Good afternoon, Monday. If you all can tear yourself away from all of those ridiculous sales on the interwebs today, I applaud you. I myself am suffering from major sale fatigue and I kind of want to buy stuff full price just so I can tell all of those sledgehammer over the head retailers to just leave me the f alone. I am tired of them. It's been Black Friday and Cyber Monday and Christmas since Halloween and enough is just bloody enough.
And something else that has me vexed? This whole notion of brands doing good. Before you jump all over me, I appreciate when brands do good things- I appreciate Toms, I appreciate Warby Parker, I appreciate Ben and Jerry's and Newman's Own, who were doing socially minded branding before the very notion was even born. I love brands that are shining examples of goodness, but do all of them have to be?
But lately it seems that every brand and their mother are trying to jump on to some sort of sanctimonious bandwagon as if to hit millenials and their cohorts over their head with their well marketed halos. Ever since marketers found out that the youngins are not huge consumers and that they only like to party with brands that they perceive as having values in line with their own, brands have all started competing for some sort of Joan of Arc martyrdom when it comes to doing well, and doing good, and everything in between. I find the whole thing pandering and a bit ridiculous- why can't people just do good things? Why do brands have to tell us to donate to charities or take a deep breath or perform random acts of kindness? Would they be happy that instead of buying their products we decided to just hold hands and dance around in a circle and love on each other? Yup, didn't think so.
It's amazing to me as a member of the advertising community that brands in recent years have garnered this kind of power- that we as consumers are looking to brands to not only sell us televisions or socks or cars, but to also sell us something that makes us feel better about buying a bunch of stuff we don't need. Wouldn't it be smarter to just donate and be good and do good in the first place, on our own accords? Do we really need Lululemon to tell us how disconnected we have all become (incidentally, the message about said disconnection was delivered on social media and received scads and scads of views)? The whole thing smacks of hypocrisy. The road to enlightenment is not paved with yoga pants.
For instance, Lululemon's video, shown here, has a good enough message- who among us could not agree that we need to disconnect, pay attention, and be present in our lives? But they miss a much bigger point- the reason we are working so much harder and cruising the internet for deals and not talking to each other is because of them. And as the blonde tressed woman in skinny jeans rails against being distracted, is she not seeing that the biggest distraction out there is trying to figure out how to afford the latest in yoga essentials?
After all, we work to afford their expensive yoga pants and tops. And although I love the tagline of "give presence" when it comes to this holiday season, the collection they feature online to accompany it consists of a pair of yoga pants for $100, as well as a "onesie" (what you thought mindfulness was meant for two pieces? Don't be silly) for $108, an "exquisite" bra for $54, and a $58 tank. That's a whole lot of presents right there, and I'm not sure how Lululemon thinks that spending money on apparel worthy of the lofty mission of mindfulness is a good thing. After all, isn't mindfulness and connection completely free? Or shouldn't it be? Can marketers stop looking for ways to be more to us than what they are? Or further, can we as consumers stop looking for them to do so and find our own common ground and connection?
The whole Mcmarketing of mindfulness and meditation and anything related to bringing about positive change in the world really bothers me. If you've been following along, the whole yoga/mindful movement is big business, and I'm amazed at businesses like Suze Yalof Schwartz's Unplug Meditation, which seeks to be the "Soulcycle of Meditation" for stressed and tired Angelenos who want to use mediation not only for relaxation, but for networking with other "like minded" individuals. I do think it's noble to bring something like meditation to the masses, I just would prefer if the packaging was not so slick, so trend focused, and so commoditized. Do you think that any of the most conscious bodhisattvas worse Lululemon or had ever heard of Soul Cycle? Meditation and spirituality in general are hard, hard work. You'll never get there by buying stuff. NEVER EVER.
I think what I'm saying is that it's a really fine line for brands and they need to be careful- it's not enough to just preach the power of good or give away money or any of those things, because as a prime member of Generation X, I am a consummate cynic, and I'm not buying it nor do I care about whether or not my yoga pants are mindful or not, because that's kind of up to me isn't it? I for one would like brands to get off their high horses, because in my mind, Lululemon is not helping anyone really, besides themselves. When it comes to brands being in service to consumers, I don't need you to pretend to be of some high moral fiber. Don't talk to me about living in the present. Just sell me some pants like you're supposed to. I don't need a multimillion dollar corporation to tell me to take a deep breath, and if I do, help me Lord. If I do, I'm in worse shape than I thought. So as the holiday season races forward and consumers exhibit fatigue with Black Friday sales projected to be less than stellar, I think brands need to stop spiritualizing and go back to figuring out how to provide better customer service, make better products, and be a better place to work for their employees. That to me is the real noble calling of a great brand. Now back to your regularly scheduled program.
Cause that's what's up this Cyber Monday in the 212. Yours, in mindful consumerism. XO