Manufacturing Content

[Iknimaya]

I think I didn't make myself clear... The idea is to change our thinking on society as a whole. We're obviously super-influenced by advertising. The whole point of advertising is to manufacture demand, i.e. we don't need an iPad, but the ads make it look cool. What if our advertising was different? Rather than attempting to manufacture demand, we tried to manufacture content. Rather than advertising for the latest gizmo or fashion, we could change our idea of what these ads are meant to do. What if there were TV commercials promoting recycling, composting, eating less meat, or planting a tree? There could be billboards encouraging family dinners at home, biking as transportation, and being content with what you already have. If we changed our focus from products and profits (things we have to spend hours working to earn the money to pay for) to people and experiences, could we be a happier, healthier species?

Really, the whole thing is a rhetorical project. Obviously, advertising won't be changing to this altruistic model anytime soon. It's more about changing our way of thinking about how we live and interact with the messages of "NEW! BUY! CONSUME!" that are thrown at us everyday.