why do we want?

It’s a simple question asked with a much deeper
meaning that is rooted far below our common viewing. We all want certain things
in our life- to succeed, to be happy and healthy (emotionally and physically),
to be knowledgeable, etc. But with some things we are made to think that we
need them. Advertisers use our needs to cater their products toward us so we
will buy their brands and advertise to more people, continuing the chain of
consumerism. Certain needs of ours then make us want to feel accepted others by
the brand we wear, what we eat, or what we have. Jib Fowles addresses these
needs as our 15 basic appeals- need for sex, affiliation, guidance, prominence,
attention, autonomy and aesthetic sensations as well as our need to nurture, aggress,
achieve, dominate, escape, feel safe, and
satisfy curiosity. With these needs, we then become people who want their needs
to be fulfilled and result to different products to address these needs. We become
intertwined into a cycle of searching fulfillment, buying items, and not being
fulfilled so we continue with other products until we are happy. However, as
most people probably know, single items won’t bring us all this fulfillment that
advertisers say we will get..
And we become lost, a painted picture of brands
that is all mixed up within us that we don’t know where or who we belong to.
And it starts all over again. so that businesses will continue making money and we will continue spending it.
I completely agree! As teenage girls, marketing is especially targeted towards us because of our insecurities, that they have created. We all long to be thinner or have a bigger bust or butt or clearer skin or thicker eyebrows or a different nose, because we have seen the "ideal" girl, and we all want to be her. We want to have her perfect eyebrows, and hey! This (insert branded product) can make you have the perfect brows just like her! If you just wear these (insert branded clothing), you can fit in just like her! I find this very scary because little girls are getting the image that they are not good enough, establishing body dysmorphia from a young age. This is extremely troubling. Very well written article :)
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