"Empire is not an enemy that confronts us head-on. It is a rhythm that imposes itself, a way of dispensing and dispersing reality." —The I

With So Much To Choose From, Do We Still Have Choice?

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2021-09-23 11:30:05

"Empire is not an enemy that confronts us head-on. It is a rhythm that imposes itself, a way of dispensing and dispersing reality." —The Invisible Committee, The Coming Insurrection, 2009

One of the worst crimes a business can commit is psychological manipulation. And yet, it is a regular, open, well-documented practice we are all constantly having to navigate, and one I am mildly obsessed with monitoring in day-to-day life.

Through advertising, businesses attempt to convince potential customers that their life is in some way lacking in order to coerce people into buying products, the goal of which is to convert these one-time shoppers into lifelong consumers, the coveted “brand loyalists.” Corporations employ psychologists, test products on paid focus groups, and tweak their marketing campaigns based on the information they glean from all the above. It’s a dirty way to play the game, but, if you have your wits about you, you, the consumer, can still retain some form of agency. If you’re able to spot the manipulation as it’s occurring—become "media literate," as we grad students used to say—you can recognize the mechanisms by which advertisers are trying to manipulate you, evade the psychological warfare, and “consciously” choose whether or not to buy a company’s product. Choosing to buy one product over another empowers consumers to redirect the market, as well as brace themselves against unwanted coercion. In effect, choice is both a weapon and a shield.

The more people recognize the ways marketing campaigns are trying to manipulate them, the more savvy they become as shoppers. These “educated consumers” with refined palates shop under the banner of “conscious capitalism” and in turn become “conscious consumers,” their oft-repeated rally cry: “Vote with your dollars.”