When I was a child, I loved my Saturday morning cartoons. In addition to enjoying Bugs Bunny, the Jetsons, and so on, I also saw plenty of advertisements for sugar-filled breakfast cereals.
America is full of marketing geniuses, and they know how to sell products to their target audience. Of course, the cereals were brightly colored and had appealing spokesmen such as Tony the Tiger.
Mom tried to feed us to eat healthier foods but Dad was more indulgent. He liked Frosted Flakes too.
Sometimes we had a bowl of hot cereal Mom cooked on the stovetop, topped with sliced bananas or raisins along with a glass of milk. On weekends we sometimes had homemade idli, an easily digested and healthy Indian breakfast. But a lot of times we had packaged cereal that I know, looking back, was horrible for us.
Once I left home, my diet got even worse.
In college, I had no idea how to eat healthily, though I could have gotten a clue by sticking to the healthy meals my Mom had prepared for dinner.
Instead, I ate all sorts of processed crap and fast food.
A large part of the problem was the advertising I watched.
However, the blame does not go completely to the advertisers. It’s up to us to realize we are being manipulated.
I realize this is not easy for kids and others who are much more vulnerable to suggestion. After all, children are often trusting.
Think of the children who end up smoking cigarettes or drinking gallons of soda because advertisers make these things seem “cool”.
Think of children who feel unattractive and end up with eating disorders because they buy into what their screens feed them about the world.
Parents need to help their children recognize the manipulation that is going on and train their offspring to think for themselves.
Here is a photo someone sent me that illustrates the tricks that are played on us:
We watch celebrities, influencers, and advertisements and we assume our own lives are wanting. Our friends post only the positive parts of their lives on social media outlets and we don’t realize that they are struggling with the same problems we are.
When we blindly follow these sources instead of thinking for ourselves, we make bad decisions that can have horrible consequences on our lives. Our relationships, health, and finances suffer.
We become more superficial, less spiritual, more materialistic, less content.
There is a way out, though.
Turn off the media barrage. Ask yourself what will enhance your life. Then change your life so that you focus more on what will help you to be wise and emotionally stable.
Instead of comparing yourself to celebrities, focus on your own life. If you must compare yourself to someone, compare yourself to your past self. If you have become wiser, kinder, or more accomplished — then that is good enough.
Instead of blindly following influencers, ask yourself what they are actually selling. Do you want or need that product? Will it actually make your life better? Realize that the lifestyles portrayed are typically artificial ones.
Instead of letting advertisers trick you into buying fast food or going into debt buying expensive products, realize that the initial high will be followed by a low when you realize you have gained pounds or have gotten into debt to chase the illusion that advertisers have sold you.
As someone who has fallen victim to sales spiels myself — I know how hard it is to stay sane when the world keeps pushing you to do insane things. If you want peace and joy, though, resistance to the siren songs is the only way.
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This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.
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From The Good Men Project on Medium
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Photo credit: iStock.com