Fucking consumerism. Rant inside.
- Thread starter Suspect Device
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Me said:
Exhibit A, everyone. :music07:
justo_tx: Did you just not understand the point, or are you purposefully defending the commercials that sold you that beer you love so much?
Short of building a mud hut, growing your own vegetables and slaughtering your own livestock consumables cannot be separated from their marketing.
The "shitty beer" comment wasn't based on branding (read my above statement again), if you put three random beers in front of us with no labels are you under the impression you or I wouldn't be able to decide on a personal preference without the input a brand mascot or spokesperson? Would you refuse to participate because beer is neither the optimal thirst quencher nor the most efficient alcoholic delivery medium (you see how taking shit like this to the extreme can become absurd)?
You can stand in front of an aisle in grocery store for hours trying to figure out if the profits of purchasing Brand A will eventually line the pockets of the Rothschilds or if the softness of Brand B is worth the implication the Paris Hilton is a successful spokesperson but sooner or later you're gonna have to pick a roll of toilet paper and get on with your life.
I'm going to be honest: I've been reading a lot of your comments (as well as LukeP's) and quite frankly, LukeP is nowhere near as smart as he thinks he is and you've steadily been the voice of reason.
Keep it up sir.
(P.S. Go Heat)
Yes they can. All you have to do is decide which consumable is the best you can based on logic, not desire. All it really takes is knowing that the desire is fake, and the products' usefulness is all that matters.
No, I'm under the impression that you're already playing their game the way they want you to play it if you're ever in such a situation.
I avoid shit like "the pepsi challenge" like a plague... Sheer marketer's paradise.
And once again, nobody is saying that having a preference is bad, so I'm sure you can pick a 'favorite' beer out of the three if we tried that shit at home... It's all outside the point though, because even if you correctly identify one of the 3 beers as being the best tasting for your taste buds, WTF are you drinking beer for anyway??
Not absurd.
You only think these things are because the marketers want EXACTLY that of you. Jeez man, wake up...
When you are thirsty, why the fuck wouldn't you want the optimal thirst quencher?
When you are looking to get drunk as a skunk, why wouldn't you want the most efficient alcoholic delivery medium?
The ONLY reason not to is because you desire something other.
Taste is only a more important reason to buy something than it being "the most efficient alcoholic delivery medium" if YOU believe it to be.
And guess where you got that belief?
I don't give a fuck about rothschilds and conspiracies and blood diamonds and all that crap... I just try to be practical. -And doing what marketers tell you to do is the opposite of practicality.
Boy have you just identified yourself. :action-smiley-052:
Goddamn, tedious thread is tedious
If I wake up will I refrain from using marketing implanted brand names in place of generic alternatives when trying to make a point like you? Oh wait...
Whiskey would have worked, grain alcohol as well, but no, you single out Bacardi 151 as a better way to get blitzed. Somewhere a Bacarding Marketing VP is smiling.
If I wake up will I refrain from using marketing implanted brand names in place of generic alternatives when trying to make a point like you? Oh wait...
Whiskey would have worked, grain alcohol as well, but no, you single out Bacardi 151 as a better way to get blitzed. Somewhere a Bacarding Marketing VP is smiling.
Some people never get to liking beer. The taste just don't ever grow on them. For me and a million others, Beer, just taste good. Any fucking beer just taste damn fucking good.
Not sure about the rest of the stuff. I mean, there is nothing wrong in buying stuff you can afford. Its a different story if you can't afford and still buy. I pity those people who buy stuff on maxed out Credit. I pay my CC in full each month, and I save a set amount each month (savings for old age, savings for would be Kids, savings for the next Car, savings for the Second home etc). The rest I can spend as I wish, and why shouldn't I spend if I worked hard at it.
Not sure about the rest of the stuff. I mean, there is nothing wrong in buying stuff you can afford. Its a different story if you can't afford and still buy. I pity those people who buy stuff on maxed out Credit. I pay my CC in full each month, and I save a set amount each month (savings for old age, savings for would be Kids, savings for the next Car, savings for the Second home etc). The rest I can spend as I wish, and why shouldn't I spend if I worked hard at it.
No, but you might indeed start choosing your purchases for the right reasons... Like me.
Exhibit B.
Oh please tell me that you can see my point now...
lukep, I do agree with you on many things, but gotta say, I think beer was probably the absolute WORST possible example you could have used, especially on a board like this. Even for me, a guy who agrees with you, I'm thinking, "fuck off, and leave my beer out of it!".
Take sunglasses. That would have been a good example. You don't need a $600 pair of Oakley's, but loads of people still by them, because it thinks it makes them special and cool. They do the exact same thing as a cheap $30 pair, but nonetheless, people will still buy the $600 pairs.
Take sunglasses. That would have been a good example. You don't need a $600 pair of Oakley's, but loads of people still by them, because it thinks it makes them special and cool. They do the exact same thing as a cheap $30 pair, but nonetheless, people will still buy the $600 pairs.
Yeah, I know what you mean. There is an extra bit of love for the bitters around here... I can't deny I've enjoyed some myself.
...But at the same time, I don't mean to say beer has no purpose! If your evening calls for a social drink where you honestly do want to always have it in your hand and only get slightly tipsy while slowly drinking it all night, then perhaps Beer is the most practical choice.
I chose beer because I knew we'd all have at least a little love for it, so we can discuss it on a level playing field... But I agree, sunglasses is a better example around here.
This is kind of an extreme example that I personally think most here would already agree with. Although it serves the purpose of the example well, I guess I was afraid of using such an example because most peeps here already feel that they know better than to buy a $600 pair of specs and therefore feel that they know WHY they wouldn't pay $600 for them... Not attributing it to the marketing's influence, instead thinking it's "just common sense" not to pay $600 for sunglasses.
If it was just common sense to pay less than $600 for sunglasses, and everyone had enough of this common sense to do so, then pretty much 90% of all products and other marketed services here in the USA would not exist anymore.
As marketers, THIS should be common sense around here... Without marketing of any given product, all there is left to decide about is if it is practical or not. (Features, not benefits.)
Luke, people like beer because it tastes good. Humans aren't rational beings, and as much as you want to fight emotion and leave it out of all of your decision making, logic doesn't always win. Do you only drink gatorade and grain alcohol? Do you always buy the cheapest brand at the grocery store? I know I like my double plied TP, even though single plied gets my ass just as clean. Although I agree with what you're saying about a lot of consumer products being useless, the fact that people buy shit to make them happy is the reason you get paid on a daily basis, so might as well let them be.
I'm sorry, did I come off as someone who doesn't want to leave them be?
I really only talk about this shit here. Just on wickedfire, with others whom I figure would be of the same mindset or close to it because they market too.
So be honored my brother, you're one of the chosen few that can understand the point... Meanwhile 99% of this planet is just a bunch of sheep to farm money out of and it can be quite lonely for us few since you can't talk to a sheep and have it understand.
After watching CoS and realizing few things. I guess I have to say amen to those words.
Given the current environment, capitalism is good.
Nobody is forcing you to purchase a product, to take a job, or to keep up with everyone else.
The people that purchase expensive products know very well what they are doing and what they are trying to accomplish. They are willing to give their time for a higher social status relative to their given environment, and there is nothing inherently wrong with that as long it doesn’t deter from the wellbeing of other conscious creatures. The knowledge is open to everyone, some choose not to use it, stop bitching about it.
Freud is extremely outdated, and I'm not a person that enjoys materialism to any extent unless for utility to achieve a set objective by any means. I also am not discrediting the history provided in the video but talk the central idea it derives from with a grain of salt.
Also, if don't enjoy your current environment then do something, you were lucky to be born in an era and location where you are given a massive amount of freedom. Join a sustainable society and rid yourself of materialism, travel across the world to places with actual culture. Just do something instead of talking up a storm while sitting in your air conditioned house with high speed internet and while eating food with all the fixings.
Life is not fair, society is a privilege, now go enjoy life.
Nobody is forcing you to purchase a product, to take a job, or to keep up with everyone else.
The people that purchase expensive products know very well what they are doing and what they are trying to accomplish. They are willing to give their time for a higher social status relative to their given environment, and there is nothing inherently wrong with that as long it doesn’t deter from the wellbeing of other conscious creatures. The knowledge is open to everyone, some choose not to use it, stop bitching about it.
Freud is extremely outdated, and I'm not a person that enjoys materialism to any extent unless for utility to achieve a set objective by any means. I also am not discrediting the history provided in the video but talk the central idea it derives from with a grain of salt.
Also, if don't enjoy your current environment then do something, you were lucky to be born in an era and location where you are given a massive amount of freedom. Join a sustainable society and rid yourself of materialism, travel across the world to places with actual culture. Just do something instead of talking up a storm while sitting in your air conditioned house with high speed internet and while eating food with all the fixings.
Life is not fair, society is a privilege, now go enjoy life.
I have seen nothing on this thread that bashes capitalism. I'm all for it myself. It's this Jones-chasing society that happened to grow up around it that we detest... Which is 100% a result of Freud's realization that people buy with their irrational feelings. (The reason we push "Benefits, not Features.")
I don't give a fuck what the Freud dude says about anuses and mothers... The entire concept that our current society is purely based upon is one single point of his that is still today perfect: That people are irrational beings who make decisions based upon their feelings and rarely any kind of good judgement. -That's all we're talking about and all he said that is relative to this thread.
In fact, Freud himself did not go into any details at all on salesmanship, that's all from his nephew and daughter. Siggy just lost hope in the human race, feeling that they are all sheeple... Sounds exactly like what all smart people do today.
I just can't believe anyone could equate things like high speed internet and air conditioning to what we are complaining about. You sound like you read a 1-sentence brochure about anti-materialism and came here for some reason to try to argue against it with really shallow assumptions. :disgust: