Consuming Is Our Culture

The title for my last post explains the development of my thinking throughout this course. The more articles we read and the more videos we watched, I came to terms with the fact that we were not learning about consumer culture. In fact, we were analyzing how consuming became our culture. Everything from our values, morals, perspective of ourselves and the world is determined by what marketers and advertisers decide is acceptable in society.

However, my relationship with consumer culture is a bit more complicated than it is for most Americans. I was not raised in a household where children were exposed to countless ads a day. I did not experience the pressure to be in style from school peers because we all wore the same exact uniform and shoes every day. I was not given fast foods for lunch at school or at home to replace home cooked meals. So my childhood literally was not part of consumer culture, it was just a culture where things did not matter. Now that I have experienced the contrary, I must say that that is a much better culture to be raised in and a culture I would like my future children to grow up in.

This is where I stand. I am a savvy consumer who has always understood the consequences that my actions in partaking in consumer culture bring to others around the world, especially in terms of labor abuse. However, I am savvy enough to also comprehend the alienation that comes with not looking like you do not want to be part of the norm. Even though today it seems that as a society we are more acceptable of people being different, advertisers have now created limitations of how different one should be. You see, marketers will always have an effect on me because not only do I want to be part of American culture, I love everything that has to do with the media. Sadly but true I decide how I want to be represented from what marketers produce - hair styling ideas, nail polish colors, makeup, fashion, and even body image. This may sound awful but I accept that consuming culture in America is a problem that is only going to get worse, so why not use it to my advantage?

I can choose how I want others to perceive me in different situations only from changing the way I style my hair. Seriously, I get more compliments when I have my hair straight then when I have it naturally curly. So what do I do? I wear my hair naturally curly majority of the time. You see, I said majority of the time not ALL the time because I understand how culture perceives women with naturally curly hair. This is what makes me in control about my own consumer habits. I understand every implication that comes with every decision that I make about my body image. I can control the way I represent myself to the world because I know everyone else in some way is conforming to some aspect of consumer culture as well.

I am happy that I can differentiate between using consumer culture to my advantage and just consuming as part to stay included within culture. But it upsets me that because most people have never experienced anything other than American culture, this differentiation would be a difficult one to make. American culture focuses too much on things as a form of personal value and status instead of experiences. Things does not provide an experience and that is the first lie that we need to understand in order to move in a different direction.

It was a pleasure being part of this class and I will truly miss it. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to everyone!