The propaganda of shopping

[lisagurl]

"It's heroin," said Paco Underhill, the author of "Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping" and the founder of Envirosell, the retail research and consulting firm. "The more you do it and the more ways you do it, the harder it is to stop."

[Enola Gay]

I would call it the "Conspiracy of Shopping" by the huge multinational clothing companies.

Did you ever wonder why all the designers seem to come up with the same looks for spring/fall?  This year its flats and Harem pants....

If all designers came out with something completely different, then the chance of last years outfits being out of style would be diminished.

My $.02

[Cindy]

A major conspiracy. Love it. Notice guys generally don't do much clothes shopping and fashion hardly changes. But the hardware store has a new type of screwdriver which is needed urgently.

Cindy

[Michelle.]

INDICT CAPITALISM NOW!!!

IMPORT THE SOVIET STYLE STORE NOW!!!

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY!!

[tekla]

Yeah, but a lot of the Western Consumerist stuff is not real choice, but the illusion of choice.  I was at a huge mall once, the biggest in the United States, and my companion was telling me all about consumer choice, and pointed out the THREE, count 'em three, record/CD stores in there (this was pre-MP3, I doubt that they even have one now) and telling me that they were all catering to a different group of people, one more jazz/classical, one more trendy, one mainstream.  So it looks like choice right?  Smells like choice, don't it?

Turns out, all three stores were owned by the same company. 

Kinda like back at Lollapalooza number 2 when I went with some of my then students (who are now in their 30s, yeesh) and they were telling me all about the fact that these were 'alternative' bands.  They weren't like the old bands, or old music stars, they were 'alternative.'  And see, they were different because they were 'alternative' and all like that.  And I'm reading the program and finding out that they were represented by the William Morris Agency (the oldest and largest agency in NYC and LA) and recording on Reprise Records (founded by Dr. Frank Sinatra) and that sure didn't feel all that 'alternative' to me.

[Michelle.]

Okay Kat'.

I'll admit we need a balance between hyper-consumerism American style and the state brand of cereal USSR style.

Oh, educated consumers come to mind as the answer.

[tekla]

I try, whenever possible, to buy local, shop local, and support independent businesses whenever possible. I like doing business with, you know, people and all that. I like the beer that is brewed down the street by people I can talk to.  I like the hardware store in the city as opposed to Lowe's - for one, I can talk to someone who knows the difference between a Sawzall and a roto-hammer, vs. the person at Lowe's who can't tell the difference between their ass and a hole in the ground.  Not to mention that my union card gets me a 15% discount, where at Lowe's it doesn't.  They do that because they know that getting us in the store is good for business, and if we're there, we are going to buy more stuff (they sold out of laser levels a few years ago when they first came out on the first day, all of us who walked in that day were like "Ohh, I gots to have one of those" and walked out with one).  I like the guy who runs the one and only record store left in town (and its a town of 150K) oddly named, The Last Record Store, who knows me and can steer me to stuff that came in that I might be interested in, or will play me something that I might like. Silly notion, doing business with people.