Material culture: everyday life

 

MATERIAL CULTURE: EVERYDAY LIFE

 

While I was reading Chris Arning's article on semiotics and packaging design a couple of things immediately popped into mind. The article itself made me think of how many times the packaging design really made me buy a certain product. The answer would be way too many.

 

Let’s take for example an item I use on a daily basis, like a pack of cigarettes. I walk into a store to buy me a pack prepared to say those sacred words: Winston XS blue 100s, but there it was, on display, Lucky Strike Double Click in a brand-new packaging. But this wasn't any new packaging. This was a black matte packaging with these beautiful purple lines all over it and menthol/blueberry sweet taste that was screaming my name. You know how kids are attracted to shiny things , well this is just like that, anything black matte, and my mind just goes: YES PLEASE! I couldn't just look away. All so beautifully combined to make the product as much appealing as possible. So even though those weren't the cigarettes I usually buy and I didn't even know whether I was going to like them I decided I must have them at once. This is only one example of my superficiality and immaturity when it comes to purchasing certain products.

Another example involves tanning oils. Every year I'm looking forward to sun kissed skin(too much even). I already have too many bottles of different oils because I never manage to use up all of it. However, every single year I buy another one simply because of its packaging. The oils I already have are with certain SPF(that is not very high) and they're great because of its and they work for me and for my skin, but, God, I just need to get that other bottle too, that is all shiny in this beautiful see-through brown packaging and you can see the glitters inside and smells like coconut and beach and heaven. Because all the 37 bottles I already have are nowhere near as perfect. Not once did I bother to read what it's made of,  ingredients, or maybe consult the instruction on the back of the bottle to see if that oil suits me. Also, the price of these products is usually very high, and in some cases it doesn't have to do with the quality of the product. It's expensive because of the brand or its packaging, and you usually buy it, but in the end you have no idea what you bought.

One more thing that I spend way too much money on is any hair related product. I have really demanding curly hair, and it takes me a lot of effort to just wash it, let alone take good care of it. Over the years I have tried every possible product in order to make my life easier and to try and prevent my hair from splitting and looking like a little blond bush. Even though I am picky when it comes to purchasing this type of product, I've come to realize that packaging does play a big part in this, too. But this isn't exactly the same case as the previous two. From shampoos and conditioners to anti-breakage/frizz and detangling creams, masques, and oils, I have to pay special attention to what type of hair they intended for and what they're made of, because on most days my hair disagrees with me, so I have to make sure I buy quality products. Packaging here comes into play only if I happen to find two equally good products from different brands and within the same price range. Then I find myself in a situation where I have to determine which one I want more, which is not an easy task, but that is a whole other problem.

Laura Oswald's opening quotation:"Consumers shop for meaning, not stuff.", can be seen as an attempt to explain how people perceive and connect with messages conveyed through different advertisements and packaging. People seem to think that any message sent through those commercials can be applied to their own lives. For example, I think we've all seen the famous advertisement about certain pads for women. The woman in that commercial is all happy and satisfied, walking freely IN WHITE PANTS. Somehow , women probably think those are the best pads ever and seeing that woman, they are fooled into thinking they would feel just as happy if they purchase those specific pads. This is never the case. So this quotation's message is aimed at the fake image we are presented, and we crazily believe our life is going to change because those people ACT a certain way and try to persuade us into buying whatever it is they're selling.