Writing Option for Essay #4:
Writing about the Kabul citizens who after being liberated from the clutches of the Taliban desire capricious adornment of fancy hairstyles, painted fingernails, and swanky fashion, Virginia Postrel writes that “liberated Kabul had no ubiquitous advertising or elaborate marketing campaigns. Maybe our desires for impractical decoration and meaningless fashion, don’t come from Madison Avenue after all. Maybe our relation to aesthetic value is too fundamental to be explained by commercial mind control.”
In a 4 or 5-page essay, explore the idea that shopping for indulgences is not the result of Madison Avenue manipulation but rather rooted in evolutionary psychology and reproductive success.
In your first one or two pages, write about a personal experience that taught you the power of consumerism and sexual attraction. Then write a thesis, which might go like this: We look erroneously at Madison Avenue and the Holy Temples of Shopping Malls to explain the root causes of our shopping impulse. But the opposite is true: Madison Avenue and the Great American Shopping Mall are symptoms, not causes, of our shopping compulsion, which stems from evolutionary psychology. The biological, reptilian drives that inform our shopping habits are evidenced by ___________________________, _________________________, _______________________________, and ________________________________________.
Sample Introduction:
We learn the link between consumer products and sexual attraction as far back as childhood, long before our hormones compel us to go on the hunt for a mate. I learned the power of consumer goods many years ago when at five I had a tree house that was in competition with another nearby tree house, one that was lorded over by Rich Drakos. Our tree houses were about twenty yards apart from one another in separate walnut trees. We lured girls into our tree houses with dolls, stuffed animals, sweets, anything that would get their attention. One afternoon, I tried to persuade Patty Wilson to climb up my tree by dangling a box of Sun-Maid Raisins, tied to a long string, in front of her face. I assured her the wood slats nailed to the tree trunk were secure enough for her to climb. She made her way up the trunk, tentatively grabbing each plank, her determined face grimacing, as I eagerly awaited her. Always wanting to outdo me, Rich popped his head out of a leafy cluster and, holding a box of Captain Kangaroo Cookies, he told Patty to forget about my “sad little raisins” and to come join him for a real treat. His tree house was vastly superior to mine. Bigger, lusher, sturdier, it was more elaborately decorated with stuffed animals and lollipops, which hung from nearby limbs. It was quite obvious to me that Patty would not settle for my wrinkled little raisins when what she could be enjoying were delicious cookies, the very same sweets the ruddy-jowled Captain Kangaroo and his side-kick Mr. Green Jeans gorged on every morning on television. It was my first opportunity to see the power of TV-generated hype. Captain Kangaroo Cookies were promoted to the child demographic in a way raisins were not. So naturally Patty, upon hearing Rich’s scintillating offer, stopped half-way up my tree and greedily eyed Rich’s cookies as if they were gold bullion. She then gave a little snarl of contempt at my raisins before descending my tree, skipping to Rich’s tree house and climbing its little wood slats like a pro. Shortly after, she and Rich got cozy and feasted on their double-fudge, cream-centered cookie sandwiches. When they were done eating, they licked their lips and gloated at me, a lone loser, stuck with my pathetic little box of raisins.
As I watched them nestle together, I realized that Rich’s tree house was perched higher than mine and cast a dark shadow over me so that I felt chilled in the shade of my relatively small hovel. Inconsolable, I curled up in the fetal position and cried myself to sleep, only to be awakened hours later when my body was covered by red fire ants that, presumably attracted to the raisins, had swarmed my perch. My entire body felt like it had been lashed by stinging nettles and I ran to my apartment where my mother drowned the red ants, dozens still crawling over my body, by giving me a scalding bath. As I nursed my welts, I looked at my pain as indicative of the anguish that comes from losing a girl to another male whose powers are vastly superior to mine.
Rich’s use of superior consumer products to triumph over me tells the true story of consumerism, which is not, as many “experts” posit, the result of Madison Avenue brainwashing. Rather, the impulse for consumerism is fundamentally a biological, reptilian drive evidenced by ___________________________, _________________________, _______________________________, and ________________________________________.
Some points to consider about the reptilian or biological impulses for shopping:
1. We often buy products for "peacock signaling" and "narcissistic self-display."
2. Our choices are often driven by reproductive success.
3. We often are drawn to brands that give off dominance signals based on size and power.
4. We often rely on artificial products as a substitute for "desirable fitness-related traits."
5. We're often drawn to brands that represent safety and comfort.
6. We're drawn to brands with strongly defined identity and message. These messages must be consistent.
Research Links
The Reptilian Brain Always Wins
Where the Auto Industry Is Headed
Comments