Alienation in the Post Cold War Era
Chapter 8
The Market Personality Today:
The Further Transformation of Human Beings Into Things
(page 9)

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Manipulating the Market Personality

The advertising executives — the chief psychological manipulators for the capitalists and their profits — are well aware of the compulsive drive to sedate the underlying feelings of deep anxiety that accompany today’s lifestyle. Their advertisements appeal to the need to kill off these unbearable feelings, which exist within the “active” market personality. There are thousands of new ads every day that appeal to the semi-conscious anxiety that comes from the stress of busyness and the disintegration of the family. The message is that if you buy this product you will feel better about yourself and be more relaxed.

The fact that so much economic and social energy is put into products to keep our anxiety and feelings of worthlessness at “an acceptable level” shows that the development of automatons, of “perfect” market-personalities that function without friction, has not worked successfully. Market-personalities function with terrific contradictions, and these contradictions show that the human spirit is not fully dead, even in them. Deep within the psyche it cries for freedom, and the advertising executives have to use increasingly enhanced psychological manipulation to stop this cry. Many of the routine commercials have become ineffective. The anxious and depressed person no longer buys something just because the product looks attractive and raises the consumer’s social status; thus, the advertising industry often does not even bother to list the advantages and tout the “greatness” of the product. Instead, the ads appeal directly to the emotional deprivation of the consumers.

A 1999 ABC News report on the advertising industry illustrated this.[9] The report demonstrated how commercials today do not show much of the product, but just refer to it in the background. Instead, the commercials appeal to the consumer’s deprived emotions — their unconscious or semi-conscious need to love and feel good about themselves. The advertisers hope that the consumer will subliminally associate “good feelings about oneself” with the company or its product.

Some of the “feel good” ads do not even bother to show the product at all. They show people connecting with each other, with the product’s logo appearing briefly at the end of the commercial. These commercials bluntly exploit the feelings of loneliness and lack of connection between people, which are aggravated by the decline of community life. The ABC News report specifically referred to commercials that make you feel good about other people and friends — commercials that overtly associate buying the product with the alleviation of loneliness. In other words, their message is that buying the product either will compensate for the deep anxiety that results from not having a real connection with your family and friends, or will somehow create that connection for you.

In a typical feel-good ad for beer, the advertising executives for Bud Light manipulate the growing alienation within the family to sell the beer. In one scene, “a father and his two adult sons [are] fishing from a pier. . . . [A]fter one of the sons, played by Rob Fitzgerald, says, ‘I love you, man,’ his dad snaps back: ‘You're not getting my Bud Light.’ ”[10] The message: If you want to bond with your father, you had better get him his Bud Light. Perhaps then he will be drunk enough to love you back.

This ad is similar to another ad in which a father and son enjoy a burger at McDonald’s. The message: In today’s world in which a growing number of divorced fathers barely spend any quality time with their sons, a fast-food burger on a Sunday afternoon can grease the difficult relationship between them.

Another example is the slogan, “Tyson. It’s what your family deserves.™” As the company’s web site puts it: “As a leader in the food industry, we want to let you know that you can feel good about serving high quality, great tasting Tyson chicken to your family. Tyson is more than a brand, more than a company. It's people — people who have families just like yours. … We hope you enjoy our new ads and will see a little reflection of your family in them.”[11] The message: Your family members will feel good about each other again if they consume Tyson chicken.

Another example of a typical ad that appeals to the “active lifestyle” of busy and anxious people is one for a brand of pretzels called “Rold Gold.”[12] The ad goes like this: “Rold Gold brand Pretzels are the perfect snack for your active lifestyle. They’re great wherever you go — at work, at play, in your car, or whenever you want a quick, crunchy snack. They’re so munchable, you just won’t want to stop eating them!” This ad basically says the following to the unconscious: “You’re so busy. You’re so anxious. Why put yourself through this? Just nibble on our pretzels continuously wherever you go and they will calm you down.” However, this product calms one down much the way a pacifier does. You must eat (suck the pacifier) constantly in order to avoid your feelings of creeping anxiety.

Note the magic word “quick.” Our society is expert at producing quick or instant pacifiers for the emotionally starved consumer. We buy a lot of consumer products that we do not really need, because their real function is to act as pacifiers. Our society produces thousands, if not millions, of products to pacify the alienation and helplessness of the average person that can afford to spend money beyond food, shelter and housing. The production of these products causes tremendous environmental destruction and social waste. Just the tons of “junk mail” produced every year are responsible for destroying large areas of forests. If society created only those products that are necessary to satisfy genuine human needs, such as food, shelter, basic necessities, and goods that really enhance our capability to be happy and alive, the economic system would quickly collapse, together with the profits of the capitalist class.

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[9] ABC News with Peter Jennings, Nov. 24, 1999.

[10] Adapted from a Wall Street Journal article, 14 August 1997, via Pointcast, http://www.uta.fi/FAST/US8/FOOD/beerads.html.

[11] Tyson Foods, Inc., Company Information, http://www.tysonfoodsinc.com/corporate/info/environment.asp.

[12] Rold Gold is a brand name of Frito-Lay, Inc.