I have what I need

One thing I feel needs to be said is this: it does not appear the advertising industry has our best interest in mind. Personally, I get very fatigued by this industry constantly telling me I need something, robbing me of the feeling that I have what I need already.

You may recognize the “I have what I need” feeling from little moments here and there. For example, if you have ever packed for a trip you may have felt the overwhelm of trying to gather what you’ll need, and then experienced the relief of realizing you’ve got everything packed and ready. That feeling is easily overlooked due to its fleeting nature, but it does not have to be so temporary. Being cognizant of this feeling everyday has the power to greatly contribute to our joy.

An entire industry constantly returning us to that feeling of overwhelm does not have our backs, and only puts us on the path of regret toward buying things that don’t serve our needs, feeling tricked out of our hard earned money, and like our value centers around our possessions. These feelings, among many others, distances us from joy. We are all on different journeys and need different things on our journeys. Not a single one of us needs the exact same things, and the advertising industry fails to mention this, Ever.

My wish for the advertising industry, is it will hold our highest interest at heart, and help us live our journeys in the most fruitful way. To me, the most fruitful use of the industry’s efforts is aiding us in our own knowing of what will serve us best on our life journeys.

When I dream of what an advertising industry with our highest interest at heart might look like, I imagine advertising professionals are taught to be neutral in the information they state about a product and does not decide what the product will achieve. An elevated advertising industry values versatility and allows the consumer to decide what the product has helped them achieve. This looks like commercials that are not trying to trick us, they are there to help us consider the many functions one product can serve. This mindset requires a kind of creativity the advertising industry may want to consider exploring more. It may seem radical, but lots of things serve different purposes for many people and claiming a product can only be used for what it was created for in the first place is wildly outdated.

There are definitely a number of things that can be used for tasks outside of what they were originally created for and an elevated advertising industry allows room for this. To exclude this information does us all a disservice.

I also An elevated advertising industry also seeks people of differing abilities to engage with the product and is up front about how a person’s need to have a certain level of function just to be able to engage with a product. Currently, this information goes unsaid and is left to the consumer to find out on their own, making it feel like we have wasted our money on something that doesn’t work for us.

This is my wish for the advertising industry as a whole. My wish for us as individuals is to know ourselves well and be so protective of the “I have what I need” feeling, we are not fooled and no longer accept an industry that doesn’t have our best interest at heart.