Commodity Self

This week, the IS 310 class will examine the question posed in Chapter 7 of your Practices of Looking text. Media theorist, Stuart Ewen, makes a comment on COMMODITY SELF - the idea that we construct our identities in part through the consumer products that inhabit our lives. Do you agree with him? Are you the product of products?

Read all of Chapter 7 to give you the appropriate context to respond.

I do believe that there is a strong weight towards the products we use and who we are. I also believe that as we are possibly products of products, products do work towards what society is. The media and advertisements are constantly surrounding us these days, and we often as consumers are not aware of the impact that advertisements have on us. We are a fast-paced culture that constantly is searching for something different and something that will relate to us. The Mac and PC commercials that are currently being publicized on the television are a perfect example of how we identify ourselves through consumer products. Mac began creating advertisements a few years ago where an average, youthful looking guy represented a Mac computer, while a dorky, business-oriented older male represented the PC. Personally, I felt that after these commercials, along with the rising popularity in iPods, I have seen far more Mac users my age than I ever could imagine. In retaliation, the PC fought back with its advertisements in which "average" Americans of varying race and age claimed, "I am a PC". Advertisements work in order to appeal to what society is interested in. The fact that these advertisements take products and place people's identity with them emphasize this concept that we are the product of products.

Reading Chapter 7, I also came across the fact that artists have taken certain popular products and created pop art out of them. Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein are two popular artists who created works that reflected advertising, and in doing so, brought evidence that we are connected to products and advertising on a personal, emotional level. This connection in turn defines us. Consumer products work with society and emphasize the thoughts and feelings of that society towards it. As we shape the consumer products, they also shape us as well. Nike and its sweat shop scandal caused a lot of consumers to turn away from the product. As a result, there was a large movement towards advertising for products that provided positive working environments, as seen by companies like American Apparel. Super Size Me was a documentary that revealed the unhealthy food that it produced, causing the company to produce practically an entire new menu that in turn was widely accepted by society. Society has, after the documentary shaped through the exploitation of McDonalds, and now generally desires organic, healthy alternatives to food.

We are the product of products, just as much as products are the product of us.