The happiness when you own a thing !

image credit Mridhu.B.R

We at present are living in a globalized world, just call it a global village. Here our tastes and preferences are not ours anymore, it is controlled by external factors that surround us. We are influenced in a wider range by various entities which choose things for us and we get very little chance to choose the right product based on our needs.

Consider a girl who plans to buy a lipstick (be it any other cosmetic products that she uses). Why does she need it?  she may have various reasons to buy a lipstick like a perception that she might look good in it, want it since most woman use lipsticks, saw that in an advertisement so she responds to get it, saw a movie and was inspired from her favourite actress who looks great on lipstick so decides to get one for her, or maybe she thinks that the society has fixed using lipstick as an ideal yardstick of looking beautiful.

The above are the possibilities that she would buy the lipstick. Now the case is whether lipstick makes a girl beautiful? Actually no, we don’t see all woman using it, some do occasionally, and some don’t. (The example here is gender-neutral and you may also think of such examples in a men’s perspective).

There is a very big idea behind the various products that we use. The idea is 'the marketing of products'. This market is so successful in selling its products because it has set a benchmark for buying which intern convinces us buying them. The market uses many handy tools to bring their produces successfully in our hands mostly through advertisements, movies and other such media.

Media (TV, YouTube, cinema etc.) shapes our thoughts and perspectives. Most of us end up doing things that we see. Let us take any movie for example. The idea behind a movie is not only entertainment. We have seen people using movies for their political gains likewise, markets have their sole goal that is to reach to their consumers.

How do they do it?

We go watch a movie spending our time for a minimum of two and a half an hour and observe everything that comes on the screen. We watch various locations in a movie where the actor and actress dance for a duet, we watch the style of the lead characters, we give a glimpse of what they are wearing like the shirt, pant, saree, slippers, hairstyle, bike, car and what else, everything and we do this unintentionally by the time following the storyline and getting attached to that movie. 

Now see what happens most of us simply believe in everything that the lead characters say in that movie. We take their love like our love and tend to attach the movie in our life. This perhaps reflects in our WhatsApp status the other day. When you go buy a shirt guess what, you end up buying a similar shirt which perhaps was the shirt worn by the hero in the movie that was admired by the heroine and vice versa. The hairstyle you maintain is influenced by the movie or an actor/actress of your interest. The vehicle you ride must be inspired by any media and the list goes on. (You may inherit your style copying from other types of media also).

Now the market has successfully influenced you and has set an ideal to buy products. This is called 'product placement.' We get stuck into this loop of 'product placement' and the cycle repeats on and on. Most of the products used in movies which  are noticeable to us are brands.

What is a brand?

A product for years which has been in the market for its quality and mostly for its popularity. We now end up having an idea that owning a brand would make us look like a movie star. Such materialistic things which we inherit from watching movies or Tv makes us buy more products than at present. So the media shapes our mind likewise that we convince ourselves that the products are brands and owning them will make us feel good. Misery here is most of us believe it and end up craving for brands in our daily necessities. Moreover, people buy the brand mostly to maintain their social status.

One mostly tends to own an iPhone, wear a shirt from Basics, and pant from Pepe Jeans not for its quality alone but for the feeling of satisfaction that the brand's name gives which was influenced by an advertisement or a movie. To be very true the shirt or shoe which we usually wear wouldn’t be a brand but would have still performed well than any available brands in the market. The particular use of branded and unbranded products is the same.

Likewise, most people crave going to Cafe Coffee Day, McDonald and KFC to fulfil his/her satisfaction motivated by an advertisement. What about kapaekazhi (pasty pottage of millets) and kambu koozhl (Bajra porridge) these are also food items which serve the purpose to lessen your hunger and even has more nutrients in it. We show no tendency to consume them since most of the movies don’t capture a heroine eating kazhi or a hero drinking kambu koozhl. My point should not discourage you from consuming McDonald's burger or sipping coffee from CCD, but analyse why you do it. Whether you like the taste or simply do so because you feel satisfied when you post pictures on social media. Think…

A successful example of product placement in recent times is the apple watch that has earned respect and has become a  big thing to possess in one's life. Nowadays most characters in a movie own an apple watch. Give a try, just see randomly twenty movies released last year and you would be surprised to find 80% of the lead actors wearing an apple watch! That makes us think that Apple watches are something great and we crave for it. We forget the purpose served in it, 'the technological advance' and simply crave it for the materialistic feeling that satisfies by owning a product.

These are three different categories where people mostly come from based on the objective materials they own. Most persons have the habit of looking into people differently with what they possess. Dr B.R. Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi and Dr A.P.J Abdul Kalam are among the know personalities from category one and two but not three. This does not mean that the category three people don’t achieve at all. Society underestimates category one and two with materialistic possession.  My point is don’t judge a book by its cover. He/She would possess a lot more than what you think. The markets high standards must not influence us. Buy products only if it satisfies your needs and not for the feel you get when you own a thing. We all get stuck in this vicious circle of possessing materialistic things. Advertisements carrying such false propaganda must be ripped off from our minds. Are you running behind the brands? Let me alarm you "Life is not about the brand you wear, it's all about the way you get branded for your inner qualities"

Most of you who are reading this blog might have come seeing my posts either in Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or WhatsApp. So this signifies that I have successfully marketed my product to you and online marketing allows me to have a good reach to you.

We must also accept the positive sides of the market which gallops millions of workers in it and liquidity it provides for a fluid economy. Millions will lose a job when markets collapse! Be aware and know how things work in a society and always try to be far away from getting stuck in a materialistic illusion. After all, happiness cannot be owned with materialistic things!

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