CONSUMER DIVERSION by Calum Houldsworth

©*N$UM€® D!V€®$!*n [ISSUE 1 / 2014 / FREE]

Hello, dear reader I would like to welcome you to the first issue of CONSUMER DIVERSION. This magazine will comprise of articles that demonstrates the large amount of sub conscious power that the corporation, has on us consumers. That we take it for granted everyday we get out of bed. I don’t aim for anyone to stop buying things or for designers to stop making things. But to question what they want to buy, and by doing so what are they supporting? # I don’t ask designers to stop working for company’s but just to take into account how their design affects people. I have chosen to do this topic as I find it very interesting as I am also a designer and before university I thought design was about doing things for big brands such as Nike. But since university I have came to realize the responsibility that comes with designing. All these articles and interviews have been kindly be permited for me to publish them . # all arcticles have been sourced online, each has been written at diffrent times but they are still very relevent to our current situation. All photographs and manipulations (diversions) of other type of media have been carried out by myself for this magazine.

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please come and spend more of your money on more worthless things Anytime.

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subtle suggestion / Lee Hopkins It is important that we understand and appreciate the power of the psychological art of subtle suggestion.

ENGAGE

* ¥ O

ne of the most powerful tools is ‘Suggestion’, and in this article I want to delve further into the psychological power of ‘suggestion’ and consider the implications for us as professional communicators and information marketers. Sure, we can ‘suggest’ that people purchase our products or take on our ideas in a direct way: “We suggest you buy Blank’s Beans because you’ll like them” but in all honesty how effective is that going to be? Subtlety is a major factor in modern communication, especially advertising, and being hit over the head with a blatant message doesn’t work anymore; [too many people have been bludgeoned to death by overzealous communicators.] So, like I said, it’s important that we understand and appreciate the power of the psychological art of subtle suggestion. # Most of our beliefs are held not because we have verified them for ourselves but for many other, different reasons. Some of those reasons range from the influence of our environment in childhood to the influence of the media in adult life, but although they are various in origin, it probably would not have escaped your attention that they all have one factor in common - their appeal to and their effect upon human suggestibility. Unless human beings were responsive to psychological suggestion, the influence of parents, peers and the media wouldn’t have any effect. [Human beings are, however, immensely responsive to suggestion] - a fact which is of enormous importance both in our individual lives and in the life of the society in which we live.

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Suggestion is responsible for muddled thinking and much worse. If we are to avoid these traps, we must be on our guard. But in order to be on our guard, we must know what the traps are and what form they take. Suggestion can, of course, take many forms and once its nature is understood, can be detected almost everywhere. I cannot hope to deal here either with all the forms of suggestion or with all the areas in life in which it is found. I will just concentrate upon suggestion in its direct form, and suggestion coupled with ‘prestige’. I shall consider the working of these two factors primarily within advertising. But before I can do that, I need to define what suggestion in its simplest form is. # The psychological basis of suggestibility is simply a tendency in human nature to [believe any statement that is repeated a great number of times.] This tendency to believe has nothing to do with the ‘truth’ (or otherwise) of the statement. Reasons for believing the statement to be true or false are not taken into account; the statement is believed solely because it is repeated many times. There are many explanations for human suggestibility, none of which is entirely satisfactory. Even my own studies into the psychology of suggestibility have yet to uncover a definitive answer. But my intention here is to examine the consequences of human suggestibility, rather than to explain it. The first of these consequences derives from its universality. Although the tendency varies greatly in its strength from individual to individual, every one is suggestible to some extent.

DESIRE

[THE SUBTLE PSYCHOLOGICAL POWER OF SUGGESTION WRITTEN BY LEEHOPKINS FIND MORE AT LEEHOPKINS.COM]

Successful communicators, advertisers and propagandists understand this very well. Suggestion, in the hands of the unscrupulous, is a key to pluck at the purse-strings or the heart-strings. [There is no power so persuasive as the power of suggestion.] The social consequences, both good and bad, are as obvious as they are widespread. I have no intention of discussing the age-old problem of whether the ends justify the means. I am only concerned with the social consequences of suggestion. # The first fact to note about suggestion is that statements which rely solely on suggestion for their acceptance must be simply expressed , confident in tone and repeated often if they are to be effective. A single, halting statement is not at all persuasive. However, to pinch an idea from George Orwell’s Animal Farm, [some individuals are more ‘suggestible’ than others.] A confident statement, often repeated, is immensely persuasive.

CONSUME

[EVERY DAY, NEARLY ONETHIRD OF U.S. CHILDREN AGED 4 TO 19 EAT FAST FOOD, WHICH LIKELY PACKS ON ABOUT SIX EXTRA POUNDS PER CHILD PER YEAR AND INCREASES THE RISK OF OBESITY]

Simplicity in expression, therefore, gives a statement a far better chance of acceptance than complexity. Hence most statements depending on suggestion for their effect should be simple, which is the reason why most advertising is simple, taking the form of ‘slogans’. Slogans are given an air of confidence by being expressed in the imperative, as in: Every day we are ordered to buy something or to vote for someone. # And if we are ordered to buy or vote every hour of the day, for days and weeks on end, we eventually do buy and vote. Example: If a friend remarked to you, “You ought to buy Blank’s Beans,” you will probably say, “Really?” and promptly forget what you just heard. If, however, in every newspaper and magazine you read, every third tv ad you watch and in every street you walk in, there is a prominent notice saying: “BUY BLANK’S BEANS!” you will, after a few weeks, probably buy them.

REPEAT

$ RESPONSIBLE DESIRE / Richard Huntington $ Bu$ine$$ has become the most powerful institution on the planet. The dominant institution in any society needs to take responsibility for the whole.

illiam Willis Harmon, Co-Founder of the World Business Academy Ethics and the idea of ethical advertising have recently become an extremely hot topic in the advertising industry. The whole issue has captured peoples’ attention both for personal (doing some good for our consciences) and professional reasons (doing some good for our bottom line as well as our Clients’). However, there are a wide variety of interpretations of what this means and how committed individual people are to the idea. # This paper is intended to help you explore a more ethical approach to advertising by providing a better explanation of the subject. # [ What the hell does ethical mean? ] # One of the key issues here is that ethical is such a subjective term – what is ethical to one person may not be to another. Moreover the concept of what is ethical is not fixed in stone – for example it used to be thought ethical to advertise cigarettes but not condoms however, these days the position has completely reversed. # The reality is that ethical is not an absolute term and the word ethics, strictly speaking, merely means the moral code by which someone decides right from wrong and is therefore highly personal. That said, the term ethical has acquired a very specific meaning over the recent past. When we use the word ethical we mean an activity that doesn’t do harm. For example the term ethical investment fund implies that money will not be invested in companies that cause harm to people, animals or the environment.

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In a sense then ethics really boils down to respect. Ethical people, ethical companies and ethical activities show respect for the world around them and are aware of the consequences of their actions upon others. Contrast the respective reputations of both Esso and BP both of which are engaged in the same industry. Esso is currently subject to a global consumer boycott because its denial of climate change is seen to show enormous disrespect to the environment and the people of earth. BP on the other hand is seen as more ethical because they show increasing respect for the world beyond the boardroom table and the oilrig. # [ What should we respect? ] # Clearly the concept of ethics becomes a little unmanageable, if you are watching out for ‘all things bright and beautiful’. Fortunately there is now a really easy way of understanding what you need to respect in order to be more ethical. This is the idea of the triple bottom line. Traditionally the business world has operated with one bottom line – the profitability and financial sustainability of the company. However, the concept of a triple bottom line suggests that this is an oversimplification since the sustainability of a business depends on more than profitability alone. The three components for a company’s triple bottom line are:

#1 Profitability – respect for a business’ effect on the economy

#2 Social responsibility – respect for a business effect on society

#3 Environmental responsibility – respect for a business’ effect on the environement

[CREATING RESPONSIBLE DESIRE WRITTEN BY RICHARD HUNTINGTON FIND MORE AT WWW.ADLITERATE.COM]

[DO YOU THINK THEY CARE IF THEIR PRODUCT KILLS YOU SLOWLY]

$ In other words, for a business to be sustainable it needs to generate a profit, not harm society and not degrade the ‘natural’ capital (the earth’s resources) that it requires to function. What the hell has all this got to do with advertising? Because advertising is guilty of a lack of respect. The advertising industry has rarely looked beyond the immediate success of its work and the profitability of individual agencies. It has tended to operate in a vacuum with its only responsibility being to the Client’s marketing objectives. # Sustainability, either of the advertising industry or its Client’s businesses has also rarely featured in the consciousness of agencies. Selling today is of paramount importance not respecting people or the environment so that you can also sell tomorrow and the day after that. For all the rhetoric about building long-term brands advertising is riddled with short termism. In short advertising has lacked respect for the wider world. And people in the advertising industry have traditionally seen it as ethically neutral. # Witness the way advertising people used to justify the continued advertising of tobacco in the face of overwhelming opposition. The argument went that it wasn’t for the advertising industry to decide what was right or wrong, that was the job of governments. As long as tobacco was a legal product, people in the industry argued, we should be allowed to advertise with impunity regardless of the harm it was doing to people. And there is the small issue of sanctioning strategies and creative ideas that manipulate consumer desire by making people deliberately dissatisfied with what they have and with their lives.

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Its not that advertising people are bad people hell bent on making the world a worse place but that we don’t take responsibility for our actions and we don’t respect anything but our client’s immediate business success and our financial bottom line. So what? Well for starters there is your own sense of self worth. In a recent Gallup poll advertising was ranked 43rd out of 45 professions based on ethics and honesty. While for many of us advertising is a stimulating and rewarding way to make a living, it is also increasingly criticised. At best people think our work is entertaining if trivial at worst many despise what we do and to a certain extent we only have ourselves to blame. # Is it any wonder people think you and I lack integrity and honesty when we have treated these values with so little respect? The bizarre thing is that it would be hard to find a group of people anywhere in Britain that are as bright, creative and and well intentioned than the people you tend to meet in the ad industry. If for no other reason than personal pride you should engage in the debate on ethics in advertising. It is time that we all recognise the powerful influence we have both intentionally and accidentally on our economy, society and environment and behave in a more responsible manner. # At one level we need to ensure that our work never does harm by respecting the unintentional consequences of our actions. At another we need to start to harness that power to do some good – not only to make our clients more profitable but to make our society happier and more cohesive and our environment healthier and more sustainable.

Isn’t this the longest suicide note in advertising? The idea of ethics in business is not a flight of fancy. It is all part of a powerful new agenda within the business community and a topic of constant discussion around the boardroom table. Whether its called corporate social responsibility or business ethics there is a sea change happening in the way that businesses regard their roles within society. As Sir John Brown, CEO of BP maintained “these days businesses have to be a positive force for good” and this from an oil man! # For instance the FTSE4good monitors the performance of companies that comply with a series of ethical benchmarks that precisely match the elements of the triple bottom line. The very existence of the FTSE4good is proof of just how seriously business is taking the issue. Not least because they have to as by law all pension funds now have to disclose whether they are taking into account environmental and social issues. And these days many fund managers threaten to vote down the annual accounts of any FTSE 100 company that does not include an environmental report. # The long and short is that while it may not have reached the marketing department yet but all of the issues that we have raised here are being discussed within Clients organisations. Increasingly business believes that good is good. What is the answer? There is a future in which more ethical advertising builds brands that behave more ethically and I call this the creation of responsible desire. # Responsible desire is the idea that though we are still in the business of creating powerful desire for our client’s brands we have to start doing this responsibly. If for no other reason this is because we want to go back to people and create the same desire year after year without hindrance either from regulation or consumer rejection.

Responsible desire is a new way that we think about the way advertising works and a way of developing challenging and engaging strategies and creative work. Above all responsible desire is about better work and more successful clients. Applying responsible desire to your work There seems to be a general interest in making advertising and marketing more responsible but when it comes down to creating work few people seem clear on what is expected of them. There are two ways to approachresponsible desire. # 1) Not doing harm At a basic level creating responsible desire is about being aware of the unintentional consequences of the advertising you are creating. Is there anything about ads, the idea, their casting, the dialogue or even the media plan for instance that is likely to show a lack of respect to people who will see it? For instance every time that an ad is played out that suggests that the average Briton is white, all men are incompetent and all women are interested in the quality of their wash we do harm. Its important to understand that this is not about creating bland advertising that is uncontroversial or is overflowing with lowest common denominator political correctness. # Responsible advertising can be controversial especially when it is exposing the lazy conventions of the rest of our industry and the many advertising and marketing conventions that people never question. The easiest way to approach responsible desire is simply to be aware of the unintended consequences of the ad you are making and doing something to prevent this. The majority of advertising that does harm does so out of laziness not intent.

$ This is a far more challenging area because its about how the client presents their product or service to the world and requires the client to be far more engaged in the concept of responsible desire. # Let’s take strategies first. Here responsible desire is about creating and manipulating brands so that their appeal is wholly or in part because of the ‘good’ that they do or the respect that they show the world around them. Of course some client relationships don’t always allow for such fundamental influence on the brand strategy but they usually allows us to create work that exhibits responsible desire. For instance, at hhcl we have always rejected the sort of advertising that promises a Client’s products will give its customers a better and more fulfilling life – so called image advertising. # When it comes to developing creative work responsible desire can be about ensuring that you aren’t using dishonest or misleading techniques to sell the brand in question. It is clumsy manipulation that most increases consumer cynicism towards the work we do. The historic hhcl advertising for Egg for instance challenged the cynicism consumers have about financial services advertising by overtly attacking the techniques that these brands use to communicate with customers. # We exposed the claims and stereotypes that they use to peddle their wares in ads like token black man (which won a Council for Racial Equality Award for its troubles). Responsible desire can also be more directly concerned with society and the environment, using these as central to the creative idea.

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In the past hhcl’s work for Fuji used the opportunity that photography presents to challenge stereotypes and preconceptions. While our work for Homepride cook in sauces dramatised the authenticity of the product by using ethnically diverse British families. Both were engaged in fostering greater cohesion in our society by representing its diversity and the need to accept difference. # What about greenwash? Greenwash is the essentially ethical spin. It is where companies present themselves as ethical without any, or at least a commensurate, change in their behaviour. It is vitally important that you avoid greenwashing clients and so like all advertising it is our responsibility to ensure that any strategy, creative idea or execution is credible. # [ So should you just handle ethical clients? ] # It is the responsibility of all businesses to address the ills on their doorsteps, to look at their sectors and clean up the harm that they do. The concept of responsible desire is an attempt by an advertising and marketing communications agency to reform advertising and marketing. It is not an attempt to reform business as a whole and it is not our responsibility to try and do this. # Of course I believe that businesses that build more ethical brands using more ethical means will be the long term winners and people in our industry should want to be a part of the success of any organisation that is engaging with this process. More than that responsible desire is about elevating the debate on ethics beyond one of risk management towards one of demand generation because brands that do good should use this as way of building business – after all trust is the bedrock of all brands.

PLEASE PLEASEDRINK DRINK COMPULSIVELY. COMPULSIVELY.

[A NATIONAL STUDY PUBLISHED IN JANUARY 2006 CONCLUDED THAT GREATER EXPOSURE TO ALCOHOL ADVERTISING CONTRIBUTES TO AN INCREASE IN DRINKING AMONG UNDERAGE YOUTH]

[ORIGNALLY AN AMERICAN APPAREL CAMPAIGN POSTER]

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[SHALL WE EXPLOIT WOMAN AS A TOOL TO SELL MORE THINGS OR DO YOU HAVE MORALS]

Advertising Morals / Richard Huntington

[IMAGES ARE JUST PIXELS REPRESENTING HOW A PERSON LOOKS, IS IT FAIR TO MISLEAD THE CONSUMER BY CHANGING THE REALITY OF THAT PHOTO ]

[

Advertising and ethics have never been close bedfellows in the popular imagination

hen I entered the industry it was characterised by a culture derived from the bar (not the agency one the legal one) – that all businesses deserved representation as long as their product was legal. This may sound perfectly sensible to you but it has always left me cold, it is after all the sort of moral degeneracy that led to the ad industry causing countless deaths flogging cigarettes decades after the harm they caused was well understood. # So, many of us that followed this generation that was happy to sell their grandmother to make a fast buck, created personal moral codes. Mine always involved refusing to have anything to do with tobacco and declining to work in any company that dabbled in it.

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[ NOTHING BUT

Fortunately most good agencies had anti-tobacco policies in place by then. But I also believe that [advertising has some more universal moral responsibilities]. Moral responsibilities that go beyond adherence to the law and delivering a return to our clients. # A recent debate amongst our planning department about how brands engage with the LGBT community stirred something in side me – a moral responsibility I hold very dear. When it comes to ethnicity, gender, sexuality or disability advertising has a responsibility to embrace and represent all of society and make work that doesn’t consciously or unconsciously alienate any of it. # This is informed by two fundamental values – a belief in social progress and a belief that because of its power and ubiquity no advertising is socially or culturally neutral. Making advertising more representative of the society it serves tends to follow two clear stages.

[ADVERTISING’S MORAL RESPONSIBILITY WRITTEN BY RICHARD HUNTINGTON FIND MORE AT ADLITERATE.COM]

PIXEL-BEAUTY ]

The first is to actively break taboos that hold society back and in which the inclusion of people that are different to the norm is to make a point. The second is about normalising those groups as an unremarkable part of contemporary life. # When a brand shows a gay or lesbian couple getting married it is usually doing the former, calling out that it supports the LGBT community and making a point about society, itself and by inference the competition. When a brand creates an ad in which the couple portrayed talking about insurance or washing up liquid happens to be same sex, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s normalising. You can always spot the difference because if the gag doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make sense if the couple arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t gay you are still in the taboo breaking stage. # So how are we doing in the UK business? [The sad fact of the matter is that very little of the work made by the industry attempts any of this,] content to peddle a sterile and comfortable view of Britain that UKIP seems to pine for.

This is issue both about the creation of the work and then its casting, in which the subconscious default is always to portray our society as male, pale and stale or populated by housewives with kids (which is still, I kid you not, a media buying audience in the UK). # And when brands do engage with subjects like race and ethnicity, gender roles, sexuality and disability the vast majority are doing this to make a point rather than making it part of their marketing bread and butter. Good in many ways but rather immature when 11% people in the UK are non-white (rising to 40% in London), 6% are LGBT, over half the population are women and we have just held the most successful Paralympics in history. # [For the sake of our society, culture and the health of our brands we must do better day by day] and campaign by campaign to honour this moral responsibility to break cultural taboos and embrace all of the people we seek to serve and to represent.

interview / Richard Huntington

ichard Huntington is the Chief Strategy Officer for Saatchi & Saatchi and the former head of planning at the legendary agency HHCL. With 25 years experience in advertising he remains a staunch advocate of the business in the face of the naysayers and neophiles, partly out of powerful conviction and partly out of sheer contrariness. He is a member of the IPA’s Strategy Group, a frequent judge of the APG awards, a regular columnist for a variety of trade publications and commentator on brands and advertising. # From your experience in the field of design do you think it’s important that graphic designers should establish a moral compass in respect for who they design for? # A moral compass is essential in business full stop. And doubly so in businesses that have such a profound impact on individuals and society like advertising and design. See the previous arcticle of mine on advertising’s moral responsibility. That said if you work in a business that serves capitalism as I do (albeitit also serves government, society, charities and NGOs) you have to accept what capitalism is and does.

In your experience have you ever turned down a job because you didn’t agree with the employer’s ethics, if so were there any unexpected consequences? # I haven’t turned down employment because of the ethics of an agency. But I have refused to consider an agency because of its ethics and made association with particular clients or categories a resignation issue - particularly tobacco. And agencies I have worked for definitely turn down clients that don’t accord with their ethics.

# Have you ever designed something that later in time you regretted because of the influence it had on people? # Not really. I once had an ad banned because it was thought to encourage bullying which was an unintended consequence of its humour. If it actually had caused any bullying I would have regrettted that.

# What would you say to a recently graduated design student about design responsibility? # design has a fundamental responsibility to users first and everyone else including the client second. Your client is the user, always.

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[INTERVIEW GRANTED BY RICHARD HUNTINGTON FIND MORE AT WWW.ADLITERATE.COM]

Shell

V Power TURBO POLLUTER + £17,00

[ WORSHIP ]

[ DESIRE ]

[ LOSE YOUR SELF-ESTEEM ]

# consumer subversion - sticker kit

[ DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE THIS SHIT? ] [ ALL THEY WANT IS YOUR MONEY ] [ SATISFIED YET?] [BUY, BUY, BUY ] [ YOU ARE NOT BEAUTIFUL ] [ DESIRE ] [ ENGAGE, DESIRE, CONSUME, REPEAT ] [ YOLO, CONSUME! ] [ WORSHIP ] [ WANT THAT ON CREDIT? ] [ BUY TO IMPROVE YOUR EXISTENCE ] [ THIS IS ALL JUST AN ILLUSION ] [ PLEASE FORM AN ORDERLY QUEUE ] [ NEVER COMPLETELY SATISFIED? ] [ NOTHING BUT PIXEL-BEAUTY ] [ DON’T THINK , JUST BUY! ] [ LOSE YOUR SELF-ESTEEM ] [ NEVER LOOK BACK ]

[ STICK THEM ON AS MANY ADVERTS AS YOU CAN, THE MORE YOU DO THE LESS THEY OWN YOU. HASH TAG YOUR YOUR PHOTOS OF REBELLION WITH ON TWITTER WITH #CONSUMERSUBVERSION.]

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©*N$UM€® D!V€®$!*n

IF OUR

COFFEE

ISN’T PERFECT. WE’LL JUST TAKE, YOUR MONEY

REGARDLESS. REMEMBER ALWAYS DRINK STARBUCKS. [ DESIRE ]

[ DON’T THINK , JUST BUY! ]

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THANK YOU FOR COMPLYING WITH STARBUCKS

Why is consumerism bad? / Wesley .a Fryer

[we should not sucumb to the p Is consumerism bad? Ask a Marxist supporter of a critical educational theorist like Paulo Freire, and you will probably receive a shocked look that says:“Of course! How could you think otherwise?”

e in agreement that capitalism is not inherently evil, and that it produces “the good life” for a large number of people. I am not sure many people sit around wondering and thinking about the value or problems inherent in capitalism and the consumeristic dynamic it fuels and relies on. Of course I could be wrong about this, I have not even taken a straw poll or searched online to see if anyone else has polled US citizens on this lately. Ask your typical holiday shopper in a US mall this December, and the reaction might be something like, “Say what?” # I think most US citizens tend to have started to read Patrick Morley’s book,

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The Man in the Mirror, this fall, and he makes the claim early on that “the rat race” in which we are basically all embroiled is not the calling to which we are each divinely called. It is not necessary to use theological arguments to critique and indict consumerism as a lifestyle– there are plenty of secular critiques of consumerism and “the rat race” which are valid on their own. I think Morely’s points are well made, however– basically that we should not succumb to the pressures of consumeristic society, that encourage us to buy today on credit instead of saving for something tomorrow– and thinking that in “climbing the ladder” of our chosen vocation and acquiring more “things” in life, we will/can realize deep satisfaction in our lives. # For now I will focus briefly on some nontheological critiques of consumerism that readily come to mind. These are off the cuff, and I am sure with more reflection and discussion more will

[ADVERTISING’S MORAL RESPONSIBILITY WRITTEN BY RICHARD HUNTINGTON FIND MORE AT WWW.ADLITERATE.COM]

[ BUY TO IMPROVE YOUR EXISTENCE ]

pressures of consumeristic society] come to mind, but here is a brief list. Before going into them, I would point out I agree with Morley, that since World War II when “the Madison Avenue marketers” got together with the owners of mass media, consumerism has really accelerated in US culture. I would agree that consumerism has always been an element of capitalism for time eternal, but the almost inescapable barrage of advertisements we are faced with today in US culture: on TV, in magazines, on Internet websites, at movie theaters, on billboards, the radio, etc # make the tangible influence of marketers and therefore consumerism much more powerful than, say, they were in the 1930s. (Of course I wasn’t alive then, but that is my understanding.) So, now for a partial list. Here are some problems I identify with consumerism...

# 1. A consumeristic society tends to view human beings as means rather than ends. The highest value for a consumeristic society is ever growing levels of consumption, which fuel expenditures and therefore bolster business profits. To this extent, it seems to me that people are valued not for the inherent value they have as human beings, but rather for the instrumental value they can bring to the economy as consumers / buyers. Individuals in the society don’t have to buy into this value system, of course, but I think it is implicit in a capitalistic / consumer-driven economy. And of course I would counter that human beings are valuable intrinsically, not merely instrumentally.

[COKE SPENT $2.9 BILLION ON ADVERTISING IN 2010 AND SOLD SOLD 1.7 BILLION SERVINGS OF COCA‑COLA EVERY DAY]

[consumeristic societies tend to promote We tend to have way too much focus on instrumental values these days, I think. Even education is seen as beneficial mainly for its instrumental value: getting a better job, i.e. helping the economy. Of course improving one’s standard of living and aspiring to provide in economic terms more substantially for one’s family is noble– but I think there needs to be room for and an acknowledgment of the intrinsic value of things like education– as well as at a more basic level, of human beings. I don’t think this acknowledgment is inherent within a consumeristic society– I think the balance is tilted toward instrumental valuation. This may seem esoteric to some, but I think it is fundamental and very important.

# 2. Consumeristic societies tend to encourage people to live for the moment, to seek immediate gratification, to not save money but instead spend it on the desires of the moment

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Whether it is going out to eat (always easier and often more appealing than having to prepare a meal at home, but usually more expensive) or purchasing additional gifts for the Christmas season, this pressure to spend and consume is always with us.

# 3. Tied to objection #2 above, consumeristic societies tend to encourage people to pile up high levels of unsecured debt. I don’t think I am exaggerating to say we live in an era that is unprecedented in the easy availability and large quantity of available credit. Do people have to use their credit cards or even own one? Certainly not. We are all free agents, whether we acknowledge this or not. But what do most people do? This article from March 2004 / USA Today makes the point clearly. Too many Americans go into too much debt.

dissatisfaction] # 4. Consumeristic societies tend to promote dissatisfaction and discontent as a secular religion. How else can marketers get us to buy? By convincing us there is something out there we need to purchase. By continually driving home the message (mostly to women) that they are not thin enough, not pretty enough, not young enough, etc to really be happy. By promoting the message that “you deserve it,” “just do it,” you know you want that new product so just go out and get it. # We never see television advertisements or marketing pitches at any time that champion the idea, “You are so blessed in your life today! Celebrate the blessings of today and be content with what you have” because that very idea is antithetical to the fundamental premises of consumeristic society.

One of those premises is: make people dissatisfied with what they have or don’t have, and they will go out and buy something new. I think I could go on with more reasons, but my children are ready to go run holiday errands and if I write more no one may read the ramblings…. # A critical point to end on, however, which I have grappled with a fair bit this last academic term, is: What viable alternatives exist for wealth generation to the capitalistic economy? I don’t think there are any. Certainly there ways in which the unbridled / unregulated market can and should be checked through governmental regulations… but that is a topic for another post and another day.

# [ SATISFIED YET?]

CONSCIOUS CONSUMERISM / Vinil Patel We have the power to help our communities by shifting our spending patterns. Consumption links us to an interconnected web of business transactions that ultimately has the potential to become a reflection of our personal beliefs

irecting money towards products sold by indepen dent, small retailers will create a consumer lifestyle in synchronicity with a better world. Every purchase we make gives us the chance to affect change, but for this to happen requires us to [think about the consequences of our actions.] Creating a better world through shopping sounds to good to be true, but it is possible. The only thing required is thinking before consuming. Greater conscious awareness of our consumption can be a catalyst for global change. # The current system relies on apathy and ignorance to generate huge profits for a tiny group of wealthy elite. We can instigate radical change by taking the time and effort to learn how our consumption impacts local communities. # Shopping at smaller, independently owned businesses taps us into a very different supply chain where a lot of the thinking required to become a conscious consumer has been taken care of for us. These stores are operated by members of our community, people who think like us because they are us. They are passionate about their businesses and more aware of how the products they sell are produced. By purchasing what we need from these smaller establishments, our money supports a supply chain that benefits our communities and helps create a better world. Smaller businesses are engaged in a constant life and death struggle against large corporations.

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If we want to help our communities thrive and support friends and neighbours, we have to change our shopping habits. # Another way to make conscious consumption happen is to stop buying anything advertised on television. Advertisements are designed to [penetrate our consciousness by stoking desires] and prejudices through the use of images that are a caricaturization of the consumer lifestyle. # The billions spent on advertising do nothing to improve the quality of products or the lives of workers. All of that money is used to boost the sales of the most profitable products made by multinational corporations. Advertisements only inform us of which products are the most profitable, they tell us nothing about how products are made, how workers are treated, or anything else that would help us make conscious decisions. If we want change it is up to us to change. By thinking clearly and taking matters into our own hands and engaging in conscious consumption we will make a better future. [Every purchase we make is a reflection of ourselves]; if we want to live in a better world we must consume with more than our immediate gratification in mind. Mindless consumption is how we got to where we are and doing more of it will not make a better future. # Consumption should be limited to only what we need, purchased from people we know and made from materials and ingredieants that are good for our health and the health of the planet. Living consciously requires activating the imagination to understand the complex reactions generated by our actions. # We have to realize and visualize the fact that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re connected to what we consume through a complex, interconnected web of transactions linking people and materials,

[CONSCIOUS CONSUMERISM WRITTEN BY VINIL PATEL FIND MORE AT WWW.THEMINDFULWORD.ORG/

purchase we make satisfies our needs and desires from around the world together in a chain that ultimately connects us to the Earth. When we pick something off a shelf, or off a rack, taking the time to understand the impact of that experience in deeper terms can make all the difference. Every but it also gives us a chance to connect to the people and resources required to create what we consume. # Our consumption can help other people and heal the planet, if we take the effort to think more broadly about what we’re consuming. Approaching daily consumption with an understanding of how things are made and who profits from our consumption will cause a seismic shift. [Conscious consuming will shake the foundation of the business establishment.] The thought of spending money to solve local and global problems is not a pipe a dream. Purchasing power is real power. # As we begin to consume products made with more than just profits in mind, we’ll begin to see massive improvements in our communities. Independently owned retail outlets will provide space for locally produced goods, communities will develop skills and knowledge, workers will be treated better and more environmentally sustainable products will be sold, because this how neighbours naturally do business with one another. # Praying and voting for a better future might work, but both religious and political institutions are closely wed to the established economic paradigm and have little interest in changing the business practices of multinational corporations. # Belief in the invisible hand is also a fallacy because free market theory was designed to benefit massive business enterprises, like slave plantations.

The invisible hand is extremely efficient at allocating natural resources to large corporations and profits to the top one per cent, but it does nothing to help our communities. # Putting our collective faith in the current paradigm is a waste of our psychic energy. To make spending curative means becoming curious and creative. [Imagine a world where our consumption was a mirror reflection of our beliefs.] To make this happen requires a deeper understanding of what we consume—this holds especially true of food. # Not long ago we understood where the products we consumed were made, how they were made, what materials and ingredients were used, and how the workers were treated. We can go back to this way. # Conscious consumption requires a little more effort, but the rewards are well worth it. In its most basic form conscious consumption requires thinking in terms of a new trinity: our body, the bodies of our children and the body of the Earth. It’s the health of these three things that will ensure a better future. We have the power to give shape and form to the landscape our children will inherit, all that is required is a psychic realignment. # Step one is realizing every purchase we make can affect positive change. The easiest way to make this change become reality is to shift our consumption to small, independent retailers that sell brands not advertised on television (this holds especially true for food and politicians). # Healthy consumption means consuming products less processed, less advertised and made closer to home. A shift in consumer consciousness will cause a revolution that will put us on a healing path as we continue our journey through space.

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[ OBJECTIF

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CHILDHOOD OBESITY / student contribution

When it comes to obesity and associated illnesses, individuals are held responsible for unhealthy eating habits and lack of exercise. But what choice do we have in a world of materialism and consumerism that is dominated by major multinational companies with respect to eating?

n a news article posted to CBC on March 6, 2013 called ‘Food cravings engineered by industry‘, the author claims “food companies use deep and pure science to understand how we’re attracted to food and how they can make their foods attractive to us”. [ YOU ] Adults have the developmental capacity to identify the persuasive nature of these food advertisements regardless of how truly manipulative they might be, the question remains about how these food companies market to children? Do the take advantage of the their lack of capacity to interpret advertisements? After all, with the dawn of new media, there is a responsibility to the older generation to shelter the younger generation from the onslaught of commercial advertisements. [Persuasive techniques used by food companies to market to children.] Food marketers target children from various venues including TV, Internet, schools and stores.

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Food companies use premium offers (toys, bonuses, tickets to shows, games, etc.) to boost sales of energy-dense low nutrient foods. A prime example is McDonald’s children’s meal with toys. Hobin et al. (2012) did a study to demonstrate the impact of McDonald’s toy premium on buying behavior of children. [ ENJOY ] The food industry also uses product placement in movies, TV shows, music and video games to increase children’s preference for the advertised foods. In addition, they use promotional characters including cartoons and celebrities to attract attention, and improve brand recognition of products. Characters in food advertisements appear happy and of healthy weight to create emotional appeal. The emotional, food product, visual and audio appeal are intended to make self-resilience difficult. [ Directed marketing makes it difficult to avoid unhealthy foods ] , which then deters children from reaching for fruits and vegetables as recommended by the Public Health Agency of Canada. [ DRINKING ] Children are heavily bombarded with energy dense-poor nutrient foods, which has resulted in companies making unhealthy eating the easiest way of eating. This clearly indicates that consumers do not have as much of a choice as they are lead on.

[ LIFE BEGINS HERE ]

This makes me want to know what interventions have been proposed and what sorts of actions have been taken at the public health level to [ regulate heavy marketing of food products to children? ] Proposed interventions and regulatory actions in the US and Canada in response to food marketing to children. [ COCA COLA ] The obesity epidemic in Canada has been supported by many studies to be linked with consumption of energy dense, nutrient poor foods. [ Research shows that the growing trend in childhood obesity is associated with marketing ] of unhealthy food to children from many venues including TV, Internet, stores and even schools. In Canada regulations of food advertisement to children is self regulated by the food industry itself. These regulatory efforts are not sufficient enough to protect children from the negative impacts of food advertisements. [ YOU WANT ONE, RIGHT NOW! ] Therefore organizations such as Canada Institute of Health Information (CIHI) and the Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance of Canada (CDPAC) recommend that the federal government and other governments in Canada should prohibit the direct marketing of unhealthy foods to children in order to protect them. Specifically, CIHI recommends banning advertising to children during peak viewing hours or by spending an equal amount of time promoting healthy foods and exercise to address the issue of childhood obesity.

In addition the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends governments take action to reduce the impact of marketing of unhealthy food to children. In the U.S. schools are banning soft drink and snack foods as a measure towards protecting children from the negative health impacts of food advertisement. Legislation has been passed requiring calorie labels on restaurant menus, and other efforts such as taxing high calorie foods are becoming part of the national policy debate. [ CONCLUSION ] There is not much choice when it comes to eating behaviors. Children are of special concern due to not having the developmental capacity to interpret and understand the persuasive intentions of food advertisements. They are easy targets for food companies to attract and [ plant the seed of consumerism into their minds allowing it to grow with time. ] While it is the governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s responsibility to regulate food marketing to children, at an individual level, we can protect our children to some degree from the negative impacts of food advertisement by monitoring the amount of time spent on TV and internet and teaching them about healthy eating and the persuasive intentions of food advertisements.

Design STudent’s view / Juri itin

[ BELLS, WHISTLES. BOOBS, BOOBS, GILDED KITTENS IN SPANDEX, DANCING NEON BABIES! ]

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[I AM EYE CANDY] Your destiny is safe with me. Safely with me, intimately, intermediary. Almost as if it were my own thought, holding you up to the strip light. Nude as the news, the modesty of seeing through It was not me personally that made your kids fat, your goody-goody, not asking if your rumpypoisoned the folks of some messed up regime pumpy just got real. Let me savour the notion. and turned us lot into emotionally incontinent The word begets flesh, pavlovian reflux, catch a display lickers. My, all those excuses. Is it not us bite, quick-snap. Graspingness. Take it, whenever, or the trade or what not to see through it all? or never again. More than pretty, this is YOU NOW Are we keeping secrets now? Or, you know, being and sometimes you are US FOR GOOD. Just keep used like some office sex toy. Merchant bankers the face. No, but really – it’s nothing personal snapping key points at us. Or maybe that’s (as the mafia says)and most probably we share nothing but foreplay. We knew you would the in-joke already. Would you be able to listen assume that. That’s okay. Oh dear, morals. What otherwise? History is not written by the winners. makes a good guy. From what? Hard enough as it Only arranged. And the code to it the spoils of a is, swamped by cliché, humming my dogma. Self replicating. jingles like quotes. Bogged down in fads and # fancies just to get through the day. Just like you. Why? Okay, so there are my guys, coming into Now they want me to make a stance. Have an a role to ask questions. We have the vernacular attitude even. What am I going for? It’s called of an average between us. And that notion of graphics, baby. Can we leave it at that maybe? taste, oh weird, elusive notion, that is ours. MUST Not sure if this has to do for now. Design, the BE. What else is there? Our course, vocation, word alone, it has so much off-taste. Basically bottom-up strategy – to understand the status we came together here to look good. Trying hard quo, with as many tools as are opportune to come enough for that. Being good, now that’s written abreast of it, in our range. Nice if we can keep the on another brief. Sometimes we get lucky and concepts of a noble savage (and I respect that see through to advocate change. And hey, that above any patronising “house style” for now) and too comes in the same flavours, can you believe be checked against.. yeah, um, that. Why not, the it? Otherwise?However pink and blue, tasty, slim, noble Ellipsis (…) can be an omission, unfinished cleaned up beyond disbelief, hyped up or downthought, a leading statement, slight pause, or a to-earth your daily dose gets. Whatever this petty nervous or awkward silence. Design. What is it to cynicism made the agent demand, the punter you? assume, that also is but part of the cover. Gurning # at that kerning? Hit me. Pushing product, are we That’s just what I drop when someone (mostly now? Comes to shove. You looked first me) asks if it’s okay to do this for that client in anyways. I am an attention whore, just to get by. those manners. Our delusions of adequacy begin To have any freedom we are given to choose, it with the source. Don’t be misguided, kids, all our isn’t well advised for me to ask too much either. heroes keep skeletons in their closet. And with these predilections... It was not me personally that made your kids fat, poisoned the folks of some messed up regime and turned us lot into emotionally incontinent display lickers. My, all those excuses. Is it not us or the trade or whatnot to see through it all? Are we keeping secrets now? Or, you know, being used like some office sex toy. Merchant bankers snapping key points at us. Or maybe that’s nothing but foreplay. We knew you would assume that. That’s okay.

Oh dear, morals. What makes a good guy. From what? Hard enough as it is, swamped by cliché, humming my jingles like quotes. Bogged down in fads and fancies just to get through the day. Just like you. Now they want me to make a stance. Have an attitude even. What am I going for? It’s called graphics, baby. Can we leave it at that maybe? Not sure if this has to do for now. Design, the word alone, it has so much off-taste. Basically we came together here to look good. Trying hard enough for that. Being good, now that’s written on another brief. Sometimes we get lucky and see through to advocate change. And hey, that too comes in the same flavours, can you believe it? Otherwise? # However pink and blue, tasty, slim, cleaned up beyond disbelief, hyped up or down-to-earth your daily dose gets. Whatever this petty cynicism made the agent demand, the punter assume, that also is but part of the cover. Gurning at that kerning? Hit me. Pushing product, are we now? Comes to shove. You looked first anyways. I am an attention whore, just to get by. To have any freedom we are given to choose, it isn’t well advised for me to ask too much either. And with these predilections, ...

[I TAKE MY FIRST STEP]

[NEVER STOP

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PAGE £3.00 [THE SUBTLE PSYCHOLOGICAL POWER OF SUGGESTION WRITTEN BY LEEHOPKINS FIND MORE AT LEEHOPKINS.COM LEE HOPKINS THE AUTHOR OF OVER 130 ARTICLES ON BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, AND IS RECOGNISED WORLD-WIDE AS ONE OF AUSTRALIA’S LEADING EXPERTS IN ONLINE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, INCLUDING SOCIAL MEDIA OR WEB2.0 AS IT’S ALSO KNOWN. TO CONNECT WITH HIM, PLEASE EMAIL HIM AT LEE AT LEEHOPKINS.COM. VISIT HIS SITE AT WWW.LEEHOPKINS.COM TO FIND MANY MORE ARTICLES ON BUSINESS COMMUNICATION. HE ALSO BLOGS AT WWW.LEEHOPKINS.NET. WHILST THERE, WHY NOT PICK UP A COMPLIMENTARY COPY OF HIS ‘MASTER THE ART AND SCIENCE OF TWITTER FOR BUSINESS’, WHICH EXPLAINS ALL ABOUT THIS LATEST SEISMIC CHANGE TO THE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION LANDSCAPE]

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