WHEN farmers in northern Germany went out to give free cucumbers and tomatoes to passersby, they wanted people to feel their sense of loss and to assure them that their produce is safe. Before that, rumors spread all over Europe about the dangers of eating fresh veggies – especially from Spain - which might be infected with E.coli bacteria which is described as deadly. People got scared and stopped buying vegetables and because all fresh food has a comparatively short life span, the vegetable were left to rot depriving the farmers of their usual income. The farmers handing out tomatoes and cucumbers wanted people to know that their vegetables were safe but the propaganda and advertisement machine had much stronger impacts than their personal campaign. Most passengers refused to take the products even if given for free. This is an example of how powerful media can be in forming public perceptions. Advertisement agencies take advantage of this and create carefully toned ads that target our pockets by molding our way of thinking. Ads create smart images associated with our senses to make us drop our guards. At no time we even mimic the deceptive messages resonating in our subconscious as if they were our own. Saudis and citizens of other Gulf States are often criticized for consumerism. They are labelled as compulsive consumers, buying not out of needs but out of fancy. We go shopping because we are bored. We shop to fill a void but shopping is never known to truly fill the void. It is satisfying for a short while but it is like addictive pills. We keep on buying, even after until the novelty of the products we consume wears off, and before long the compulsion becomes an endless cycle that shapes our choices and even our lives. And yet, we generally take some scapegoats to blame, instead of taking time to ask if we are, at least partially, responsible. Do we sit and think on how to change our spending habits? Before buying, we have to decide whether what we want is what we need. We can delay the shopping until after we have demystified the ads that are usually based on myths. We have to make a list and take out from it the unnecessary items. This is a way of saying no to what we fancy but do not need. What does this have to do with the E.coli scare? Everything! It shows us that we are often directed to look for things in places where they are not supposed to be. This reminds me of the story of a man who was looking under a lamppost for something he lost on the other side of the street. When asked why, the man answered that “there is light here”. The author can be reached at [email protected] __
