Mass Marketing: Is It Influencing You?

Why are we always looking for the next new thing? We as a society are influenced so heavily by mass corporations and I don’t even think we realize it. I went shopping today, July 18, and Kroger had Halloween themed Reese cups out. School supplies have been out for weeks now. I heard at least three commercials for Christmas in July. It’s sickening. There are very few holidays between May and September that they can market new things for. Especially since they’ve been selling summer to us since February. Why can’t we just be happy with the current season or even just the day? What’s wrong with enjoying mid-July just for the simple fact that it’s finally summer. I know not everyone loves summer like I do but if you do, you’ve probably been waiting for it to come and now that it’s finally here, I don’t want to think about Halloween. There’s no reason to buy Halloween candy right now. Do you know what happens if you do? That's right, you eat it and then have to buy more. That’s the entire point. School supplies are out now when school doesn’t start for two more months. I’m not sure if teachers send out a list of needed supplies anymore but if they do, you haven’t gotten it yet because teachers are on summer break. If you go ahead and buy what you think your kids will need now, you may get it right. You may also buy things you don’t need. Wal-Mart is counting on it. I know people who start Christmas shopping in July and sometimes even earlier. I’ve done it before because I like to get things done and feel less stressed. This works only if, come December, oh who am I kidding, come OCTOBER, when they start putting out Christmas stuff, and you have finished your shopping, you actually STOP SHOPPING. It’s been my experience that I end up just buying more because I don’t feel the pull on the purse strings quite as strong because the money has been spent throughout the year rather than all at once. In my opinion, Christmas has lost all meaning and is a terribly commercialized holiday that creates little more than stress in my life. Is that what it should be about? Even in a non-religious manner, Christmas should be about spending time with family, enjoying traditional foods, buying the people you love something because you want to, not because it’s an obligation. We spend too much time, energy, and money on trying to buy happiness, I think. Shopping used to be a go-to of mine when I was feeling sad. Now I have a house full of things, most of which I don’t care about and many I’d like to be rid of. Do any of these things make me truly happy? Very few. Most actually cause me undue stress because now I have to find a place to store them or a way to be rid of them. I could donate them but it’s hard to just give away money. I sell some on Ebay but that requires time. Some days it’s hard to make myself want to even deal with it. So I don’t. But then I ALWAYS feel like there’s something else that needs done. Sigh.

The moral of this narrative is that I need to buy less things. Things can’t make me happy. Experiences, relationships, good memories. Those are what make me happy. Have more of those 💜.