DEMANDS OR A HOAX?

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It has often been argued that the wants of humans are unlimited and unending and we have unquestionably accepted the proposition. The capitalist makes goods because we want them thus maintaining an equilibrium of demand and supply in the economy. Justifications for substandard working conditions have often been provided to quell the dissatisfaction of workers.

Various luxury products are supplied by the elite in order to satisfy the "demand" for them but where does this demand arise from? The answer is advertising. We are given goods we do not require persuaded by irrational advertisement and propagated by as Theodor Adorno puts it by "The Culture Industry".

The myth that capitalism gives people to choose whatever they want is largely inaccurate and false. Large corporations use hundreds of billions of dollars to manipulate consumers into buying what they want to sell.

Advertising has been proven to have disastrous consequences as Karl Marx has noted in Theory of Alienation. Capitalism alienates the worker from his "human essence" and he is left with mundane repetitive tasks to produce for the never-ending thirst of the market which was created by the neo-liberal myth of free choice and further expatriated by manipulation and deceit of the individual mind.

The mainstream entertainment world has also hopped on the wheelbarrow. We see harmful products like cigarettes being advertised with sexual imagery and highly snob effected goods like diamonds with highly successful people. This creates an allure in the mind of the consumer that owning a ridiculously overpriced item is a sign of success.

For the last part, I would like to go back to Theodor Adorno's explanation of this ultra consumerist system or "The culture industry" He says that Culture mixes with advertising because it is a paradoxical commodity. Freedom to choose an ideology becomes subservient to Economic Coercion and as a result, people choose from political ideologies which are the same (The US political system reflects this). Adorno concludes by saying that consumers feel the need to purchase products even if they see through them.

So in summation, capitalism in the name of giving freedom takes it away.

~ Niraj

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