Advertising And Materialism

   As people we all suffer from “shiny object syndrome”, which is where we see someone (especially if it’s a celebrity) using something and we want to buy it for ourselves.  The way that we are advertised to is making our society more and more materialistic.  Depending on how advertising is used, it can be both a drain of society or a promoter of prosperity.  It depends on exactly what you're advertising.  If you just advertising something to make a quick buck, then it's being used as a drain on society.  But if you are trying to promote something that is truly good for everyone, then it is used as a promoter of prosperity.  

   Any industry you look into, there's probably been an advertisement campaign that makes you feel like shit.  This is more projected in the beauty industry, where all they show are these beautiful, tiny, women in luxurious clothing and makeup.  This is an extremely harsh mentality for both the male and female genders.  Because on one hand, the men wont want any women who don't look like that.  And on the other hand girls are expected to look like that all the time, and when there’s one flaw, they get “canceled.”

   Ads also reinforces and pushes insulting political and ethical morals on the public.  For example in Asia they push more beauty/makeup brands for lighter skin.  Which means they don't have a lot of options for people of color.  In my opinion they are ignoring an entire market where they could make lots of capital but choose not to.  In a way they are being discriminatory towards people of color because they don't make makeup for darker skin tones.    

   If you’ve ever wondered if your social media and google searches are following you around, it's because they are.  These big companies like google, apple, and facebook will sell your data to advertising companies that correlate with your searches.  So if you search for diapers for example for a friend that is having a baby shower.  The algorithm will start aggressively advertising all kinds of diaper brands to you until it seems irrelevant.  Unless you're using a VPN, nothing is private to these big companies, and they will make money off of you whether you like it or not.  

   Last but not least is the “shiny object syndrome”, which is more relevant to social media. But when we see someone, whether it be someone you know or a celebrity, who has something you want. You can't help but feel a little envious of them and want that thing for yourself. For me personally, it's when I see someone who is my age and is so much more well off than I am. People also feel the need to post about their most recent purchase to obtain status. But what most people don't know is that status cannot be bought, it is an aura or a vibe that you portray and push out. So most people are just in the rat race to obtain this fake or hollow status, and for what? To look cool to the people you went to high school with? These factors are the driving forces for our materialistic society and most likely advertising itself and it's been going on for centuries.