And now something completely different!
Remember 'Are you stressing?'? Now, as a Hungarian, from the exact another end of the world, at this point, I don’t vindicate the right to act like someone who knows what’s going on in the U. S., so let’s pose the question instead:
what a stupid world is that, where hand soaps have to take care of people?
Don’t get me wrong, I am a human too, so just like you, I also like soft clothes, good scents, nice food.
I have a stock of jewelry, cosmetics, teas at home. But to switch them with human care, human emotions, interactions, self-care, even self-love, presence - more subtle but vital things -, is a huge misconception. It becomes more poignant as one comes across these catchphrases through a shift in retail, putting cosmetics and household products on the shelves.
I get the superficial, intrinsically may be innocent marketing sign: this stuff is good. This is for you, buy it for good. If you use it, you’ll feel better.
Of course, if I wanted to sell anything from soap to avocado salad, I would try to communicate this - and also, design my stuff to meet my customers' needs. But when we take a step further and begin to whip it up to a full-blown storyline of caring products, care as a gimmick, a catchphrase, a product itself - it depicts a dystopia of solitude and lack.
In plenty of cases the loneliest, most wounded workers and war survivors are likely to watch the mushiest video clips, series and wear the fluffiest pink hoodies. I don't say that it's a rule of law, or it works clearly like this, but there are recognizable patterns.
This came into my mind, when we purchased my birthday present with my mom, what happened to be a fluffy pink sweater - even though I am not a war survivor and also don’t feel like a white-bleed essential worker just because I have to work every now and then. I use these items what they are made for, and don’t have the urge to buy all of them down to the most useless one, just because it’s ’cute’. But there is a vast majority who we cannot imagine all, who uses them solely to numb their pain, to cushion the world, to drown the anxiety in microfibres, and this makes me think when I see a bright-colored commercial that tells us this or that product is caring and loving.
See your priorities people. I don’t preach minimalism, have the stuff you want, just know, what you really want.