Sex sells. We know it does.
Every day we’re bombarded with images and footage of sexy people telling us we’re not them. We want to be, aspire to be, but never will be. No matter how hard we try we’re never good looking enough, slim enough, fit enough. We’re not wearing the right labels, or the labels we’re wearing are sooo last season.
We’re dissatisfied with ourselves. We feel like we’re never good enough, never cool enough, never have enough.
Even our Marxist/Socialist Freedom Fighters who ‘fought’ for the ‘liberation’ of this country have become reborn capitalists, the ideas and principles they ‘fought’ for, ‘suffered’ for, have been discarded like a used, government issue condom that was stapled to a HIV/AIDS awareness leaflet. Now it’s all about labels for them. ‘Their people’ can wait.
Banksy‘s artwork of the soft drink bottle (the one that promises an amazing lifestyle all over the world but in truth is so incredibly bad for you) with his message forming it’s outline is well worth the read. It’s been said that the art of advertising is to encourage a consumer to buy a product or service that they don’t necessarily need in such a way that their life feels incomplete if they don’t. Banksy was on the button.
The thing is that there’s this insatiable monster called ‘progress’. When things have been ‘improved’ we need to know about it. Right? Someone has to tell us that the latest car uses less fuel, is more biodegradable, has a smaller carbon footprint. And they need to tell us in a way that will capture our attention so that we get the message. Right?
So if we kill advertising then how will we know? Whatever ‘new’ solution we come up with is just another form of advertising.
Perhaps the solution is to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help I Jah. Super models are sexy. So is a Ferrari although how many of us want to, realistically, honestly, drive a Ferrari every day? How many of us can afford to?
Western Capitalism is based on ‘ownership mentality’. We become slaves to debt to be able to say “What do you think of MY new car/house/clothes/etc?” when in truth it does not belong to us until paid for in full. The entire Western Capitalist financial system is based on this, on getting us into debt and keeping us there, making us slaves to that debt.
One of the fundamental differences between the rich and the poor is that poor people work for money whilst rich people make their money work for them. Rich people know that one of the secrets to wealth creation is not getting into debt. Debt costs far more than most investments can return.
So why were we not taught this in school? Or by our parents? Or by anyone else who cared enough to share this with us? Why do my childrens ‘savings’ accounts cost more in monthly bank charges than the ‘interest’ they receive?
Let’s follow Banksy’s example and tell the truth. Let’s educate our children about the truth of this world. Let’s teach them that money is not the root of all evil but the love of money is. Money is a tool to be used wisely. Let’s teach them the truth about debt traps and how much debt truly costs. Let’s change this twisted, greed ridden system from the inside out. Let’s be the change we want to see in the world.
We know that the glitz and glam is just erotic soft porn designed to turn us on, fill us with lust for something that we actually don’t really need, that in truth will not necessarily improve our human experience. Humanity is about people. It is not about selling ourselves and those around us for the next best thing. It’s about caring for and helping one another for the greater good. The greater good being the true happiness of humanity as a whole. I cannot help but wonder how we justify selling a house for R300 million when 30km away people go to bed in a leaking shack, hungry. How do we justify CEOs earning so much more than the leaders of countries whilst their staff on the floor struggle to put food on the table?
It was greed that plunged the world into the ‘financial crisis’ we find ourselves in. The greed of people who did not care about the consequence of their actions and profited ridiculously from it whilst the rest of us carry the cost. We are still paying for that greed.
It’s time for a new way of thinking. Thinking based on love and mutual respect. It’s time for truth, transparency and accountability. It’s time for big business to conduct it’s affairs ethically and to make the state of humanity more important than the pursuit of maximum profit.
We are no longer consumers, conned by slick lines and psychological marketing tricks. We’re now prosumers, proactive about the way we spend our hard earned money. Let’s demand the truth. In everything. About everything. For the sake of the future of our home, Mother Earth.
It’s time for change.