Media wants you to hate your life.
I know, I know. Youâre well aware of the ads featuring anorexic women who just left the salon and men who are 6'3" and have been hitting the gym 4x a week since they were three weeks old.
Thatâs not what Iâm talking about. Iâm talking away the more subtle ways that media gets into your head and stays there, directing you to spend money because you hate yourselfâŚand you donât even realize it. If you follow the breadcrumbs, youâll see how much media fools you with lies and even contradicts itself based on who itâs speaking to.
And by that, I mean this.
Take Unilever for example.
Unilever owns Axe. Axeâs commercials feature what? Beautiful young cool men who are being chased by man-hungry women who havenât eaten since the Woodrow Wilson Administration and who have long shiny hair.
And who does Dove feature in its commercials? âRealâ women of all shapes and sizes and colors who are proud of their scars, wrinkles, guts, and stretch marks.
So when Unilever speaks to men, it tells them âWomen ought to be thin, fit, horny, young, and flawless.â
But when it speaks to women, Unilever says âGirlâŚjust be you. Girl power! Donât worry about those flaws and moles and wrinkles! Youâre beautiful!â
And then it collects two checks. One from the men who objectify women, and one from the women who refuse to objectified.
Now, hereâs the subconscious part. Notice how there are NO MEN in the Dove âBe Youâ commercials. These women are overweight, sagging, they have stretch marksâŚthey look like regular people. Yet when theyâre all done up with makeup and hairâŚthen theyâre paired with men in the Axe ads.
This is intentional, folks. The message Unilever tells women is âYeah you can love yourselfâŚand be by yourself. But if you look like the women in the Axe commercials, then youâll get a man who looks like the men she has.â
So after you post the âno makeupâ picture on IG (after secretly digitally toying with contrast and brightness and whatnot) then regret it because the only people liking it are theâŚ.wellâŚthe Dove âBe Youâ followers, you then get some more makeup and clothes and get your hair done and all thatâŚpost a new pictureâŚand are happy that the ones liking it are the Axe guys and girls while the Dove girls are thinking âHmph! Look at her. She think she cute.â
You feel pretty good about yourselfâŚuntil another girl posts an Axe pictureâŚand that whore! She got more likes! You would press charges, but itâs cheaper to just take a new picture with a new hairstyle and new makeup and new clothesâŚand it goes on and on and on like that. And all the while, the makeup company makes money. The clothing company makes money. The hair salon makes money. The products used for your hairâŚthey make money too.
All you get is some likes.
And donât get me wrong. Itâs not just about physical appearance. Media tricks you into hating your lifestyle as well by bombarding you with people who have fictional lifestyles and tells you âYou can live like this too!â
But NOBODY lives like the people on your favorite sitcoms. Thatâs just an illusion for you to chase and to give thousands and thousands of dollars to companies in the never ending process.
Media is dangling a carrot in front of us and weâre the rabbit spending money trying to get it.
Think of those sitcoms and dramas on TV. Theyâre unrealistic if you really think about them. They feature 20-somethingâs whose homes far exceeds their incomes.
They take vacations to Paris.
They get middle-management jobs right out of college.
The person theyâre attracted to is single and is attracted to them too.
They have the time and energy and money to hang out with their friends at the same hangout spot multiple times a week.
What 25yr old with a bachelorâs degree do you know can afford their own fully-furnished apartment with enough room to roller skate in, a week long vacation across the world, has a full-time middle management job right out of college, and has time to âchillâ at the local hangout spot every day and talk to the same friends about his/her judgmental mother coming to town to visit?
But media would like us to believe it is real life for most people. You fucked up somewhere and thatâs why youâre 25yrs old, working retail for $10.50/hr, living at home (or with roommates you canât stand) and paying $450/mo in student loans and barely making it by each month.
On TV, their cell phone screens are never cracked for weeks or months because they canât afford a new one.
Their clothes are always trendy and fashionable and their hair and/or makeup is always on point.
Their kitchens are always fully stocked.
They get along with their roommates to the point they consider them family.
They can always afford going to the doctor, dentist, getting new glassesâŚno problem whatsoever.
Your life isnât like that. Somewhere along the lines, you fucked up. But donât worry! Thereâs hope!
You donât have to live like thatâŚall you gotta do is pretend that you do!
Tell everyone youâre on your way âto the officeâ when you really work at a cubicle and your boss doesnât know your name. Or you ring up customers at the mall with your bachelorâs degree in psychology.
Tell everyone youâre cooking a great dinner when you really just ordered pizza again because you canât afford to buy groceries yet.
Tell everyone you enjoyed your vacation which was really just a trip one state away to visit your grandmother for the hundredth time this year.
Tell everyone about your great relationship when your significant other (if theyâre not made up) takes forever to text back and you two just had another fight over money or because they didnât do something they said they would or because they chose to hang out with their friends over you. Again.
Then after youâve posted about your fictional fairy tale life on Facebook, you must make sure you somewhat look the part.
Buy those clothes, that makeup, those purses, those shoes, those socks, that underwear, that laptop, that carâŚall that shit to make it appear as though you live like that character on TV.
And in the endâŚall those companies just made thousands of dollars off you and off the millions of other insecure peopleâŚand you? What did you get out of it?
Some âlikesâ on social networking, more credit card debt, and another late fee.
