Consumption
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Consumption_WritingActivities.docxConsumption: Entering the Conversation
Response Freewriting – Idea-generating Activities
“Consumption Communities” – Twitchell argues that today we identify less with social classes and more with people with similar buying habits. Do you agree or disagree? Why? What consumption communities do you belong to? Do you see a variety of social classes represented in that group? Brainstorm a list of items that demonstrate your belonging to a particular consumption community. For your essay, you could choose one of those items, describing the group it links you to, how/why it connects you to that group, and whether that connection is genuine/false, positive/negative, etc. This might lead you to consider the positive/negative effects of consumerism in your own life.
Passive/Active Consumption – Twitchell suggests that we are not passive consumers, that we engage in the process of selection, and that we do most of the work of consumption after purchasing or buying into something. Look back at his ideas on this (37-8) and brainstorm a list of purchases in which you have been an active consumer and a list of purchases in which you have been a more passive consumer. For your essay, you could choose one of these purchases, describing your experience purchasing/using the item and considering the extent to which advertising and other things influenced your purchase and your overall satisfaction with and experience with the item in comparison to the “promises” made by those influencing forces.
The Mass Production of Individual Ideals: Ewen describes the health/fitness industry and how physical ideals are not only crafted by commerce, but so are the methods by which we accomplish those ideals. If defined muscles are what we want, we will find ourselves inundated with offers for gyms, diets, in-home fitness equipment, and workout DVD’s sure to provide such definition. A runner’s body? A dancer’s body? A beach body? You name it, there are products that promise it. Ewen refers to “middle-class body rhetoric,” which runs rampant in a culture centered on “self-absorbed careerism, conspicuous consumption, and a conception of self as an object of competitive display” (57). What is the body rhetoric (or the fashion rhetoric) of today, and how does it influence you? How does that appear in products and advertising today? Brainstorm a list of products that you have purchased (or chosen not to) that reflect today’s body rhetoric and your experience. You could choose one of these to serve as the basis of your own exploration of Ewen’s overall concern: whether or not you (we) are in control of these choices, or if we are losing control of these decisions and our individuality, giving it over to companies, products, and advertising.
Anxiety and consumption – Archer ties consumption to changes in the modern family and social interactions. Things can give us a sense of security, she seems to say, that our changing society cannot provide. Write about your own consumption patterns – does buying have an emotional effect on you? Brainstorm a list of items that you may have purchased because of emotional appeal. For your essay, you could choose one of those items, describing the advertising surrounding it and the emotion it appeals to; you might also describe your experience purchasing that item and your reasons for doing so, reflecting then, through your experience, on the emotional appeal of advertising.
Social Roles and Consumption: Ascher also ties consumption to our roles (wife/mother, for example). What roles do you play, and how might those roles and the expectations tied to them influence your consumption? Think of one of your social roles, then brainstorm a list of items/products that help you carry out that role. Look through your list to see if you can identify any ways in which products and advertising might be designed to help (or at least to seem to help) you and others carry out that role. For your essay, you could choose one of those items, describing the role it is linked to, what connections are made through advertising/marketing, and whether or not those connections are genuine or created—that is, if a product seems to promise that it will make a man a better husband, make a student more successful, etc., does that actually prove to be true? Or is that a false promise? A play on emotions? Etc.
Inside/Outside: Think of a specific product/service that you consume, then think about the ways that product/service is presented to you, what influences the way you feel about it, and why you ultimately consume it.
· Inside-out: begin by thinking about how you feel about your consumption (do you feel proud or ashamed/guilty, does it make you feel good about yourself, make you feel beautiful, make you feel strong, etc.); then you might think about why you associate those feelings with that product.
· Outside-in: next think about that product and how others react to it. What assumptions do they make about you based on your consumption of that product? What influences their assumptions (advertising, celebrity influence, stereotypes, etc.)? Are those assumptions correct and complete? To what extent, then, and in what ways do our consumption habits define us?
