I am not a billboard!
They are everywhere. They dictate what we should buy, how we should look and even where we should go. I always believed they didn’t influence me and that I was “free.” Until the day I needed to buy new sunglasses.
My eyesight has its limitations, and over the last 4 years they reached a point where I no longer feel comfortable with normal sunglasses. This, besides considerably increasing the price of glasses for me, adds the complication of having to limit myself to certain types of frames and lenses.
I took a Saturday morning, when we went out for breakfast, to explore my options now that I lived in Uncle Sam’s land. I remember trying on no more than 3 pairs of glasses and I already had my decision. I knew what I wanted, I already had the prescription in my pocket and I went to the register to pay. I check the codes, do one more quick test to confirm the strength of my deficiency, and at the moment of swiping the card the salesperson makes the following comment: “Your lenses should be delivered in the next 3 days. The only difference is that they won’t have Ray Ban written on the upper left corner.”
It didn’t take more than 30 seconds for me to cancel the purchase, turn my back and leave the store furious. That fury turned into disappointment and later into a deep self-analysis that I carry with me to this day.
I wanted to understand what happened. I wanted to understand myself. I have been specializing in this in recent years, maybe because of loneliness and scarcity of friends, but meditation and self-analysis are among my favorite activities.
I came from a very poor family, with many financial limitations, and throughout my childhood and adolescence I was one of the last to have things. My friends had soccer balls, soccer uniforms, video games, sneakers and other things years before I had mine. So when that salesperson told me I couldn’t have glasses with Ray Ban written in front of my eye, so I could rub my victory in society’s face, I got very angry.
It seems like a joke, but I believe that’s what I unconsciously thought. And, after coming back home, I started to observe how much I was consciously or unconsciously part of this system that dictates the rules. My shirt with a huge Ferrari logo, my favorite t-shirt with Abercrombie since 1892 written on it, or Tommy Hilfiger. I was a billboard for these brands. I carry their name and PAY to do it.
These brands grew this way, and I am an important part of their business when, besides consuming their product I contribute to this culture that preaches that we are better if we dress, look or act in X or Y way.
It may have been a sign of maturity, a revolt against exacerbated consumerism or just a crisis of conscience. But after some time thinking about everything that happened I decided to change some things.
I no longer buy goose feather pillows for example (click here to see the reason). I also refuse to buy leather products if I don’t study their origin first. I have been trying to inform myself about slave labor too, and about where the industries of the products I buy are.
This end of the year, taking advantage of the sales and a little money I set aside during the year for this, I finally managed to redo my t-shirt wardrobe. I gathered all the t-shirts that treated me as “billboard” and put them up to give away. I kept the “nerdy” t-shirts and bought a pack of new t-shirts from a store I really like. All with phrases I want to carry with me, that make sense and match my character. Messages I want to pass on to others. I also studied the store’s history, its owners, its factories. I feel good wearing their clothes and contributing to their business prospering.
I also bought my sunglasses, with no brand written, but with the prescription I need to see well and protect my eyesight, in the end this is what I should have been worried about from the beginning.
Yes, I can hear a speech about how doing this is useless. But I know one other thing that brings even less results: Doing nothing! - So if I can’t do everything, at least I make sure I’m not doing nothing.
And you, are you a billboard? And if so, what’s the message you are passing on?