This New Year, my resolution is going to be somewhat different from the previous years’ resolutions. It’s to ‘Not Be Influenced By Sneaky Commercial Messages’. Rather a tall order, you may think, and also a rather strange one. But read on, and you’ll see the wisdom behind my resolve.
By commercial messages, I’m not referring to the straight-talking sales guys who convince you to buy the latest electronic gizmo that promises to make your life easier (but only complicates it further), nor the fashion pundits who decree the colour of the season or the length of a skirt; neither is it about the latest automobile or the best books or the newest icecream flavour.
My resolution is much broader in scope and dimension. It is to blatantly ignore all the sneaky features that appear with alarming regularity in every single newspaper and magazine and television and radio show around the world. These don’t really persuade you to buy a particular product or a specific brand, but are far more insidious and also far more invasive. They include features like Ten Steps to Happiness, or Five Things to Eat to Remove Belly-Fat or Ten Places to Visit Before You Die or those of similar ilk.
These articles and talk-shows are nothing more than deceptive attempts to make you think in a certain way and change the habits learnt over a lifetime, or make you feel inadequate, outdated and old-fashioned or just plain stupid unless you follow XXX plan. In my opinion, these features and shows are probably written or made by clever psychologists who just want to keep you dissatisfied forever. It’s like the story of the guy who was presented with 99 gold coins. He was left wondering why he wasn’t given 100.
Dieting reminders
Take, for example, articles on new-age foods, features that urge you to eat organic, high GI, low-fat, low-cholesterol, non-GM, non-trans-fat, chemical-and-additive-free, high-fibre, wholesome foods. The onslaught of these health-food industries has been ruthless, relentless, remorseless and not a day goes by without me being reminded about what I should be eating. And at the end of it all, I am left feeling guilty for just picking on a few crisps without wondering whether they are of the low-un-de-non-free variety I am supposed to be eating. This is surely bad not only for my heart but also for my general health given the sense of despondency it creates. Please, let me eat what I like and when I like without being lectured about it.
And then there are those articles that are far too concerned about my mental health. I’m talking about well-meaning advice like “discovering” yourself. Doesn’t every magazine have a page on how you should “find” yourself, or satisfy your inner child or some such nonsense? Now, this may have some relevance to a teenager or someone in their early twenties, but for seasoned folk like me, it does nothing but increase my stress-levels. This kind of advice includes joining an art or photography or dance class, learning a new language, learning to play a new instrument and so on. I think there is some kind of nefarious link between these magazine and newspaper articles and the commercial establishments, and I can just imagine them laughing all the way to the bank while we hapless, gullible souls wield a stiff paintbrush or sit through a class of strange-sounding foreign words.
This New Year I will be what I want to be, not what I’m supposed to be. And if that means being a slob who lives on a high-sugar, high-fat diet, content to spend Friday night in front of the idiot-box, so be it! At least I’ll be happy.
Padmini B. Sankar is a Dubai-based freelance writer.
