An analysis of Jacques Lacan’s psychoanalytic theory leads John Storey (2012) to observe “…desire is the desire to find that which we lack, our selves whole again, as we were before we encountered the Imaginary and the Symbolic” (p.104). Lack, here is described as “…always a non-representable expression of the fundamental condition of being human” (Storey, 2012, p.103). He explains “The result is an endless quest in search of an imagined moment of plenitude” (Storey, 2012, p103). The neoliberal capitalist model perpetuates this lack and as such sustains consumer culture. Corporations capitalize on this ‘lack’ by using advertisements and slogans to sell ordinary products and then attaching meaning to them. Another way that this lack is perpetuated is through significant price reductions that coincide with holiday seasons and culminate in sales such as the Black Friday sale. These sales are lucrative to corporations due to the fact that people purchase a lot more goods when items are on sale.

The desire for goods is nearly inescapable in the 21st century neoliberal world. Popular culture and media is filled with advertisements on billboards, television, radio and magazines trying to entice people to buy goods. Whether it is electronic items or items of clothing being sold, advertisements will start off by showing a ‘lack’ and then demonstrating how a certain product fulfills this lack. The person in the advertisement will either start off expressing a need or sharing a problem they may have and a certain product will solve that problem and fulfill this need. This model is very common in advertisements and is very successful due to the fact that it markets the product as though it were a necessity, thereby perpetuating lack. In order to fulfill this desire that has been made apparent, consumers will rush to purchase the item being sold in order to reach what Lacan calls “an imagined moment of plenitude” (Storey, 2012, p.103). Through advertisements corporations and firms are able to sell more goods by convincing people that they need these goods.
Corporations also perpetuate lack through sales such as Black Friday. The irony of Black Friday is that it comes after Thanksgiving Day which is supposed to symbolize being grateful for what you already have. The sales that come with Black Friday however encourage people to purchase as much as possible since goods are only that cheap for a limited amount of time. Making a good cheaper adds to the element of desire in that it seems alright to buy a new iPad with updated features, for example, even though you have one that works quite well. It seems as though there is no better time to purchase it and it goes from being a frivolous purchase to an affordable one. Corporations profit from such price reductions because consumers will be willing to buy a lot more when the price of each good they are buying has been reduced.

The mechanisms of such sale tactics contribute to the growing dissatisfaction that people have when they are unable to afford certain products. Additionally there is a hierarchy established in that people that can afford certain goods are considered more sophisticated than those who can’t. In addition to that, the success of consumerism further erases the means of production and the marginalization that takes place in the manufacture of such goods. Mass-produced goods require cheap labour which, for large corporations, means jobs are exported and workers are exploited in order for firms to prosper. The growing attachment to goods leads to a detachment from the stages of production a good goes through. Buying cheap clothes doesn’t necessarily make us think of who worked to make it and how little they were paid to do so. Oddly enough consumer culture is so pervasive in that even being aware of how little we are being told about the production of everyday goods doesn’t stop us buying them. However being aware of this might help us separate our wants from our needs which would be a step in the right direction.

References

Storey, John (2012). Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader, 6th edition. Harlow: Pearson Education.