Advertising And Everything Else

"Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need" ~ Chuck Palahniuk

I respect Chuck Palahniuk's opinion but I disagree with this statement. And am sure he's not the only one thinking that advertising is the reason why a modern man is obsessed with material possession. Or in other words, a consumerist society.

I would say that we (me being an advertising student and hopefully a future practitioner) advertisers are partially responsible for such behavior, but not fully. Because come on, if we think about it, if we don't have new stuff, we wont have anything to advertise. If engineers don't make new cars, then there wont be any car commercials. If fashion designers don't make their new line up of summer clothing, then there wouldn't be towering bill boards of half naked models on highways. And if writers don't write their new epic novel, then there won't be a print ad of a book in the literature section of the newspaper.

And we don't manipulate your mind into buying the stuff we advertise. We're just showing you your better options. Human beings are rational creatures and has the ability to decide on what is better, brand A or brand B.

We also don't create the need, society creates the need, we just.......help out a little in creating it.

And am getting tired of all those people who hates "the system" and that there is a big "evil greedy businessman" controlling everything for the sake of money. Come on people, the "system" is beautiful logistical flow of products. People create them, people advertise them, people sell them, people use them (and the service counterpart of it)  and we're all happy. We contribute to society and it's advancement through this flow. Maybe its a little rough around the edge right now, but soon, it would be greener and logical to most.

Advertisers doesn't create consumerism, society creates consumerism. If you're gonna blame advertisers for advertising a product, you should blame engineers too for creating your cars and laptops, heck, even blame doctors and chemist for making medicine and keeping you healthy, heck, now that we're playing the blame game, blame your parent's as well for bringing you to this society we call our home.