Shopping, Psychotherapy and Consumerism - Literature review Example

Essay, Gender and Sexual Studies Part A Summary of Bennett’s “Getting the Id to go Shopping: Psychoanalysis, Advertising, Barbie Dolls, and the Invention of the Consumer Unconscious” According to Bennett (2005), the period after the Second World War saw the development of unchecked spending, which was generated by a misplaced sense of patriotism. The success of the ‘Barbie’ doll, which was first released in the U.S. market in 1959, was actually the result of the compulsive shopping tendency of unconscious shoppers who were vulnerable to creative marketing strategies. In his essay, Bennett revisits a time when psychoanalysis was connected to the notion of compulsive spending. Far from being viewed as a problematic issue, compulsive spending after the Second World War was perceived as being a patriotic duty which would catapult the national economy. Freudian analysis of consumer spending was a concept which was exploited to generate ‘sovereign citizens’. Sigmund Freud’s personality theory is also known as the psychoanalytic theory. According to Bennett (2005), marketers used this theory to find ways of tapping into the unconscious part of ordinary citizens in order to affect their abilities to make purchasing decisions. Freud’s theory states that there are three important aspects of the human psyche. These are the id, which is the unconscious part that is stimulated by pleasure, the ego, and the super ego. The id is the part that constantly seeks immediate gratification, and that is impulsive and illogical (Bennett 2005). The ‘Id’ is not concerned about consequences of impulsive actions. The ‘ego’, on the other hand, always takes into consideration the present reality before coming to any decision. This is the part that marketers sought to by-pass in all prospective consumers. The Super-ego essentially refers to an internal moral conscience that is also not given to expressions of impulsiveness. The Super-ego is formed from the childhood notions of fairness and justice that were learnt from an individual’s earliest interactions with others such as parents, friends, and the general society. According to Bennett (2005), at the end of the Second World War, marketers realized that they could use Freud’s theory to manipulate the masses. Marketers and advertisers in different industries understood that it was only through politics and advertising that companies could use emotionally manipulative methods to influence people to react to products in the ways that advertisers wished to. Known as mass-consumer persuasion, this tactic would gradually involve the use of public relations stunts, celebrity endorsements, and eroticization in advertisements to compel people to purchase more and more goods. The advertisers would begin to systematically connect mass-produced products to the unconscious desires of unsuspecting citizens. According to Bennett (2005), after the Second World War, Freud’s theory of sidestepping the ego, so as to get to the pleasure principle - the id- was embraced by advertising industries. This meant that compulsive shopping became a common phenomenon as shoppers had the pleasure of making purchases without taking reality into consideration. Market researchers became engrossed in eroticizing commodities, and consumers followed their example; with the id, instead of the more dependable ego, leading their desires. This deliberate manipulation of unconscious sexual desire created a type of consumerism that has largely shaped the reckless spending that still characterizes modern day culture. Summary of Bamfield’s “Shopping and Crime” Shopping and Crime by Joshua Bamfield is a book that focuses on the complexity of property crimes that are committed in retail shops. The term criminomics is used to describe any security management action that is used in any retail shop to protect the merchandise. According to Bamfield (2012), it is the appeal of shopping, as a leisure activity, along with the existence of deviant behavior that leads to retail crime. In many nations, shopping has developed into a popular activity that incorporates the entertainment principle, social interaction, and the excitement of anticipating the procurement of products that will make life more fulfilling and exciting. In many developed nations, shopping excursions essentially provide the opportunity to be exposed to temptation as products are shaped in the most creative ways to entice shoppers into acquiring them. According to Bamfield (2012), shopping crimes which are committed in retail stores actually supersede other property crimes in sheer numbers. In order to combat crime, retail shop proprietors have to invest in self-policing, the formation of prevention partnership networks which are focused on combating retail crimes, and addressing the erosion of sanctions against the crime of shoplifting. Bamfield conducts an extensive study of English shoplifters to determine criminological, historical, economic and sociological elements involved in the act of shoplifting. He also goes into explaining the most common methods of stealing that are employed by shop-lifters. Quoting the survey sponsored by the 2010 Global Retail Theft Barometer (GRTB) under the patronage of the Centre for Retail Research which is situated in Nottingham, Bamfield outlines the most frequently stolen types of merchandize in retail shops; and then goes into the most effective preventive practices as documented by retail shops around the world (Bamfield 2012). Bamfield also tackles the issue of shrinkage which is occasioned by aspects other than shoplifting- such as wastage and error. Bamfield explains that shrinkage does not actually refer to a specific thing, but, rather, an absence. Loss prevention can be a sophisticated factor for retail shop owners to deal with because they have to determine whether any existing losses have actually occurred due to external losses, internal losses, an incidence of waste, or error. Owing to the fact that these are percentages that are almost impossible to work out, Bamfield, in concert with the University of Florida’s Richard Hollinger, created an annual survey in which respondents are expected to estimate the proportion of losses attributed to shoplifting in relation to the total (Bamfield 2012). The book also goes into explaining a rational shoplifter’s business interests; observing that there are actual logical reasons why an individual would prefer to commit this crime instead of opting for welfare or honest work. According to Bamfield (2012), employee theft in a retail shop or shoplifting has a tolerable risk to reward quotient as it has a low entry barrier element with prospective higher economic returns. In most cases, it is the retailers who have to shore up the cost of these crimes, and come up with the funds to protect their own assets. Part B It is a fact that modern consumerism is based on the manipulation of unconscious human desires in ways that citizens are just not aware of. This concept is funded by capitalism which seeks to make a profit at every turn irrespective of whether there are moral concerns being disregarded or not (Minsky 2000). The art of manipulating the human psyche has developed further since the first days of calculated advertising strategies after the Second World War. Today, there is literarily a proliferation of refined propaganda that is used to influence people’s behavior in private and public settings while also affecting public opinion. Moreover, it cannot be categorically stated that, as proposed by Freud, it is wholly the marketing strategists who are responsible for the direction society has taken in regards to the consumerism culture. There are different factors that have played a significant role, whether positive or negative, in influencing the choices that people make. Even though millions are dedicated, on a yearly basis, to ensuring that customers are brainwashed into liking or not liking certain products, the reality is that people still retain control of their mental facilities, to a large extent. They can only choose to be influenced by what they see. This is the reason why there are entire movements dedicated to doing away with advertisements in modern culture, for instance. Re-branding, no matter how sophisticated, rarely goes unnoticed by consumers. It is erroneous to presume that people have such weak intellects that they are obliged to remain unresponsive until they are stimulated or inspired through artificial reinforcement to provide what essentially amounts to a kind of ‘retail therapy’ for themselves. References Bamfield, J. (2012) Shopping and crime, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke. Bennet, D. (2005) ‘Getting the Id to go shopping: psychoanalysis, advertising, Barbie dolls, and the invention of the consumer unconscious’, Public Culture, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 1-25. Minsky, R. (2000) ‘Consumer Goods’ in Serious Shopping: Essays on Psychotherapy and Consumerism, ed. Adrienne Baker. Free Association Books, 2000. Read More