ISU Bengal

Issue date: 9/12/07 Section: Life

":Affluenza" is the book picked for this year's ISU Reading Project

Keeping up with the Jones, while many of us no longer use the expression we all understand the connotation: staying with the current buying trends. The oversized Sport Utility Vehicle, a sleek phone with download and internet capabilities, the sound system for our SUV, DVD player, home entertainment system, the latest gaming system, and it doesn't stop there. But where do all these things and this endless pursuit of stuff really get us?
That's just what John De Graff, David Wann, and Thomas Naylor set out to address when they created a television show in the 90s, called Affluenza. As may be expected from the title, the show used wit and humor to enlighten an American audience to the downsides or "symptoms" of mass consumption. The show became a success, and encouraged the authors to further address this "all-consuming epidemic" in a book.
Clever, engaging, and accessible this book will have you questioning the retail experience and our changing priorities. The authors keenly journey into marketing, mass consumption, and how the two impact various aspects of our lives, including parenting.
"At a 1996 marketing conference called Kid Power, held appropriately at Disney World, the keynote address, 'Softening the Parental Veto,' was presented by the marketing director of McDonald's." A string of speakers, according to the authors, followed all supporting the same strategy: "Portray parents as fools and fuddy-duddies who aren't smart enough to realize their children's need for the products being sold." As if being a parent wasn't hard enough, now some marketers are even undermining our authority and encouraging children to rebel just to make a profit.
Numerous people now turn to shopping as a method for venting stress, soothing emotions, and as entertainment; not only are we turning to shopping for a quick fix, we're increasing dissatisfied with the outcome. Consider a recent purchase, such as, a new cell phone, blackberry, or laptop. Remember the excitement and anticipation you felt before purchasing that shiny, new technological wonder, only to be bored with it a week or so later. It's disappointing. Dr. Richard Swenson, one of the many sources drawn upon by the authors, aptly sums up this experience and the feeling of loss that accompanies it. "'Tragedy,' observes Swenson, 'is wanting something badly, getting it, and finding it empty. And I think that's what's happened." We've turned to shopping to find relief, and instead we've found only emptiness.

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