"In Shanghai, the consumer is only eight years old. People need the basics imprinted on their brains." Thus speaks Tom Doctoroff, the China CEO of advertising company J Walter Thompson in the latest edition of a local magazine.
Now, do me a favor and just read that quote again so it is firmly imprinted in your mind.
Got it? Yes, in case you didn't know before, you are but a mere child, naive and uneducated as to the ways of today's material world. And luckily for you, the advertisers are here to show you how to buy your way to a better and happier future.
Well, I have news for you - don't believe a word of it!
Let me give you a quick psychology lesson. Let us go back to a time when man's basic need was that of survival. People didn't need an adman to tell them what they needed. It wasn't necessary to advertise food to hungry people and shelter and warmth to people feeling the cold. These were basic human desires that instinctively needed to be fulfilled.
Once satisfying these basic desires however, the procurement of comforts and luxuries entered the fray. The advertisers were born becoming the beguiling guide to the misguided. The disease of materialism took hold as people blindly looked for inner fulfillment and happiness through the incessant consumption of outer possessions.
I believe advertising is a real evil in today's society. It, subconsciously or otherwise, leads to people becoming discontented and disillusioned with their lot in life. It stimulates them to want things they don't have and in essence don't really need.
I've had the good fortune these past few years to see some of the world. One of my most magical experiences was a two-week trek in the Annapurna region of Nepal. There are no roads, no electricity and thus no encroachment from the outside world save for trekkers.
The people were undoubtedly poor, in the economic context of the word, but were rich in the joys of the simple, unaffected lives they led. Materially they had next to nothing, but spiritually they had everything. For them, life only existed within the confines of their valley. They had relatively little knowledge of the outside world and, bereft of television and written media, were all but removed from advertising.
I ended up leaving feeling quite envious of them.
Of course, it's nice to treat yourself once in a while, but before you rush out to buy that latest chunk of gadgetry, ask yourself - do I really and truly need it? The advertisers, of course, will say that they're not forcing you to buy their goods - that the choice to buy is yours.
I agree wholeheartedly. You do have that choice. The good news is, as Mr. Doctoroff points out, you are in your infancy and are therefore at the stage where you have the power to decide and shape your beliefs as to what you need and don't need.
What in time you'll hopefully come to realize is just how little you really need to enjoy life - that less is most definitely more.
(Shanghai Star January 17, 2003)
