And it's staged of course.
The most sickening aspect of the women's beauty industry is the subtlety of its authoritarian nature. "You cannot hope to be perceived as a beautiful woman unless you pay attention." Also, the way aging is treated by the industry is more effective than how Catholics use sin. "You will age, and aging means that you are becoming ugly. But, we have age-defying products. The more time passes by, the more you need us." How can it be that beauty product magazines are mostly advertisements? It's because they are self-help publications, and the advertisements are the advice.
So is the article. You read it and agreed with it too huh? They seemed to really know what they were talking about, right? They played it straight, let us see how everyone else doesn't play straight with us. Sure Dove is a scam. Its a business. A business tricks you out of money, they will do that for the rest of time. No you don't need moisturizing soaps, no you don't need scented body wash, it really doesn't effect any change in your life. Right up until you want it, and then it does effect a change, and then it is useful because you personalized the soap. You became part of a club, same with reading the article. See? You finished it. You're part of the "I can see the world as it really is" club. Its not quite as selected as Dove ads but its sure as hell got a target audience and it sure as hell knows how to make them feel good about themselves. I know I read this and for a little bit went "yeah, I get it." Especially that part about self-esteem at the end? Golden. Tell them to work hard for something; people will justify how they are already doing that. They already agree with you, now hammer that in, make them want that ideal of working hard towards something, they want to believe that they are that guy. The author references movies you like, things that are well known, even does the whole "I missed this article but NOW I'd like an intelligent discussion about it." The audience is predisposed form the get-go. Remember that Dove ad? Felt off right? Here comes an article, well written as it is, to explain why your feeling of it being off was correct all along, and not for the reasons that other people thought. You were correct and special this whole time. Hell, my comment here is tricking you too. Didn't like the article? Look at this sarcastic guy, pointing out its flaws. Maybe it was something you just couldn't put your finger on, or maybe you just agreed with the points I made, but I bet you felt good at the end of my post too. Hey this guys runs a review site! You should probably go check it out! I mean, you already agreed with him once, right? Everything is a sales pitch. You're already here, you've already made plenty of your own. Jobs, love, children, friends, family, its all meant to sell yourself or something else. Revealing that the whole world is a gigantic scam isn't something new, its not really all that revolutionary. The fact that a few more people know about it now and will forget about it in a month doesn't change things. People will always reconcile what they observe with what they believe, and they will do that until the end of time. The only truth in the world is something that can be pinpointed with numbers and explained down to the senses, to the point where the only way that it could be incorrect is if everything is incorrect, if my red is your green. The sun is a massive ball of fusion between various types of molecules contained with its own gravity and with its own set of complex patterns and environments that we are just starting to comprehend. True. Two and two makes 4. True. You can sit down and prove it, with ways that have already been proven. Everything else is a sale, from my reviews to this article to hubski to beauty products to your girlfriend. Someone has sold someone something; the idea that they are part of an intelligent community, the idea that they are right for each other, the idea that it is funny. But so what? Here's my criticism here, and if you agree I want to hear why and not because you agree. So what if its a sale? I've talked about this when I've talked about bad movies, the idea that when you approach something from a different level you personalize it, make it part of you, make it special. Make it true, not for anyone else, but for you. That's the only other thing you can prove, your own opinions on something because you are the only person who knows what you think about it. Whether its a bar of soap that smells nice, a partner in any relationship, an article, whatever, you make it yours. You change it in a fundamental way by putting your emotions in it, alter it in ways nobody else has because of how you've read it or invested in it or bought it. Its unique because its yours; there are feelings and emotions attached to that object or person or idea that can only come from a specific series of thoughts that you had about the object, and as long as you do that, as long as you make things special, you keep all of the shit at bay that we hate in the modern world. So what if you were sold it so long as you give a shit about it? It doesn't cease to be special simply because of how it entered your life. You know what one of my favorite possessions is? Its a belt. I've had it since the 8th grade. Its one of the old studded leather belts they made a few years ago; I bought it at a Kohl's on sale, because by that time it was already out of fashion. I have now had it for 7, almost 8 years. Its stretched, its missing studs as they've come out, the silver coating on the buckle has faded to reveal that this whole time its been brass, the belt loops are stretched and the day it breaks I'm having it bronzed. Its my belt. Nobody else has this specific belt; the studs aren't missing in the same places, its not nearly as cracked, its not worn down the same way. They haven't worn it almost every day for 5 years, haven't accidentally put it through the was countless times, haven't slung it over their shoulders as a stupid bandolier during a squirt gun fight. Yes, it was sold to me based on what was in fashion at the time, based on an image that was constructed to tell me what was "cool" and what wasn't, but so what? Its still mine. I made it that way. Want to beat a scam, want to undermine the sales pitch? Make something out of it. And go watch shouldiwatchthis.net for all of your movie review needs. Personalize all of the articles and share them with your friends! Donate to the site if you'd like to see more reviews, and for every 10 dollars I will send you a T-shirt I have worn, signed with a sharpie that I stole from work! Shipping isn't free.
Personally, although I can agree with your logic, I don't think that all sells are equal. In fact, since I am apt to agree with you that most everything is a sell of some sort, it's not whether or not you are being sold something, but how you are being sold something that makes all the difference. This article could have been 1/3 as long as it was to sell its POV, however it does make the point that Dove's sell is particularly distasteful.
I think that defining business as something that "tricks you out of money" is overly cynical and overly simplistic. I am also confused. Why do you think that everyone feels like they're being scammed? Surely there are people that buy Dove soap who haven't seen the ad. Why would those people need to give a shit about it? Though I don't believe that Dove is particularly good as a moisturizing soap, there are people with skin conditions who can't use normal soap. Sometimes, the choices are very limited. I'm one of those people and I don't give a fuck about the soap in any sort of emotional way. I have never seen an ad for it, it has no smell, in fact, the only thing that keeps me buying it is, it's the only soap I know of , that allows me to be able to be clean without scratching myself bloody all day.
The trick is less of a "haha we sold this idiot a cheap product for a high price" and more about convincing people that what they bought is in line with why they bought it regardless of the truth. For your soap, you have been convinced for whatever reason that its the only soap you can get your hands on that works, or is the only soap you can get your hands on conveniently. That doesn't make you right or wrong; its fucking soap, there's no morality in the product nor in your choice to buy it. But you've still been tricked, because of course there's other soap out there. Who gives a shit though, its soap? And that's where the trick works for plenty of other products too. There isn't enough time in the day to fully research every single type of soap to use and then deal with its reaction. There's so much goddamn soap is ridiculous. Even if you narrowed it down to brands, that's still way more time and money than most people are willing to invest, and they still keep churning out new soaps. So people take a little bit of effort, find a soap that is somewhat in their satisfaction range, and then stop thinking about it. That's fine, because for most people, soap is like...a tiny little itty bitty part of their lives. So the trick needed to sell them on it; tying it to healthy skin, or to smell, well, that's a really easy trick to pull off. Its all basically the same product anyway, so what they're selling is the idea of that soap being something that you value; in your case, it helps with your dry skin. There are other soaps that do that. The trick isn't always a malicious company fleecing people for money. Most of the time its a company just taking advantage of people's disinterest. Name the last time you sat down and had a serious thought about gum? Probably almost never. Its gum. You pick a pack of something, maybe a flavor you've had before, and then pay for it because its not worth your effort to consider the alternatives. If you were charged an extra 5 cents for the gum you wouldn't even notice. Yes its a pretty cynical view of the world but that's basically how I see it breaking down. Various people on various levels tricking each other, most of the time without even thinking about it. Hell, I tricked you in to reading this, giving me some of that precious precious time you only have so much of, even though you probably knew what my response generally was going to be, because I convinced you - through whatever track record I might have - that I would provide some insight in to my views. shouldiwatchthis.net Just saying.
You're right, he proves nothing, cause his reasoning can apply to almost anything.
But tying the Ad to a confidence con, was pretty clever, even if it's not relevant. And now I want to watch "House of Game". A movie I never heard about... The real purpose of this reply is just to tell that I was thinking of your reviews while watching Pain & Gain, and Iron Man3 review by redlettermedia a few minutes ago.