Introduction - Buy, Buy, Buy!

Well fellow Steemians it seems Christmas season is in full swing now.

Every year we face an ever greater bombardment of advertising trying to convince us that the meaning of Christmas is spending large amounts of money (whilst trying their hardest to pretend they aren't doing that).

The advertising industry has a large bag of tricks which they use to manipulate us into buying whatever the latest gadget or gizmo is.

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Just try to escape!

Like many people I am an absolute pushover when it comes to this sort of manipulation and have been most of my life. Luckily I am less exposed to this materialist onslaught because:

1. I watch less TV.
2. When I watch TV I use a DVR to skip ads.
3. I read fewer magazines and overtly commerical websites.
4. I avoid mainstream news which is filled with covert advertising.

Obviously this does not protect me from ads. They are everywhere.

It does also make me a bit more acutely aware of all the selling that is going on and the tricks and techniques that are being used to manipulate us:

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The Tricks I Have Noticed:

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The Traditional Approach - Direct Use of Christmas Imagery

This 2016 John Lewis Christmas Ad.

This is the old fashioned and traditional method of using seasonal imagery to convince us that the meaning of Christmas and being happy at Christmas is to BUY.

I think most of us are aware of this and some of us tend to try our best to ignore this kind of marketing because we see it as a sign of the commercialisation of Christmas.

Despite this, it still works and there is no shortage of this kind of imagery. The John Lewis advert is a perfect example. It combines sentimentality, comedy, cheesiness and cute animals in a perfect holiday mix. They don't even need to show any products any more.

People will just watch the advert and go to their shops or their website to be part of the "magic".

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Pester Power: Sell to the Kids and the Adults will have no choice

One of the oldest tricks in the book.

Don't bother to manipulate the adults just get the children to do it instead.

This is most often part of the "traditional approach".

I think we all remember as children having to have one particular toy that everyone else at school was getting and constantly pestering our parents about it. Pester power works.

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Fake a Shortage and Build Demand

This most often happens with items that are targeted at children.

There seems to be a must have toy every Christmas that is almost inevitably also going to be in short supply.

Now one could just assume that this is supply and demand at work but it is hard not to think that sometimes the shortages are engineered to create collective hysteria.

Tickle Me Elmo Source

It is free advertising and builds up demand for whenever the next shipment will arrive.

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Christmas Sales

Source: M&S Website

How many times have you fallen for the "great offers" and deals that are availabe for Christmas? I know I have.

The fact is these offers are rarely that great - you would in many cases be better off waiting for the post Christmas/New Year sales when shops are more desperate to sell and the New Year's models are just around the corner.

Do we do that? Of course not - I think most of us know that these deals aren't that great but we still buy.

I see it as a kind of collusion between the buyer and the seller. In a sense they are trying to reduce any potential cognitive dissonance you may have.

They tell you it is a great deal, you want to believe it is a great deal. You therefore alter your perception to see it as a great deal.

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Charitable Tie-ins

This is often tied up with the tradional Christmas imagery. Jesus helped others so why won't you?

The seller will aim to make the sale easier for you by creating some sort of token charitable association. A percentage of the money raised will be donated to some valuable cause. What they won't tell you is that you are just paying extra for the donation. Further not all of it will necesssarily go to the charity - I have even heard of cases where the charity did not even really exist.

If you think about it you can give to charity at any time you want. Not only that but you can choose and vet the charity yourslf to ensure that the money is going where you want.

Tying something up with charity is just another excuse to make it easier for you to buy. If you really cared about charity you would take the entirety of the mony you spent on the product and give it to charity instead.

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Annual Awards and Buying Guides

Source: Harper's Bazaar December 2016

Many magazines and online publications do these at this time of year. The main reason is to keep their advertisers happy.

Giving something an award or recommendation in a guide (rather than just a review) makes it easier to market and sell.

Source: What Hi-fi and Video December 2016 Awards Issue

Further these are just rehashings of previous reviews that they did earlier in the year and so don't take very much work. It also means that they can pad out the publication with even more advertising. Just compare a normal issue with these seasonal ones to see.

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The Sophisticated "Too Cool to Care" Approach

"Advertorial with Lady Gaga" - Source: Harper's Bazaar December 2016

I have noticed this in some fashion magazines and also some gadget/technology publications. Both these types of publications are little more than extended adverts anyway - the editorial content is just as strong a part of advertising as the actual ads that one sees.

It is probably one of the earliest forms of native advertising.

Rather than overt mentions of Chirstmas you get an increase in the proportion of advertising, plus a lot of buying guides and recommendations. It is often combined with the "annual awards" as mentioned previously.

There is little or no mention of Christmas but there may be subtle references with "family" oriented editorials and images of people with their children. This particularly works if you include celebrities - a great combination.

"This watch is for my daughter" - Source: Harper's Bazaar December 2016

The publisher is telling people "we know you are too sophisticated to be swayed by such easy marketing gimmicks - so we won't bother you with them". It could be seen as respecting the reader or more cynically as selling via flattery.

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Everthing that I haven't even thought of

Please add anything you think I have not thought of in the comments.

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Why is all this rampant consumerism bad?

I suppose the most obvious point is that it makes us completely disregard the original point of Christmas - if it is a celebration of the birth of Jesus then it doesn't really make sense doing the exact opposite of what he would do.

Whether you are religous or not that is obvious to see. I'm as unreligious as you can get and it seems like a problem to me.

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Here are some other problems I can think of:

Over-consuming at Christmas (and in general):

1. Fills up our homes up with things we don't necessarily need making us hoarders.
2. Fills up our minds. A clear mind starts with a clear environment.
3. Wastes energy.
4. Wastes our finite resources.
5. Diverts our money away from more important things like saving for adverse circumstances.
6. A lot of people pay for things they can't afford with debt, which further restricts their circumstances in the future.
7. Distracts attention from worthy causes that need money even more at this time of year (e.g. Homeless Organisations, isolated elderly people).
8. Can cause problems for animal welfare when people buy pets which they are incapable or unwilling to look after long term.

Despite knowing this I have a whole heap of crap that I bought on a whim and in some cases barely used or never used at all.

Personally I think if you buy something expensive you should get more of a return on it (in use terms) than something that is cheap.

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Conclusion

What do you think? Is consumerism taking over Christmas? Is it the same as it has always been. Does it even matter? Have your say in the comments.

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Your Reward for Reading:)

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If you like my work and aren't already, please follow me and check out my blog (I mainly discuss photography but I do other topics too) - @thecryptofiend

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Photo Credits: All uncredited photos are taken from my personal Thinkstock Photography account. More information can be provided on request.

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