When we purchase an item, what we are actually purchasing is a dream. If we were literally to record what the mental process is from when we picked up or saw an object of our liking to when we stand in line, it would be rather telling of the marketing world.
I see a brightly colored tunic from the sale rack at a store I respect, and I am hit with a vision.
I suddenly see myself sitting out in the sunny backyard being the artist I always wanted to be—. But how is this new item unexpectedly responsible for my sudden lifestyle change? I have not yet had the courage to make this dream happen; what has changed?
In Facing the World with Soul, Robert Sardello suggests that, “Since all that constitutes soul is taken out of economics and therefore out of money—imagination, memory, myth, depth, fantasy, art, poetry, the gods—money becomes a place to project the life of the soul. We thus place all kind of imaginations onto money that do not belong with money itself”(123). Therefore, he continues, “Money is intended to be the medium, the carrier of the imagination of the economic realm” (123).
But what are the dreams of the general public? Likewise, how have the marketers of the world so successfully convinced us that they can fulfill our dreams? And why do we keep falling for it over and over again?
That picture on the store wall of the couple kayaking or that woman self confident on the street-- these are all dictating or reminding us of legitimate aspirations for daily life. The problem lies in the fact that your ideal life cannot better unfold simply from this purchase. Marketing is essentially a preying on human weakness. Human beings just want to be happy. Stores convey a ubiquitous confirmation of our insecurity through the presentations of happy, beautiful, relaxed, [insert adjective] individuals.
But it just so happens that these companies and stores offer a solution: Buy the products these people are wearing, owning, using. Buying is your only option. While Reason may run the upper levels of management in terms of sales strategies, Feelings are what get marketed to. All stores depict a world in which no lack is too strong but an item can remedy it.
As it is, before you walk into the store you are a dreamer; as you walk around, you are a dreamer. The moment you hand them the cash you are in fact trading in your dream for an item. When you walk out of the store with your purchase, you are actually back in lack. Not only have you given away paper money (otherwise useless) you have offered up your dreams to a cashier 100% dissociated from your dreams. By your purchase you have suggested that this store, car dealership, etc., deserved to be associated with your dream of happiness. It doesn’t.
No store is worthy of giving or receiving the dreams of a person of quality. To rely on them to deliver and quench them is not only irrational, it’s wrong.
The next time you find yourself in a store, thinking about buying an item that conjures up some happy life, think twice. Do you really want the item, or do you actually just want [insert dream]?
