I went to the grocery store yesterday. It was cold and rainy outside. I walked into the warm, to confront a huge holiday display complete with live music. My first reaction was to mentally check the calendar and realize that it is indeed that time of year. Somehow I still felt like we were in October. As I walked past the big display I could feel my body relaxing. I could feel that holiday cozy feeling trying to settle in. I could feel my desire to frivolously spend money increasing.
That’s when I realized it. Huge holiday displays and music and smells are actually a form of psychological warfare. The stores are attempting to assault my budget to capture my funds. They’re trying to turn me into a quisling. We have all been conditioned over the years to associate holiday displays with spending money. We get all warm and fuzzy with our desire to give gifts to those we love.
Don’t get me wrong. I love the warm and fuzzy. I love the feel of the holiday season. I just need to make sure that I can enjoy the holidays without changing my spending habits. Yes I can buy gifts, or materials to make gifts. Yes I can buy treats to make the holidays special. But I need to buy what I intend to buy, not on impulse because the colors and sounds make me feel warm and fuzzy. Our budget is no longer insanely tight, but we can’t afford to spend whimfully.
Well, everything about a store is designed to make you spend money there. Candy is placed at the register specifically to provoke children into bugging their parents about it, because that’s the one place in the store that a parent can’t just rush past or avoid and hope the children don’t notice.
Best of luck combatting the psychological attacks. It can be difficult indeed.
Well, everything about a store is designed to make you spend money there. Candy is placed at the register specifically to provoke children into bugging their parents about it, because that’s the one place in the store that a parent can’t just rush past or avoid and hope the children don’t notice.
Best of luck combatting the psychological attacks. It can be difficult indeed.
It’s memetics. More mainstream psychology-followers would use the term ‘pavlovian conditioning’. And yes, it’s deliberate.
This particular use of memetics is called ‘marketting’ and ‘presentation’. If you understand what marketting is all about, it’s pretty cold-blooded manipulation of a target demographic – in this case, those who’re already walking into the front door – to behave in a certain way – think of giving gifts, and therefore spend money.
Being consciously aware of such manipulative efforts is generally a good defense against ’em – unfortunately, it requires that you question WHY you’re feeling “warm and fuzzy”, as you put it. In many people, this can cut back on that wonderful feeling, as you start wondering WHY you’re feeling that way rather than just enjoying it.
Or so seems it to me. *wry grin*
-John
It’s memetics. More mainstream psychology-followers would use the term ‘pavlovian conditioning’. And yes, it’s deliberate.
This particular use of memetics is called ‘marketting’ and ‘presentation’. If you understand what marketting is all about, it’s pretty cold-blooded manipulation of a target demographic – in this case, those who’re already walking into the front door – to behave in a certain way – think of giving gifts, and therefore spend money.
Being consciously aware of such manipulative efforts is generally a good defense against ’em – unfortunately, it requires that you question WHY you’re feeling “warm and fuzzy”, as you put it. In many people, this can cut back on that wonderful feeling, as you start wondering WHY you’re feeling that way rather than just enjoying it.
Or so seems it to me. *wry grin*
-John
Seems that way to me.
It’s so overdone that it not only cuts back on the wonderful feeling, it negates the feeling entirely and results in discomfort and rejection of the place. I resent feeling manipulated, even more so when it’s through expectation and lies and doesn’t do anything to benefit me.
As a result, I actively avoid the malls and shopping in nearly all forms from October through January. Heck, I avoid them most of the year anyhow, but I make extra effort during the pre-holiday timeframe. Being blasted with muzak, vivid decorations and exhortations to buybuybuy sucks away any fun there might have been.
Seems that way to me.
It’s so overdone that it not only cuts back on the wonderful feeling, it negates the feeling entirely and results in discomfort and rejection of the place. I resent feeling manipulated, even more so when it’s through expectation and lies and doesn’t do anything to benefit me.
As a result, I actively avoid the malls and shopping in nearly all forms from October through January. Heck, I avoid them most of the year anyhow, but I make extra effort during the pre-holiday timeframe. Being blasted with muzak, vivid decorations and exhortations to buybuybuy sucks away any fun there might have been.