Breaking the Glass

I am sitting here in my comfy chair. Finally a home after almost two weeks in the States. Jet lag has not yet fully kicked in, though the slight confusion is nagging somewhere in the back of my brain.

Airports and large cities do strange things to you. Walking around in the advertisement polluted communities makes me feel like a dirty window has been put in front of my instincts. My critical thinking works overtime to see through the idols, fashion ideal, beautiful hourglass (or in my own case V) shaped bodies and Rolex (tm) watches that are all required for my happiness as a civilized person on this mote of dust hurtling through space. As I walk through this anti-jungle of urban colour schemes, one thing in particular shocks me: It takes a conscious effort for me to see through the sex steaming windows put up by of adverting.  Don’t get me wrong, I am ALL ABOUT sex, basic instincts and human nature – I ENJOY being in touch with my primitive instincts.

But here is my concern: I am able to see these buttons being pressed with little, but not zero, effort. Am I unusual in my self insight and reflection – or am I really, as  I feel it, a stranger in a strange land of advertising? The numbers speak their own clear language: our consumption, political opinion and even self worth can ALL be swayed by the immense power of marketing.

What will we think a hundred years from now about advertising and marketing as we know it today? “How cool, we found this amazing technology that allows us to manipulate human thinking on a mass scale”… And what did we use it for? To make this world a harder place to live, to discourage rational thinking and play on peoples fears and self image to make money.

No one will save us from the manipulation, it seems to be yet another aspect of human nature – another way to crave power. We must learn to be self sufficient, learn the tools of the skeptic and rely on our inner state to guide us through the web of fear spun by society.

Unless…. Unless we can fight fire with fire, is there a way to turn advertising to a better use?