The “Empty-Self”: Always Looking for More

Have you ever walked into a store and purchased something, anything, just because you thought it would brighten your day? When I am feeling a little blue I head out to my favorite boutique to see if there is anything new, more times than not I end up buying something. I feel a sense of relief and excitement when I hear the “ching” of the cash register, but soon after I lose my excitement and I begin to question if there was something I would have liked more. Within America’s consumer society many people feel pressure to buy products because they feel a “need” to own the newest gadget or most fashionable outfit, but in reality the next product is the same as the last. According to Cushman, this action is known as fulfilling the “empty-self.” He says this concept is a “self that seeks the experience of being continually filled up by consuming goods”(Cushman 18). Advancements within consumer society have brainwashed consumers into thinking they are constantly “empty” and can only be fulfilled by purchasing. Buying products only distracts the consumer for a moment, because the empty-self constantly yearns for more and more. Due to the modern consumer society, including the use of credit cards, mass-production and the many advertising techniques, consumerism has developed this psychological concept of continually trying to fill the empty-self, which has plagued Americans for years.

Purchasing goods through credit is a means of payment many Americans take for granted. According to Cross, “American purchases of cars, pianos, and other big-ticket items nearly doubled because of credit” (Cross 7). Thus, consumers are more inclined to purchase goods with the “buy-now-pay-later” incentive, which has become infamous of credit card users. For example, in the movie Shopaholic the main character is a young woman who has more credit cards than shoes and continues to use them even though she is digging herself into a big, black hole of debt. While shopping she realizes that her empty-self begins to want more and more and eventually she finds herself saying, “swipe it,” as if the only way to satisfy her craving is with her credit card. This illustrates how credit cards pressure people into buying products because they provide an instant gratification to the emptiness that consumerism has created. In addition department stores are creating credit cards that reward purchases with credit that can only be redeemed by purchasing even more items. This adds to the pressure and self-emptiness that many Americans experience due to the enticement of credit cards with the persuasion of “buy now-pay later.” Credit would not have been popularized without the increase of mass-production and the need to target sales.

The 1920’s introduced mass-production to the consumer society, which deepened the degree of the empty-self through the introduction of many more appliances and goods previously unavailable to the majority of Americans. Henry Ford’s automobile industry was one of the largest mass-production industries of the era, creating 15.5 million Model T’s in its 19 years of production (Cross 6). The high productivity of other appliances such as televisions, washers and clothing “…made cheap manufactured goods quickly available down the social scale”(Cross 5). This meant that not only upper-class, but middle-class families as well, could take advantage of the new merchandise. Because of the mass-production and consumption of these new products, they were cheaper to produce therefore cheaper to sell. This created an incentive to buy more and more because in the past only the wealthy were able to purchase these luxuries. This new lifestyle for society as a whole shocked and puzzled many Americans because they were unaware of the extent to which consumerism was changing. As Cross says, many “…consumers, in response to the frustrations of societal change, found comfort in consumption”(Cross 10). In this case the new era of production and the effects it had on consumers developed the emptiness felt by many. To demonstrate this advent of empty-self one can look at the car. Many Americans had never been able to afford an automobile until it was mass-produced, so when they dropped in price many consumers fell victim to their empty-self and bought a car even though it was not a necessity. Many purchases during this time were unneeded and bought to feel comfortable with all of the changes of the era. Even though mass-produced goods were selling themselves, the age of advertising allowed goods to be targeted at certain audiences.

Advertising was the largest step consumer society took towards creating the empty-self. Due to mass media advertising can be seen everywhere, from billboards to internet pop-ups, which makes it difficult for one to live a life without encountering some form of persuasion. The technique of advertising began long before the consumer era of the early 1900’s, but with the production of new appliances ads quickly followed. Advertising targets consumers by telling the audience they are in need of the item that, ironically, they are promoting. As Cross notes “…by 1900, nearly 1,200 catalogues brought variety and fashion across the United States” (Cross 7). Catalogues and magazines became locations where ads could be placed because with every flip of a page readers were distracted by the display of products. In order to sell products at the same rate as production, retailers manipulated consumers into purchasing goods that could shape personal identities and relationships. For instance, Cross mentions that “when women bought Quaker Oats, they purchased more than a wholesome cereal- they bought an image of a seventeenth-century figure of rectitude and tradition”(Cross 8). This form of advertising proved to be the most influential because it allowed women, the dominant household consumers of the era, to adopt a new identity. Not only is Quaker Oats selling a breakfast food, but also they are selling an image that many women feel they can acquire by purchasing a product with a clever ad. Cross discovered that the temptation and persuasion of these ads stimulates the “empty-self” because “…advertising innovators like Ernest Callkins advocated that modern psychology can be used to link products with the desires and insecurities of consumers, thus creating a longing for a particular item” (Cross 10). This technique of targeting the insecurities and vulnerabilities of consumers enables advertisers to promote goods that are more likely to be purchased. They target ads specifically at people who would feel a personal association with the product. Without the creation of these specialized advertising techniques the consumer would never have experienced an empty-self, more important, there would never have been an urge to fill the empty-self.

I think that the empty-self is a real feeling that strikes many, if not all consumers and I believe that this psychological effect did not develop until the age of consumer society. Had new appliances, mass-production, credit cards and advertisements not developed, then I do not think consumers would have the urge to try and satisfy their “wants” with products that only provide distraction for the moment. I believe consumer society is not helping with the empty-self because products become obsolete quickly with the production of newer goods. When one purchases a digital camera, it is only the “top-of-the-line” momentarily until the production companies come out with a bigger, better and faster product. Consumer society in the 1920’s, 1950’s and currently still use the same techniques when manufacturing, selling and advertising to consumers. Advertisers want to target the biggest audience with the most price-competitive product in order to sell massive quantities. However, as long as there are products to be sold, the empty-self will continue to be hungry and never satisfied.