Items the advertisers try to convince us are essential

GreyQueen

artichoke wrote: »

for me it is the seasonal changes in clothing fashion- i hate the pressure it puts on young girls to spend money on the right outfit....

dont get me wrong i do have seasonal clothes - thick thermals and fleeces for winter and thinner fleeces and t'shirts for summer - with waterproof trousers at the ready throughout the year...and trousers that have bits to zipper on and off if the sun comes out..plus cotton skirts for summer and cottons skirts with thick woolly tights under for winter..

i hate the wastage of people throwing clothes away - that are perfectly wearable - because of the pressure to be wearing something more "fashionable"

art

On the subject of seasonal clothes I saw the most brilliant letter in the Guardian years ago which I so wish I'd cut out and kept. In response to a big feature on the new season's apparel, this witty person had written something pithy about most people's winter clothes being just the same as their summer clothes; whatever had just come thru the wash PLUS A FLEECE.

Ben84

LittleLauz wrote: »

Also imagine if these things werent made/advertised etc. Thousands and thousands of people would be without jobs.
Obviously lots of people do find these type of products useful or they wouldn't buy them and the companies would go out of business.

Without such extreme consumerism a lot of modern jobs would be gone, from marketing to manufacturing, that's true, but it's not like we couldn't find something else to do. It's about where we place value and that so much money and resources, including skilled labour are directed in to making fashion products and consumer trends is to me an indication of how we are valuing the wrong things. I like nice consumer goods and believe to some extent the quality of everyday life depends on them, but when the incomes of global companies like coca-cola are exceeding whole countries and when I visit loo cleaner labs and discover they're better funded than many medial research labs, I can't help feeling concerned about the value judgements we seem to be making without even questioning.

As for people must find things useful because they buy them. I don't know, I think a lot of our modern wants are created through advertising and I certainly know a lot of people who have houses full of stuff they bought and never use. Some family of mine live off of oven chips. Literally. Five days a week with various frozen things out of card boxes. All they need really is an oven and a couple of baking trays. Not judging them for what they eat, just setting the scene for the odd part. They easily have more kitchen devices and utensils than Delia Smith, cupboards full. All of it in boxes never used. They have an electric garlic press, but I would bet everything I own a clove of garlic has never entered their house. They buy devices to make dishes they've never eaten! Stranger still they replace the stuff they never use. They'll buy a new "up to date" blender as they describe it to replace the couple of years old one that's never even been out the box. Extreme you might think, but I see this a lot. People are buying lifestyle products, stuff they associate with who they want to be, not who they are. I think it's advertising causing this. Nobody who has never drunk a cocktail would come up with the desire to own a cocktail shaker without some outside influence.

FatVonD

I've never cleansed, toned and moisturised in my life and (at 51) I don't have any wrinkles at all. Sadly the jowls give the game away even if you're wrinkle-free :rotfl:

Kitchen roll, just don't understand why you need it

Loo brush (who wants a brush with poo on it sitting in a little puddle of pooey water in their bathroom?)

Posh toilet paper (we use Value baby wipes as toilet paper ourselves but always have some Value toilet paper for guests )

Scented water for irons?? Seriously, why???

Antibacterial anything

Surface cleaners

On the subject of small print on TV ads, the one that gets me at the moment is for the fish fillets shot with the fishermen of Port Isaac (I think) with small print that says 'cod sourced outside the UK'. :rotfl:

yellowbear

What about the 'Italian' pizzas made in Germany??

FatVonD

And Cheryl Cole's hair 'styled with extensions'

Chipps

I think the advert for a useless product that annoyed me the most was the one with a small child sitting on the loo who complains about the smell - because the air freshener thing isn't working. And I think there was another similar ad where someone's house (theirs or friends? can't remember) was criticised because there was no air freshener in the loo to cover up the reason for having a toilet in the first place.....

I think if any of my lot moaned about the smell, I wouldn't happily come into the loo to bring an air freshener, but would remind them who made the smell & suggest they may like to use the toilet brush if any visible residue remained after flushing!!!!!

meritaten

GreyQueen wrote: »

Ooohhh, so many like-minded comments up here. I personally have the downers on (in no particular order) luxe t.p, air fresheners, disposable wipes, anti-bacterial cleaning stuff & anti-bac plastic, little plastic sarcohphagi of chopped fruit in the supermarket, leaflets which come thru my letterbox for doubleglazing which I already have and takeouts which I never buy and fabric conditioner.

My annoyance with the leaflets is the waste of paper, ink and energy because of sloppy marketing, with anti-bacterials in the home as they are endangering our safety by causing resistance in the bugs.

Heard a documentary on Radio 4 that there have been no new antibiotics developed for years and that resistance to what we do have is growing and is partially attributable to home use of anti-microbials. The position is so bad that we could end up back in the pre-penicillin era when to get a wound was to risk your life and some surgeries now done will be impossible.

Home air fresheners contain known carcinogens and I wouldn't give them or mothballs houseroom. I detest the slimy feel of fabric conditioned clothes and it rots elastane anyway.

Luxe t.p.? I use Tesco Basics one and can't say that I notice any discomfort. Luxe t.p. is notorious for blocking loos.

Not having a TV spares me a lot of this nonsense but I often get stopped in my tracks in the supermarket and have a John McEnroe Moment as I spot something ridiculous; "You cannot be serious!?"

MY John McEnroe moment was spotting 'Lite' Water!

katholicos

Chipps wrote: »

I think the advert for a useless product that annoyed me the most was the one with a small child sitting on the loo who complains about the smell - because the air freshener thing isn't working. And I think there was another similar ad where someone's house (theirs or friends? can't remember) was criticised because there was no air freshener in the loo to cover up the reason for having a toilet in the first place.....

I think if any of my lot moaned about the smell, I wouldn't happily come into the loo to bring an air freshener, but would remind them who made the smell & suggest they may like to use the toilet brush if any visible residue remained after flushing!!!!!

I despised that advertisement featuring a young child sitting on the loo with his trousers around his ankles...there are bound to be some wierdos out in the big bad world who find that kind of thing a 'turn on'. Sickos.

Secondly, we all excrete body waste, we all have to do it so why the hell are these advertisments try to make us feel abnormal or embarrased that we excrete.... and oh so what if there are odours that linger for a while, why not open the ruddy bathroom window. Fresh air is free, well at least for the moment anyway.

ALIBOBSY

Spiggle wrote: »

I was doing an online order at Sainsbugs last night when vulgar expletives were heard from my room. When OH asked what the problem was I just told him that "...... people buy bottles of scented water to put in their steam irons!!!!!"

Enough said!

Spigs

This stuff is awful, my MIL very kindly offered to do some ironing for me after youngest was born and I had 4 kids at home. She used that scented stuff on some bed sheets and all the kids came out is an horrendous rash, my eldest looked like he had been scalded all down his back. Now I get a bit of excema (I am asthmatic and it runs in the family) as does the 2 youngest so we are a bit sensitive. But this was ridiculas, so anyone who is a bit sensitive watch out lol.

ali x

Nimeth

Agree about the air freshners, especially the plug in ones that cost way too much for what they do. Plus you use electricity running the bleedin things. Every time I see someone using one I invariably think of Lee Evans - "What is it with all these plug in air freshners? What's the point? You don't plug dog **** in the wall to get a stink out of it and it does alright!"

I avoid most TV adverts by watching films fortunately. I'm sure the convincing us that we need things we actually don't will get worse now product placement has been allowed into the programming.