Why Retail therapy doesn't work.

I’m Lovin it because I’m worth it!

I Can’t remember exactly when I stopped enjoying shopping. I used to love getting my wages and going on a spending spree every weekend, taking the hussle and bussle of crowded high streets and shopping malls in my stride. It all just seemed to add to the enjoyment, though it goes without saying I’ve always hated Queuing.

Even more enjoyable were my trips down the quiet side streets where independent clothes and cult music shops were hidden away from view. You could always find things which nobody else you knew had, usually at over inflated prices, but the reward was the self satisfied buzz. Somewhere along the line I lost that. More than that, the hussle and bussle of busy shopping streets became an annoying obsticle course and the buzz of purchasing became a comparative damp squib. These days my attitude is simply - get in get out and don’t look back. Whether it’s supermarkets, high streets or shopping malls I know exactly what I want before I go, I get it and I go straight home. Yet consumption has exploded and seems to have completely taken over people’s lives. How did this come about and is it a good thing?

You are What you buy.

Consumption is arguably the dominant value today within the Western world.
The growth of the media over the past 50 years from the birth of television to the multi channel product driven monster that we have today has embedded a culture within society in which products are promoted as essential determinants of your sense of self worth via a constant stream of advertising from the cradle onwards. From a young age onwards we are provided with message after message that happiness, fulfillment and even health are dependent on whether you buy this particular product.

Put simply, the message seems to be you are what you buy and success in the modern world is defined by what other people have and how you measure up. Therefore the act of purchasing the glittering array of goods at our disposal has been transformed into a mode of expression in which individuals find and express a sense of identity. The display and celebration of such goods can be seen as having triumphed over other more traditional and secure modes of expression such as religion or group affiliations in the modern world.

Rise of Technology.

This set of circumstances have been expanded and reinforced by the technological revolution over the past 25 years. However this revolution can also can be seen as being responsible for creating a situation which has led to individuals within society feeling an increasing sense of alienation from each other and from themselves. Television, computer games, the internet are all mediums in which the social can be seen as being replaced by the individual. Also, mobile phones merely serve to reduce human contact to a more shallow and superficial level as has the burgeoning use of social networking sites. Such sites reinforce the consumer approach to society as they can be seen as treating human beings as products. Like shopping, you are provided with choice, variety and disposability with avators, bio’s and sound bites working as the selling point. People, like credit cards, are available and disposable in the virtual world and for many merely serve to reduce or even replace real human contact. This, combined with the rise of individualism and weakening of social bonds through group affiliations have resulted in a widespread alienation and loss of identity for individuals within society. This serves to create a vacuum in peoples lives which they attempt to fill through the act of consumption.

Why Retail therapy doesn't work.

Attempting to fill the void through consumption can be seen as a self defeating exercise. The constant upgrading of goods from technology to fashion and even domestic products mean that todays fashionable items will soon be usurped by a new improved product making your existing version outdated and outmoded. It’s in the best interests of companies and advertisers that the consumers desires are never truly satisfied. This can also be seen in the ever expanding choice of things to buy. With such a limitless supply of goods available, needs can never be exhausted leaving fulfillment forever in the future. The same can be said of retail therapy.The implication of this term is that the act of consumption in itself works as a form of self medication and this is true to a point. Like any drug the act of shopping and the purchasing of items certainly can give you a buzz, albeit a short one. But herein lies the problem. Like all addictions, the endless search for instantaneity means on the spot fulfillment but also the immediate exhaustion and fading of interest. Addictions are self destructive as they destroy the possibility of ever being satisfied. Put simply, the consumer society approach to solve personal problems through market solutions does not and cannot satisfy the deeper human need for contact and sharing but merely creates a vicious circle of desire and consumption in which satisfaction is forever in the future and out of reach.