I like to think that I am not as consumerist as I am. As our readings have pointed out, we use relative position monitoring to keep track of where we fall in things. I always think that compared to other people like me, I spend less on "stuff," in favor of doing other things with the money. But when I really make myself think about it, I can see that I'm really not much different. With me, you just to have to appeal to my lazy side. If you want me to buy your stuff, make me think you are going to save me time or effort.
A few weeks ago, I bought a pair of magnetic eyelashes from a Facebook ad. Yes, I paid $20 for magnetic eyelashes. I watched a little video about how easy and wonderful they were and bam, sold. I was excited, I'm not even going to try and lie. I thought these were going to be amazing, I would clip my little lashes on and never deal with mascara again.
What I got in the mail, again, for $20, were like really bad doll eyelashes. Ask me in class, I'll show you a picture. They were so long, I tried cutting them with scissors, but they were still really long after. Even when I could get the magnets to connect, the lashes didn't line up top and bottom right and I had these still way too long bad doll eyelashes on. So I posted photos of it for my friends, because it was hilarious, and then threw them away.
This video breaks down the logistics of these stupid eyelashes. Please note: I think the ones in this video are much better than the ones I got in the mail.
Still, just a completely ridiculous purchase.
Another thing I have purchased in the name of convenience, that I also found just ridiculous, was Blue Apron. Incase you don't know, it's a service that sends you a box full of ingredients, on dry ice, along with very, very detailed and annoying instructions, so that you can make dinner. It's supposed to take the stress out of meal planning and inspire you to want to cook, or something. And maybe for some people it does! It did not me. After a friend "gifted me" a trial, I let them keep sending me boxes (I was paying for) a few times on their lowest plan. I cancelled it not long after, for a few reasons.
1. You had to prep every little thing and it STILL created massive waste. Like they would seriously just put pieces of produce, like say a potato, in a bag, and then put that into a box, and then put that in a bigger box full of tons of other small boxes and bags. Everything was packaged like three times over. I felt like I was unpacking food capsules sent from Earth, like Matt Damon in that Mars movie, and then having to chop, mince, or zest every thing in them.
The recipes were all way too involved for me. I hated it. But I kept forgetting to cancel my subscription before the cut off date for the next box, and wouldn't waste the food. After I finally did cancel, I swore that I would never zest anything else, ever again, for as long as I live. Who zests an orange for their dinner on a Wednesday night? Not me.
2. Everyone in my family hated it. I went into it thinking I would be treating them to fun new meals, since clearly I am no culinary enthusiast, but no. My husband called on his way home from work one day, hungry and sitting in traffic, and said, "please tell me we aren't having Blue Apron for dinner." We were, so that night, I made Jimmy John's instead. I remembered to cancel very soon after that.
Anyway my point is just that I am an American consumption junkie just like anyone else, I just prefer that my consumption be tied to making life easier for me to be lazy.
It's easy to not seem like a big deal, and say yeah it was dumb to pay $20 for magnetic doll eyelashes, haha, but oh well. But I am seeing that it's so American consumerist to think that way. For instance, I have a monthly reoccurring donation to Doctors Without Borders, for $25. Same price as my eyelashes, with shipping. That means those stupid eyelashes I threw away were in a price range between a month of clean drinking water for 40 people and a surgical kit for doctors in the field. When you look at it that way, it makes you feel pretty spoiled.
To close out, I think that women like me are more susceptible to these ads because, as the text has been explaining, the social norms are that we are supposed to be able to do it all - work hard, be pleasant, domestic, and still not eat carbs at dinner - and we are looking for shortcuts. It's just funny, I cannot ever imagine my husband ordering a magnetic face beard, let alone zest an orange, let alone feel bad enough about his appearance or care enough about meal preparation to even try.
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