This week we took a look at the simple life by exploring the opposite of downsizing. Through the lens of Juliet Schor’s book The Overspent American and Harold Boihem’s documentary The Ad and the Ego we explore consumerism in America. Why we spend? What motivates us to purchase what we do? How do advertising symbols impact our decisions and lifestyle desires? These are a few of the questions we will tackle in addition to the evolution of spending in American culture.
The behavior of American consumers over the course of history has evolved with the nation’s increase in power and wealth but also in its citizen’s increase in desire for the affluent life. Ideas of the American Dream have never been so complex. In The Overspent American, Schor describes the evolution of keeping up with Joneses. The idea of the Joneses next door as the standard for competitive or comparative aspiration is a familiar one to most. The Joneses lifestyle can be described as comfortable with some perks. They may drive a nice car, own a nice home, send their children to private school, vacation to exciting places. Ultimately, their lifestyle is within reason and possibly even attainable by those attempting to keep up. It may require more hours, more saving, and even a promotion or two but they are only next door after all. So it’s not unrealistic to believe one day an admiring consumer would be able to obtain some aspects of their lifestyles. This is not to say the pursuit of keeping up with the Joneses never backfires or has negative consequences for consumers, but it’s to say the idea is within orbit of a possible reality.
Schor describes what she coins as a new American consumerism. Keeping up with the Joneses shifted to keeping up with those in our workplace first and then to those absolutely out of our spare, celebrities and the top percentage of earners. She also introduces that leaving the notion of keeping up with those next door shifted with an increased importance placed on individuality. We had to do better than the Joneses. “For many of us, the neighborhood has been replaced by a community of coworkers, people we work alongside and colleagues in our own and related professions. And while our real-life friends still matter, they have been joined by our media “friends”” (Schor 4).
Schor goes on to credit lifestyle advertising as a major influence in American’s consumption of goods and exposure to what she calls reference groups, groups others choose to aspire to in order to achieve similar lifestyles. This theory is right in line with arguments presented in The Ad and the Ego. The documentary takes a look at how advertising over time has worked to create consumers, teaching us the symbols and codes of those in various references groups. In the documentary, researchers share their insights into American consumerism through the deconstruction of American advertising. “Advertising sells more than just products. It sells values, ideas of success, love, images, concepts of who we are and should be,” states Jean Kilbouren, Ed. D. (The Ad and the Ego)
“Sidney Levy’s classic article ‘Symbols for Sale’ makes the now-commonplace point that marketers are selling ‘symbols’ as well as products, and that to be successful a business man must attach the right symbol to his product” (Schor 34). Further research has found that consumers are able to decode these messages and identify symbols to assign them to the appropriate reference group. Schor uses a study by Russell Belk where individuals were asked to assign material items to economic statuses and did so successfully. “Not surprisingly, children learn the language of symbolic consumption at an early age. Belk and his colleagues found that by second grade, boys and girls could associate different houses and Chevrolet model with owners” (Schor 36).
Advertising is everywhere: television, radio, phone apps, the internet, billboards and other outdoor posting and signs, email, etc. At any given point in our day, it’s likely that we’re being bombarded or subtly exposed to ads, logos, messages that reflect lifestyles, desires, and symbols representing the distinction in social class. These symbols inspire us, evoke feelings of desire for more and even dissatisfaction with what we have. They suggest that what we do have is not enough, that there’s always a need for more, and there is a way to obtain what we desire through purchasing materialistic items.
One of the researchers from The Ad and the Ego, Bernard McGrane, expresses that Americans are exposed to over 1500 ads a day. He says, it’s like breathing air and not noticing the pollution (The Ad and the Ego). This documentary was produced in 1997, so it’s not difficult to believe the number of ads seen a day has grown significantly. A CBS News report from 2006 states that we’ve gone from roughly 500 ads in the 1970s to nearly 5,000 in 2006 (Cutting Through Advertising Clutter). I’m sure data exists for today that is even higher.
So what’s the consequence of so much messaging aimed to get us to spend? According to The Ad and the Ego, there are many. Researchers shared that this level of exposure to advertising which plays on our social desires lead to the notion that “happiness can be bought” and “possessions offer solutions” (The Ad and the Ego). The danger is in the power of an image. When “seeing becomes believing. The film says we do not process images in the same way we do words. The images become more real, more absolute. This motivates consumerism but rarely satisfies the desire that goes beyond acquiring the purchase. The researchers point out that in the world of advertising transformation happens instantly. A promise is made that purchasing a particular item will instantly improve or change one’s status.
Both Schor and researchers in The Ad and the Ego agree that what makes advertising so powerful and consumerism prevalent is individuals’ denial of its impact. With over 5000 ad messages received today, those asked about its impact don’t deny the presence of the ads but do deny its effect on their views and on their spending habits. “Americans live with high levels of denial about their spending patterns. We spend more than we realize, hold more debt than we admit to, and ignore many of the moral conflicts surrounding our acquisitions” (Schor 83). The Ad and the Ego researchers also address moral conflicts citing harm to the environment through wasteful consumption and impact on developing countries, all in the name of acquiring more resources.
The Ad and Ego researchers see the first step to slowing consumerism and its negative effects as ending denial. Consumers must first recognize the influence of advertising on their behaviors and challenge the impact by thoughtful reflection on their needs. Schor offers nine principles to help consumers challenge the status quo and curve their consumerism. So, the good news is there’s help. Schor and The Ad and Ego researchers don’t paint a picture of the perfect downshifter or consumer but do offer an optimistic hope that change can take place. Such change must take place within individuals first and then can perhaps grow further to sweeping changes that impact larger quantities of people.
Works Cited:
Boihem, Harold The Ad and the Ego
Parallax Pictures Inc., 1997, Documentary Film
Johnson, Caitlin Cutting Through Advertising Clutter
New York: CBS News, 2006, Online Digital Resource
Schor, Juliet B. The Overspent American: Why we want what we don’t need
New York: HarperCollins, 1998, Print
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