Response to Jessica’s post entitled “Sex sells but not for me”

Jessica, your post brought up some very interesting points as well as potential concerns for the future. In retrospect, I too remember the craze and the overwhelming impatience in getting my first Tamagotchi as well as other toys such as mini sticks, crazy bones, and pogs. I certainly know that I have left out several crucial toys that I loved with a passion and for that I apologize… (Inserting a brief moment of nostalgia here)…. Moving on.

With age and maturity, our desire for specific objects and/or wants have changed and developed to comply with the norms of our social category. In reading your post, I was able to summarize your argument within two major subjects: norm production through advertising and the notion of ‘perpetual dissatisfaction’.

As you mentioned in your article, advertisements ultimately create the “unattainable body image (available through airbrushing and Photoshop)”. You also mentioned that our perception of the ‘norm’, with respect to body image, is beginning to be perceived by younger and younger age groups. It has almost come to the point where children are born into a world where the norm of aesthetics is severely distorted. There seems to be a gradual shift away from focusing on the ‘inside’, so to speak, of a person and Mary Jo Leddy’s notion of ‘perpetual dissatisfaction’ supports this point. 


The notion of ‘perpetual dissatisfaction’, in Mary Jo Leddy’s book entitled Radical Gratitude, ultimately proposes that society, specifically through advertisements and media, create an artificial and continual ‘craving’ for material goods. It involves an uncontrollable pursuit of material goods, ultimately creating a society in which its citizens are held captive. As you mentioned in your article regarding advertisement’s ability to “employ the religious notion of desire”, I believe that advertising is a form of seduction, whereby advertisers, who promote and campaign a specific object, appeal not to its basic function, but to an idealistic and often delusional reality. In commenting on your question “whatever happened to loving and respecting the body God blessed you with?” I would go so far as to say that materialism morally deprives the developed society. Moreover, the means through which materialism is achieved and its effects neglect spiritual and moral values.