I see consumerism

I have to be honest with you. Before I took this class I never really thoroughly thought about the effects marketing and advertisement have on me, or the global community. Of course we talked about this once or twice in school, but who cares about what the teacher says as a 14 year old who is madly in love with that boy two rows in front of her? It´s probably safe to say that I fell for all the tricks the marketers played on me. I was the perfect target for commercials. Isn´t that sad?

This class definitely changed my naive faithful following of the shiny advertisement promising the best once-in-a-lifetime-deal, to questioning all what might be influencing in one or another way. I see advertisement hidden or evident everywhere and I immediately think of our class and what we as a critical community would say about that commercial. Would we tear it apart for being not diverse enough or because it is showing a sexist view of a woman, or would we approve of it? And then I figure out where I am standing  with this specific advertisement and react in an appropriate way. (Most of the times that means not buying whatever the best deal ever is).

I guess that´s a healthy reaction to the consumerism culture. Consumerism is something, which needs to be questioned to be fought. If everyone would start asking questions and start working around those advertisements, maybe the world would change back to a world with healthy and good values. Maybe then a child could grow up doing what it wants to do not buying what it sees all over the possible advertisement sights. Maybe instead of implanting advertisements in school they should start teaching mandatory classes like this one. Maybe this could be our détournement of the whole consumerism culture.

In the end I am still trying to get stronger and more resistent to commercials, but I am sure that I will be better in the future. I guess as soon as you start noticing and mocking product placing in every movie you see, you are ready to confront those consumer enticements. I see consumerism and I will fight it.