Denham’s Dentrifice.
I’m tired of it. I’m tired of seeing the pictures, and reading or hearing the words. Constantly. Everywhere I go, there they are. Repeating to me, over and over again, the things I should like. The way I should act. Where I should waste my money.
Denham’s Dentrifice.
It’s everywhere. It’s amazing how many places. Just looking around my desk in my room, where I should be safe from these words, they are there. They are written on boxes, on letters, on my computer. They continuously remind me that this or that product product exists, attempting to compromise judgement or actual preference with a false brand loyalty. Attempting to permeate my mind in such a way, that when I want a product of that type, theirs is the first to come to mind.
Denham’s Dentrifice.
There is a never ending torrent of these words and images. They pour from the televisions, from bilboards, from clothing, from movies, from newspapers, from websites, from radio stations, from just about anywhere I could possibly think of.
Denham’s Dentrifice.
It isn’t even just companies trying to win my money either. It’s politicians trying to win my vote. It’s special interest groups trying to change the way I think or do things. Or, worse yet, the way society thinks or does things.
Denham’s Dentrifice.
Image. That’s what most modern product advertising is for. It is to make the product seem like it’s the cool thing to do. It’s trendy; it’s what everyone else is doing, so I should do it too. Once the image is there, it doesn’t matter what the quality of the product is, all the cattle will buy it. Also, now that that image is there, we can charge more for it! Our product is set apart from the others, you should give us more money for it.
Denham’s Dentrifice.
By being too lazy to figure out what is actually a good product, the upright cattle of society have given more power and control to the large companies, consolidating choices and strenghtening the power of these companies.
Denham’s Dentrifice.
The worst is the advertising that tells society how to act. Most of that isn’t on a billboard or commercial. Most of that is hidden in forms of entertainment, suggesting ways to live or act. Offering characters to emulate. Showing us how happy they are, and how we can be just as happy as they are if we just act like them. Showing us how happiness is having some form of job and a family, perhaps. Once we are told what happieness is, and once we achieve that happiness, we can be nice, quiet, complaisant people.
Denham’s Dentrifice.
The thing that irks me the most is that the people who create these images and words, especially in entertainment media and the news, probably don’t even realize that they are doing it. They are a product of the same process that says “it is OK to create messages that have the intent of controlling society to do things I want them to do, or to see things how I see them.”
Denham’s Dentrifice.
Maybe the term to use isn’t advertising. Maybe I should have used brainwashing.
