I’ve been thinking about how marketing/advertising exploits our deep-seated insecurities in order to sell us things. This actually began with a dating app called Ivory, when I had an insight that people’s negative reactions to it were just manifestations of their insecurities of being judged as not being elite enough to be invited into the exclusive circle of “ambitious high-achievers”.

And now, because they hit the right buttons – insecurity about social status, insecurity about being forever alone – they’re getting column inches and FB posts. And I looked at the people reacting, like the animal experiments we used to study in Psych 1101E. Not quite like Pavlov’s dogs, not quite pigeons in Skinner boxes… this was a fear reaction.

And I resolved to be more aware of when a fear response is being elicited from me, when my insecurities are being exploited for capitalism. The question to ask now, when considering a purchase, is not “do I need this?” but rather “what problem does this solve?“. Let’s walk through the steps:

Chicken nuggets. They solve the problem of hunger, which is a basic need. I guess the follow-up question is “is there a better way of solving this problem” but my bad dietary choices are a matter for another day.

New lipstick. Solves the problem of not having a matte lipstick in that colour family. Which solves the problem of my being ugly, which will hopefully solve the problem of being forever alone. I guess the desire for deep meaningful relationships is a basic need, but the lipstick is too remote a cause. Do not buy – or at least, be honest about what a mere lipstick can do in terms of helping you feel better about yourself.