Out of the presentations in class the one that stuck out to me the most was David's about the endangered animals. The reason this one stuck out was because it was a very different interpretation of the prompt and he decided to take another route than others while still addressing the issue. Also the prevention of the PowerPoint was done well with the background music and slides. I showed mostly the impact of consumerism on the environment instead of the personal aspect of consumerism. It was a very nice presentation.

blog 7

David Trend speaks about three viewpoints in consumer ideology. The view i believe Dittmar would endorse would be his view of condemnation. Trend says that the condemnation view "sees consumer culture as an expression of false consciousness." He later goes on to say that consumers don't act in their best interest and make choices based off of their poor judgement and lack of information. He then says, "These poor decisions result from a system of marketing and advertising that promotes false consciousness by distorting needs and instilling irrational desires." Dittmar has the same view of consumption. She believes that people today view material objects as the extension of the self. People buy things in order to create an identity for themselves. This also speaks upon the point made by Trend about consumption being politically biased, driven by competition, self-interest, and values or inequality. If everyone was equal, there wouldnt be over consumption because there would be no competition to be better or have the best. Both authors realize that consumption in some way is always an extension of our own personal beliefs in who we are and how we want to represent ourselves and the world as. If you feel as though life is a competition, youre going to compete.

Blog 6

The main argument that would be made from Jess Worth would be that although the Vietnamese seem as though their lives have benefited from the Nike factory jobs, it's only putting them in to where we are today in over consumption and inevitably pollution. The first point made in the Nike essay is that they're able to buy bikes and extend their houses. Although it's nice to pamper yourself, these should be the furthest things being worried about. The workers are still making $54 a month and working horrible hours being forced to work at times. They may be able to afford a new bike but at what cost to their human dignity? He also talks about how working in the field is an awful job to be doing but in reality that's how many cultures have survived for centuries and sustained themselves as well as society. When consumption comes in to play it leads to all kinds of other issues that America is facing already which destroys society.

Over Consumption

It's known that over consumption has effected our country and even the world environment. Although the environment is being harmed day by day from this over consumption, there is a deeper issue that needs to be solved in order to solve that one. The issue im speaking about is the reason why people are over consuming and the effects it has on us. Everybody always wants the newest product out. I'm try type of person that will refuse to buy something just because everyone else has it because i dont want to become one of many, my individualism is important to me. Even though i feel this way, i cant help but want it too for that same reason, everyone else has it. In order to stay on top people feel like they need to keep consuming products that come out and get them before everyone else. In the video it talks about a key selling point for people are their neighbors. They see what their friends or neighbors have and want it too. This plays in to the role of over consumption and aslo speaks volumes on their identities. When they are constantly trying to keep up with their neighbors in material objects it says that they arent one hundred percent with themselves. They are repeatedly buying new things to try to define themselves and by doing so they are losing themselves. No longer would someone plainly be that funny guy George, they would be "that guy with the Lexus and big house. I think his name is George." Over consumption clouds who we are and we become people of products. In Faustian Economics it speaks of the idea of limits. Wendell Berry says," improvement by outward expansion may no longer be a good idea." People have to know their limits and by constantly buy new products indulging in over consumption you are constantly testing your limits as well as the worlds.

All of the most successful advertising campaigns seem to be selling an idea rather than a product. If a product has a touching and relate-able story behind it then people are more inclined to buy it. Advertisers spend millions just on research to find out what appeals to each consumer and with that research they design their products so the masses will buy them.Companies such as Cheese Itz have begun to create a story behind how their products have been created as well as many others in order to build a relationship with the consumer. Companies have also created a lifestyle behind their product in which people identify themselves to be. One person can me this name band type of person while another is that band name type of person. In "Television, Advertising, and Identity"  there is one part that speaks upon this idea which says,"commercial television is predominately governed by the aesthetic of representational realism, of images and stories which fabricate the real and attempt to produce a reality effect." This means that advertisements attempt to make their product as real as possible by making up a story find it. Lets take a pair of shoes for example. If the pair of shoes were just shown people wouldnt be as inclined to buy them. If there was a story behind the shoes with a high school athlete beating a school record because of the shoes, people would remember it and want to buy them more. Advertisers manipulate the consumers by making them relate to the product being sold.

The Puppeteers of America

Now days, advertisers try to attract and hold on to customers using physiological tactics. Although many consumers may be angered by this because it may leave them feeling completely hopeless in the battle against it, i find it genius. I have been interesting in marketing for some time now mostly because of the psychological aspect of it. Matthew Blakeslee asks readers if marketers are taping in to that system unknowingly and answers yes himself. This may indeed be true but I would have to disagree. The main goal of marketers is to figure out what the consumer  likes and cater to those wants. In order to promote the exchange of their goods or services they come up with scheming ways to do so such as product placement, distribution, advertising etc. This is where advertising comes in. In order to sell or create a want for a product, there has to be knowledge of what the customer wants. For example, let's take a commercial for McDonalds. In these commericals there are happy families eating, women (specifically) laughing in to their salad bowls, people on cheap dates having the time of their life, singing and beat boxing in cars, etc. The person sitting on the couch is there right along with them like "wow, i remember when that was me at McDonalds." or "I remember the last time i was that happy" or even, "man, i wish that was me. Mcdonalds looks like its the place to be." They give off this image that McDonalds is a place full of joy and happiness, go there with family or friends and have the time of your life. It creates a feeling inside of you that goes along side other memories of happiness you may have and triggers that chain of memories. Blakeslee talks about the limbic system structure called the amygdala. The amygdala makes memories with strong emotional attachments a more prominent memory. Speaking about how these emotion ridden memories effect our new encounters he says,"...whenever you re-encounter that stimulus you will immediately associate it with the pleasure [or aversion] you first experienced. Now every time you think about or watch McDonalds commercials, subconsciously youre relating it to your own past memories of happiness.There is a quote in Anthony J. Greene's article about the connections we make which states,"It means that memory is integral to thought and that nothing we learn can stand in isolation; we sustain new learning only to the degree we can relate it to what we already know." Advertisers know that they have to trigger an emotion in the viewer in order for their product to be retained in the consumers mind. They also know that these have to be happy emotions if it is something they want someone to buy. The emotion completely depends on what kind of product, service, or idea is being sold because consumers have different motivations for buying or indulging in something. They play on who we are and how we came to be that person with the emotions involved. They just pull on our emotional strings like puppeteers, manipulating us to indulge in this world of consumption.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is something that is encouraged in society but at the same time is greatly discouraged.Uwe Herwig defines mindfulness as having, "purposeful, attentive, and nonjudgemental awareness of the moment" and in order to do so you have to be in-tune with your self and be firm in your identity as well as emotions. There are so many things in society that teach us to be mindful such as yoga, meditation, therapy, etc, which teach us to come in terms with who we are and be at peace with that in order for us to see the world clearly enabling us to be mindful eternally as well as internally. When your mind is in chaos that undoubtedly clouds your judgement and  you arent able to see things as they really. Society discourages mindfulness because of the fast paced, multifaceted aspect of life. There are constantly new things going on in the world that are unimportant but society follows like celebrities for example as well as the new technology coming out. These unimportant things fill our minds with crap clouding our judgement of who we are and our purpose for being. We are a consumer based society and that is all we think about whether we like it or not.