Tell me what to want?

Somehow, I always seem to enjoy things more when external events has brought whatever it is about. Why is this?

I think that Marketing has become so important to business and financial success that it has almost made commercialism a relgion. Adverts are forever telling us what we want, what we need, what we can't do without.. and even trying to make us want, need, crave whatever product it is the company has to sell. On top of this, Universities and other learning and commercial establishments have grown marketing into an science and because its the science of making people wish to buy whatever they wish to sell, its also the science of human psycology (or, in case of point, the manipulation of wants and needs).

In the early days, I'm sure this was all more or less innocent. I think it probably involved looking at the market, figuring what people did actually want and showing them how the product would provide that. Thats fine (and good). However, then I think it probably evolved to tapping into our sense of excitement over something new and different by showing how the product could change our lives (and therefore replace the existing item in our lives). This was the beggining of what I like to call "the road to consumerism".

I think the problem simply speaking is that marketing ran out of "ordinary" and "ethical" ways to sell new products. They where no longer actually required. Yet, the business still wanted to sell them us anyway! So started the era of manipulation using marketing.

I've grown up with this phenomenon pervading all the media in my life. Worse, i'm of the TV generation which brings media into the home in a way not before possible. The second generation to have television at least in part define my life. Worse for me as I bought into the media in a big way!

Each advert telling me I should be unhappy with what I have and that I would be happy again if I got that product (cut in a 1000 different descuises).

I wonder if it hasn't left me deficient in knowing what I actually want?... I always seem to want to be told what I want. In some ways. I also never seem to stay happy (though, that could be partly just the human condition).

I'm not saying I don't have my own mind. What I am saying is i've been manipulated in so many subitle ways and for so long and in so many forms by all media that now I don't feel confident that what I want is what I want? Yes, I know, that sounds somewhat mental lol.

I am a fairly stubborn person, I have always been fairly specific in what I wanted... but what I wanted has been defined my whole life in a large part by market forces. These days we are all products of marketing in some form.

Even religious groups have become little more thank marketing bodies. Pusing their religions views as "the best", "the one", "the only"... selling their ideas..

Sopism lives. Its just gone corprate!