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December 29, 2008
At this time of the year there are images of avid shoppers bingeing on bargains after a period of enforced abstinence due to their fear of impact of the global economic crisis on their lives:
The word 'bingeing' suggests that they have little control over their spending or rmaxing out their credit cards. despite the pointy economic heads saying a fragile capitalism requires consumers to spend big. So why the binge?
A quote that gives one possible answer:
....there is something so mischievous and naughty about the prospect of a shopping spree in the midst of a recession that is almost drug-like. Walking into a shop, finding a bargain and then funding it with a credit card fills me with a buzz...Discovering Westfield was like injecting a massive dose into the arm. The day ended with me sitting at a tube station, wide-eyed and filled with guilt, as I tried to squeeze everything into fewer bags in an attempt to look less ostentatious..... The signs in the windows and the sale stickers on the rails have manipulated me perfectly into spending more than I ought to.
That phrase "injecting a massive dose into the arm" indicates that shopping is like an addiction. Or is this the residual cultural force of the age of credit that has, in fact, ended?
Alas photography plays its part in "injecting a massive dose into the arm" of the consumer. So an art photography needs to take an oppostional stance to this visual injection.
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I did the Xmas sales thingy after Boxing Day and I spent far more than I should have on clothes. I don't feel good about it, despite looking at all the "bargains" I'd purchased. I got carried away in enjoying myself shopping for Australia. Now I am depressed at how long it is going to take me to pay off the credit card.