Why I’ve stopped buying things since working in advertising

I think its happening, all around us, slowly filtering into the mainstream conscious. We’ve all had enough of buying things. This has become starkly obvious to me since working in advertising, an industry that has many genuine purposes and certainly supports any prosperous economy but arguably peddles a tiring concept; we must keep buying to be happy, people are starting to realise this simply isn’t true.

This certainly doesn’t mean that there’s no place for advertising because there always will be, there will always be a cause to sell, whether that’s for commercial or social good. However, its possible for a just society to be hinged effectively on advertising, where the customer isn’t oppressed and centralised but rather an active compenent in a two way relationship.

But that’s for another day, another article. Right now i’m talking about the idea of us ending the conveyor belt of purchasing, or at least putting it on pause. The modern man (and woman) looks for more from life, worthwhile experiences, learning new languages or skills a culture incubated and born out of the recent economic pressure, insecurity and instability. All these factors of pressure have fossilised us into changed beings, we now look to feed the soul rather than line the closets. Because in the words of Skepta, whats the use of these cars and clothes, if i can’t switch it up and go hard on my own. This captures a sense of independence that is spanning throughout western ideology, freedom from purchase can only mean, freedom.

And that’s the truth here, in a world that for so long seemed to be expanding, growing in accessibility, seems now to be once again shrinking back on itself, but that’s not what we want. That’s why we’ve stopped buying. The less we buy, the more we can explore, the more we can learn and the more we can achieve.