We need to stop the “Big Sell”
Marketing your life and giving away your privacy
Selling on the side tended to be relegated to co-workers who sold Girl Scout cookies in the workplace. And before that, it was Avon.
Generally it was about school fundraisers, altruistic causes, pull-at-your-heart-string-type purchase requests.
The United States, post Baby Boom, became a transaction based society. Television told you what you needed in general before the sales pitch gradually got more personal and micromanaged by your peers.
You give me this; I give you that. Items changed hands among colleagues in the staff lounge and around the water cooler when they still existed.
Your place of employment was a fish tank. Easy bait.
Slowly, the art of the sale made its way into your home with “friends” on social media. Go Fund Me (s) abound.
Exchanging a $10 bill for a box of Thin Mints was one thing. Now your tastes and buying habits are exploited in more insidious ways.
It is disappointing (but predictable) how users who pop up on your feed are “brand ambassadors,” and their posts become one big sell. They are curating you, defining you, robbing you.
Any seemingly funny or insightful comments or reels are crafted to part you from your money. With installments options scrolling feverishly, the one-click payment model has been perfected.
The old societal constructs of compartmentalizing home and work and leisure time has been discarded and buried. Instead your time is one big blend together and you are spending money and going into debt in three places at once.
Your preferences are common knowledge and a little bit of your privacy is eroded. The scammers are not just slick and anonymous.
They are relatable.
I have a co-worker who goes do the rabbit hole stress searching for items on Amazon, trying to just keep up with what he thinks he should have based on pop-up suggestions or a recent podcast.
It is sad to see how we can not push back, draw and maintain boundaries for ourselves, and be present and not just solicit presents….
