FREEDOM & COMMODITY SELF

The rise of industrialization and mass production necessitated the growth of a consumer culture. While the Protestant ethic stressed "salvation through self-denial" (Jackson Lears, p. 4), "the newly dominant consumer culture was a muddle of calculated self-control and spontaneous gratification" (p. 3). Advertisers focused intensely on the consumer, rather than the producer, thereby creating and intensifying the DESIRE for commodities. Yet this was not an easy transition -- whereas religion had once provided a framework of meaning and action, new consumption-oriented ideologies left people in a state of anomie (p. 10). This led to what Lears calls the "therapeutic ethos." Advertisements pushed the concept of gratification and fulfillment through the consumption of commodities. Advertisers drew on the insecurities of people about their lives and their relations to others ("[i]n the new consumer culture, hell was -- truly -- other people" (p. 25) by suggesting that a given "product would contribute to the buyer's physical psychic, or social well being; the threat hat his well-being would be undermined if he failed to buy it" (p. 19). That is to say, consumption was the answer to life's problems -- the right products would lead to the good life. Of course, this was and is not true, but it is beneficial to always keep "fulfillment . . . just out of reach" (p. 22). This keeps people unhappy and constantly seeking for happiness through the purchase of yet another product. In Stuart Ewen's words, "satisfied customers are not as profitable as discontented ones" (p. 36).

Advertisers push the concept of commodity self by implying (though it is not always so discrete) that certain products lead to a better, fuller and truer self. Ewen writes: "Each portion of the body was to be viewed critically, as a potential bauble in a successful assemblage . . . Within the vision offered by such ads, not only were social grace and success attainable: they were also defined through the use of specific products. You don't make friends, you smile 'wins' them; your embellished hair, and not you, is beautiful" (p. 47). The natural body was incomplete: it required the appropriate commodities in order to be attractive, successful and happy. It is no longer that products simply enhance the self, but rather that products constitute the self. Advertisements make people neurotically self-conscious, and then they offer a perfect solution. Consumption of multitudes of commodities becomes not just a luxury, but a necessity.

"The advertising which attempted to create the dependable mass of consumers required by modern industry often did so by playing upon the fears and frustrations evoked by mass society -- offering mass produced visions of individualism by which people could extricate themselves from the mass" (Ewen, p. 45). The rise of the therapeutic ethos and commodity self led to "a vision of consumption as a 'school of freedom' " (Ewen, p. 30). An illusion of freedom of choice and consumption was sketched out, disguising the hegemonic nature of capitalism. The rhetoric of freedom was implemented -- a "fake liberation through consumption" (Lears, p. 27) was touted. Consumption is a necessary component of the capitalist market, but it works much better when the buyers believe they have a say in the matter. It works something like this: Product X will make you happier, but not only will it make you happier, it will make you stand out. It will make you into a unique individual with style, class and cultural capital. You don't have to buy it, but you will be better off if you do. It's your choice: buy it and you are an all around better person. Don't buy it and you won't be. It's that easy and that sneaky.

That notions of freedom are inextricably entwined with patriotism is no mistake. The 'free' market of capitalist America provides each consumer with the 'freedom of choice.' That is to say, American culture is so structured around consumerism that the very rhetoric of consumption must also include freedom ideology. Furthermore, as both cause and effect of the hyper-consumption that is so central in American culture, advertisers push the concept of commodity self (as well as pseudo-individuality). Included in the notion of freedom of choice and consumption is also the idea that the self is constituted by and through the commodity form. The commodities we fill our lives with structure our senses of self, in addition to our social relations. Yet precisely because we are led to believe that we can choose between Product A and Product B or Z, we also believe that we are active participants in our conceptions and constructions of self. After all, You buy Product A because it represents the 'real you' better than Product B.