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Jon Sabo Summary 6/11/07 In On Sale at Old Navy: Cool Clothes for Identical Zombies! Damien Cave argues that there is certain culture alive and well in our society that is turning is into thoughtless clones. Thomas Frank, a writer opposed to contemporary marketing techniques used by companies to sell their products, enters into a San Francisco Old Navy and is disgusted by what he sees. Frank is not alone in his conviction. Writer Naomi Klein believes stores like these increase the obsession for material possession. Klein argues that these stores encourage uniformity through deceptive displays. Shoppers are naturally oblivious to what s happening to them as they line up to shop. But, not everyone out there is pessimistic and critical of their marketing techniques. Advocates for Old Navy and Ikea believe the stores sell products to customers at fair prices. Despite any benefit to the economy, Frank maintains that these stores are causing shoppers to become identical robots who waste their lives shopping. Material consumption becomes a method of creating a self, and shoppers are becoming too similar because they are pushed towards the same thing whether by choice or accident. The addiction to brands began in America in the early twentieth century, and what we see today is a continuation of how it began. Stores are laid out in a way that promotes shopping, and their designs keep customers inside until all the merchandise has been seen. Merchandise may not be the right word to describe what these companies are promoting, though. Klein suggests, You experience the identity of the brand and not the product (Cave, 156). This image promoted by these companies comes at a price. People perceive such items to be of quality. Quality is not a word to describe the products. More often than not, they fall apart and must be replaced (Cave, 156). A vicious cycle of work and spend ensues from such lifestyles (Cave, 157). It strips our country of any real culture and replaces it with a culture of indulgence, according to Klein. On a positive note, some as pessimistic as Frank believes that this cycle can be broken, though it will be a tough accomplishment. Jon Sabo Response 6/11/07 This is a topic I think about on a regular occasion. During my days of labor at Oak Park mall, I constantly find myself at the entrance of the gift shop at which I employed. Managers prefer to call it greeting, but I prefer to call it people watching. After countless hours of reconnaissance work, one conclusion can be drawn: a mall, regardless of location, contains some of the happiest human beings on planet earth. And why wouldn t it? Not that I wish to be lumped into any category with pessimistic conspiracy theorists of any sort, but I feel there is definitely something innate in the human psyche that provides us with a predisposition to desire ownership. Maybe it came about from the fact that people are competitive and one of the few ways to consistently show dominance is to show off material things that are constantly present. Unfortunately, we don t live in the kind of world where underlying notions and ideas provide the same awe-inspiring effect as a new corvette. Perhaps notions and ideas do not have the same mass appeal as something that is concrete and readily understandable. The average American has no idea how our political system works yet has no problem relating to the roar of a super-charged engine. Ours is a world where fashion outshines morality. As for what Cave wrote about, it is interesting to look back at the stages of marketing and to see how thing have really taken off since the 1950s. A culture of consumption has been on the rise; even the most adamant optimist can not deny that. Marketers turned an entire generation into smokers with subliminal advertising. Only a culture like this one would promote buying an unnecessary amount of cars, simply because you can. This dates as far back as the post-war boom era, where it was an absolute necessity to own more than one car. I agree that ads and brand names blind most people. It goes hand-in-hand with feel-good consumption and ownership. If it feels good to most people, most people will refuse to believe that the things they own end up owning them. The entire notion of being owned by the things you own comes from the fact that it turns you into a puppet the controls you. Addiction to the latest fashion and gadgets is a never-ending cycle for a couple of reasons. Fashion and gadgets either break or get worn-down or they become outdated. Fashion renews itself every season, and gadgets are constantly becoming obsolete due to new standards of technology. For some, emptying half of a bank account on something they do not need feels just as good, if not better, than receiving the money in the first place. Speaking of broad ideas, I am intrigued by the idea that regardless of the colors presented to us, underneath it all, it is all grays and browns. As much as I would like to stay out of the realm of psychology, I have to relate Cave s fourth paragraph to it somehow. He writes, You don t even notice you re conforming because everything is so colorful (Cave, 155). For the average person, even several of the same things in these stores are seen as different. If you asked them why, they would likely say because there are different colors. For some, that is enough to justify to themselves that they are not conforming or becoming a robot. Underneath these colors, the grays and browns are metaphors for mass produced garbage wrapped in a sugary coating, stamped with a logo and tagged with a brand name. I agree that it is not all bad. Our economy is built on capitalism, and companies are free to do whatever they can to sell their products. So, companies have built on the work of pioneers of the earlier twentieth century to promote mass consumption of things we don t need. This happens to be great for the economy, as there is a large section of our population that never stops shoveling their paychecks back into the economy. Also, looking at the mere surface of things, one could argue that these companies are providing people with happiness (though only for a short time). Maybe absolute happiness results from absolute freedom from all of these things that bind us. That is exactly what the fictionalized character Tyler Durden was hoping to achieve by toppling financial history as we know it in the cinematic epic Fight Club . I think it s sad that people use shopping to put together an identity for themselves. Soon gone are the days of defining yourself by morals, ethics, standards, principals, and ideas. To be honest, while this consumerism will always represent a majority of the population, I think there will always be a responsible portion who is financially responsible and able to think for themselves. I can identify with the work and spend theory. I have several friends who live paycheck to paycheck, with no responsibility whatsoever. They cash their check every two weeks, and handle their money in a truly irresponsible fashion. Their walls are plastered with ads for various alcohol brands, while their mantles are filled with empty liquor bottles. While this may make them look cool in some immature sense of the word, they are essentially advertising for these companies. As Klein put it, they re turning their rooms into billboards (Cave, 157). I actually strive to be different than these people. While they are friends of mine, it would drive me crazy to surround myself with people like these. As for the direction this whole thing is headed, it s going to take a massive counter-cultural shift for any upheaval to take place. Hippies to learn a thing or two about getting things done. I find it humorous that the goal of a giant music festival is to bring about change without any effort put forth, aside from planning the actual event. I would like to think the change wouldn t be as drastic as what Mr. Durden accomplished at the end of Fight Club, but maybe that s what it will take.

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