We are what we buy

The advertising chapter rang true to me, especially when it explained how consumerism is so embedded in our culture that we define ourselves by the products we buy. This is the commodity self, "the idea that our selves...are mediated and constructed in part through our consumption and use of commodities" (Sturken and Cartwright 279). I've heard this idea expressed in different ways alone, such as a line from a song in the musical Rent. "When you're living in America at the end of the millennium, you're what you own." (Obviously, the song was written in the nineties, but the sentiment hasn't changed.)

The book also points out that advertisers constantly have to come up with new strategies to gain our attention, since we have the ability to ignore commercials. I don't have TiVo, but when a commercial comes on one channel, I flip to another. One effective technique is embedding products within TV shows. The WB, the teen network to which my peers and I were glued in high school, pioneered some of this product placement. It began with Felicity, a show about a sheltered girl who defies her parents' expectations by following a boy to a college across the country. Noel, Felicity's geeky but loveable RA, is a Mac guy. He loves computers and drools over Macs. (This was at the time that Apple came up with the colorful iMacs). This love of Macs factors into Noel's relationship. One clue that he and his high school girlfriend are no longer compatible is that she bought a PC. He meets a new love interest in the second season and helps her decide on a computer. When she picks a mac, Noel knows that there is a possible relationship there. He sums this up with the line, "I guess you're a Mac girl."

Although the Mac product placement was most blatant in Felicity, I noticed that every computer in every show was a Mac. The message was clear: Cool kids use Macs. This is the type of mixed message explained on page 277. Getting a Mac (especially one of the colorful ones) is a way to express your individuality while being like everyone else. This simultaneous desire to be an individual and pressure to conform is a constant struggle that adolescents face and is perfectly reflected in Mac advertising.