the ball pit.
These are the chronicles of my perfect upbringing. I am a walking, talking fulfillment of the American Dream. […]
[Read more →]
Tags: Opinion · '80s · Childhood · Commercialism · Consumerism
“Wal-Mart,” a proponent of nuclear armaments and state-sanctioned torture told me recently, “is the embodiment of everything good about America.”
To his credit, this was a former employee of the company who appreciated their diverse hiring practices. He touted the standard mantra of any big-business apologist. Low prices. Job opportunities. Convenience.
Maybe years of watching that bouncing yellow smiley face spout peppy PR BS impeded his ability to notice the irony in selecting this blue behemoth as a metaphor for American life. For beneath the glossy façade of corporate accountability and exemplary capital gain lurks the true face of brand USA. […]
[Read more →]
Tags: Opinion · Commercialism · Consumerism · Sprawl
In a recent survey, conducted exclusively in my closet and laundry hamper, I discovered I am the “proud” owner of forty-one tee shirts. The breakdown of these forty-one tee-shirts is as follows: Ten blue, five black, five white, four gray, three red, two orange, two yellow, one green, one tan, one taupe, one brown, and seven ring-collared and sleeved shirts of various color combinations. Garnered through unforeseeable osmosis the last seven years, I now find myself at the mercy of these inanimate objects. […]
[Read more →]
Tags: Opinion · Comedy · Commercialism · Consumerism
How are we to expect this man to be aware? His life is an amalgamation; a twisted one with no synergy and little coherence. He spends almost nine hours preparing to leave for, traveling to, engaging in, and returning from work. Work itself is a self-contained reality with laws, relationships, hierarchies, and consequences entirely divorced from the outside world. There, the sun rises and sets based on things like dividends, profit margins, sales goals, and overhead.
[Read more →]
Tags: Opinion · Commercialism · Consumerism
The Art of Child Marketing
Every culture has its stories, fairytales and fables. Filled with heroes and villains, these stories provide a means to transmit knowledge and values on to future generations. However, in today’s electronic age of enchantment, it seems we’ve traded in the age old tradition of storytelling for something a little more modern: commercials.
[Read more →]
Tags: Essays · Advertising · Childhood · Commercialism
