I remember a day when I talked with a friend of mine regarding a chance to go to Vermont and spend a week or so on a slopes of the Okemo mountain.

-Do you want to ski or ride? My friend asked me. Of course I wanted to ride a snowboard for it is considered more popular among young people.
-Than if you want to rise, you need to look cool because you are not going to be am an old fashioned skier, a reply followed. And what followed from my response can be best describe as “Let insanity and shopping spree reign!”

Douglas Kellner mentions in his writing a statement of advertising principles defined by the Advertising Federation of America: “Good advertising aims to inform the consumer and help him to buy more intelligently”. And now, some two years later, I am recalling the above-mentioned dialogue that happened between my friend and me in a light of these words. And as a result I am tending to re-formulate the advertising principles of AFA: “Good advertising aims to persuade the consumer and make him buy less intelligently”.

It all started when I came back from my first trip to a winter resort. I loved it and after renting a snowboard I badly wanted my own equipment. The question was what to buy. An answer came from a company called Burton.
Specializing in making snowboards and related to it equipment and apparel, Burton had a reputation of a leader in the industry. Thus, it was a no-brainer to look at their products first.

Their web site offers help in choosing the “right product” for a customer. Just answer the few questions about your weight, height, age and amount of money available and the company will hook you up with “your” staff. So set me up!

After answering the last question I got my ultimate setup. It was dubbed “The Classic” and offered a snowboard, bindings and boots. They all matched in color, style and designs. It was totally appealing to an eye. There was harmony in everything but price. All together and without pants and jacket, the set cost about 800 dollars, duh!

Of course I tried to tweak components, replacing suggested items with something cheaper but it just did not look right. And after a few weeks of calculating and hesitating I finally made a decision: buy it. Perhaps, images of champions riding the very same board and sporting skills and coolness were too strong to overcome. I ignored boards of the same quality at the price much cheaper than the one I bought. I just could go for them!

And now, I am still confused what made me buy this particular gear. I never became a champion, and the board did not prevent me from concussions, bruises and cuts. Moreover, many fellow riders sported exactly the same outfits, thus depriving this set from its supposed sense of individuality.

Considering my own experiences, I came to agree with Marcuse who argued that consumer culture creates false needs and that individuality offered by the very same culture is pseudoindividuality. The very same principles should hold true not just about snowboarding but all products advertised by corporations and companies. We can and should resist manipulations by advertisers. We have ability to read and see beyond graphical images and tempting slogans, so why not to use it?

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 26th, 2006 at 2:32 pm and is filed under Around the Web. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.