Does Your Stuff Define Who You Are?
June 3rd, 2008 by Nubby
In an age saturated with advertising everywhere you turn, you’d like to think that you’re one of the ’smart ones.’ You’re an individual that is impenetrable to the multimillion dollar marketing blitzes being doled out in an increasingly rapid succession.
Though 77% of Americans claim to be very perceptive to marketing pitches, many still end up being defined by their ’stuff,’ whether they realize it or not.
When making purchases, we sometimes rationalize our decisions by claiming that our choices are based on quality, price, comfort and convenience. We convince ourselves and those around us that these decisions have nothing to do with marketing. Apple products are preferred because of their superior quality (the sleek stylings are secondary). Coke is deemed to have the best taste (the billion dollar marketing budget doesn’t have any relevance). Manolos are the most comfortable, well-made stilettos (it doesn’t make any difference that Sex And The City’s Sarah Jessica Parker wears them as she struts through the streets of Manhattan).
The modern consumer is typecast by marketers as having become completely resistant to all advertising, but the truth is much deeper. Instead, they have fully embraced specific brands on their own, many of which lack mainstream ad campaigns. Marketers are quickly adapting to this new phenomenon and becoming more stealth in their techniques. Often, these tactics are so seamless that they have become imperceptible to the consumer. While they may feel that the lack of a defined campaign relates an aura of street cred and lacks the obnoxious connotations closely related to corporate powerhouses of the past, this is exactly what marketers are striving for.
Products are now regularly launched without an explanation as to what they are, what they do, or who should use them. The benefit of this approach is that consumers are invited to define it for themselves in a way that’s perceived as being a unique, individually focused experience. They have every reason to believe the product is a reflection of their values and needs because they’ve never been told any differently.
It’s natural to use possessions to aid in self-expression but there’s a fine line between doing this and in leveraging items to make ourselves into someone else. No matter what your views are, it’s important to remember that stuff is nothing more than…stuff.
Tags: Advertising, consume, marketing
June 3rd, 2008 at 7:54 pm
And George Carlin has the last word on “Stuff” – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac
June 3rd, 2008 at 8:11 pm
I remember being on a panel during my time at EMusic.com and being given a gift bag that had a pair of Hush Puppies shoes in it. I was thrilled because they were all the rage in the underground at the time so wearing them was of course cool, especially in England – Malcolm Gladwell covered the uptick for these classic shoes in his book The Tipping Point –
The first example Gladwell gives is the remarkable comeback of the classic shoe made by Hush Puppies. Sales jumped from 30,000 in 1994 to 430,000 in 1995 and to over 1,700,000 in 1996, and in that year they were voted Best Accessory at the Council of Fashion Designers. The phenomenon came as a total surprise to Hush Puppy executives, who were considering discontinuing the line. A hair stylist told two executives visiting New York that the shoes were “hip” in clubs and bars in Manhattan. The kids who began wearing them were probably wearing them because they were not fashionable, but the fad spread quickly. The tipping point was when two designers featured the shoes in their fashion shows.
June 4th, 2008 at 7:33 am
Here’s Doug Rushkoff on stuff, and I did a piece related to this recently, and another one (including quotes from Mr. Mark Lewman) not so recently.
What if I were to start wearing a pair of Fight Club khakis? Or how about a No Logo T-shirt?