Our consumer culture in America thrives each day because marketers and advertisers convince us that their product or service will fulfill a real or suggested need we have. Their pitch is that by buying this product or that, we will feel better, be happier, look younger, live longer, save time, save money, live better lives, or will simply differentiate ourselves from our neighbors. Do we buy stuff because we need it, because we want it, or because it makes us feel good? The answer is often one or more of the above.
John Kavanaugh, author of “Following Christ in a Consumer Society”, suggests that our consumer culture in America has become a method of self expression. Our buying behavior has become an expression of our thoughts, feelings, and even our identity. We see ourselves in the personae described in a specific brand. We buy the brand, and we become that brand or personae. We’re the Pepsi generation, who’s stuck on Band-Aid, is like Mike, and deserves a break today at McDonalds.
Meanwhile we do also have interior, spiritual lives that compete with the outside world to tell us who we really are. This voice doesn’t come from a radio or television ad, but from our Creator. In our consumer culture where our identities are often defined by what we wear, what we drive, and what we drink, our inner voice is often drowned out or simply ignored. We act on our feelings to buy goods and services each day, but we don’t feel safe expressing our interior feelings to friends, families, or to our community. Being reflective or contemplative doesn’t have a place in consumer culture unless it involves buying a bible, a self help book, or a yoga mat. There is no call or space in our culture to be quiet, vulnerable, and meek (as Jesus talks about in the Beatitudes). Instead we’re called to be busy, strong, and continuously gratified by external messages from movies, music, and smart phones.
The truth is, I believe, that marketers and advertisers have been more clever and successful at calling us to fulfill our interior desires with external stimuli than the Church has been at convincing us that the way to a fulfilling interior life is through prayer and reflection. In our culture very few people are proclaiming the benefits of a deep, peaceful prayer life and even fewer are listening. Why? I think our culture doesn’t know what to do with it. What are the outward fruits or benefits will I gain by spending/wasting time in prayer? Why would I want to spend an hour of quiet time reflecting on my mother or father wound and listening for the voice of a God I can’t see? What good is that going to do? It’s more productive to just grab a beer, watch a movie, and forget about it.
When we live in alignment with our consumer culture of keeping up with the Jones’, however, we are living a lie. We are not being the authentic selves God made us to be. Jesus says the Lord wants to take care of all of our day-to-day needs, “Do not worry about your life … look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing in barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more important than they? … So do not worry and say, “What are we to eat? Or What are we to wear? Your heavenly Father knows what you need … Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.” (Matthew 6:25- 34)
To cope with the disconnect with our interior lives that comes from our consumer culture, Roger Betsworth says in his book, “Social Ethics”, we often construct Cover Stories to help us find a sense of affirmation and safety. Real Story: “How can I work at McDonald’s during the day and read Martha’s Stewart’s “Living” at night, and still feel good about myself? Cover Story: Well, this job is only temporary until I finish school, so it’s okay for me to fantasize about what my first house might look like.” Cover Stories protect us from the truth and pain of who we really are.
In summary, you could say that in our society, consumerism is the Cover Story that most Americans buy into on a daily basis. First, consumerism is a part of the cultural narrative of how we Americans look at the world, and, second, it is part of the story we try to maintain everyday about our identities. “I am this type of person in our society because I can afford these things. It’s not really who I am, but I work every day to maintain this story and standard of living because people would reject me if I didn’t. I would never let people know how wounded and fearful a person I really am. Without all these possessions I would feel naked and alone.”
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