One of the odd side effects of my moving form a life where I had more straight television to a nearly perfect online existence, is my increasing intolerance for advertising. I'm not just talking about the obvious commercials - though my intolerance for those is catastrophically high - but also the people who try to "sell me" something even if the context isn't overtly advertising.
I'm a great lover of Korean Dramas, and one of my pleasures is to watch episodes on a free streaming website. They have ads every fifteen minutes or so (one of the real weaknesses of modern advertising is not recognizing this as a new phenomena and making limited time 'drama' series of ads so it's not the same ad fifteen times in a row) and one in particular has convinced me to never buy Nutragrain bars again. I actually like them; I used to buy them, but watching the blatantly insulting insinuations that people who eat potato chips have worse moods and poorer marriages than people who don't just pisses me off. This isn't a boycott as such, but honestly every time I think of the bars now I'm just vaguely annoyed and irritated, and I don't need that in my kitchen.
Another example is on a streaming radio station I listen to, kpfk. Multiple times in the year their fund raisers go, and the 'cure cancer with diet' and 'processed food isn't good for you, now eat my powder made from 100 world fruits and veggies' nonsense dominates the station for a while. I tune out for a couple of weeks, catching the shows I know will be on, because the emotional manipulation just pisses me off - yes, genius, sugar does feed cancer cells. Of course, sugar feeds all the other cells in your body, too! And shockingly, when you eat non-sugary things... your body breaks it down into - you guessed it! - SUGAR. You could stop eating, which would kill the cancer with one slightly inconvenient side-effect that I leave as an exercise for the reader.
Of course, this makes the first paragraph of this post hugely ironic, or is that hypocritical? I, before bitching about advertising... advertise. On the one hand, I've been deeply grateful to creators for giving me things (and making things, since I purchase most of what I wear in these posts) and I want to share them with others in case they'd like them, too.
On the other hand, until earlier this week I thought of the advertising I did as more of a side effect to a greater purpose of exploration and photography (if you can't tell from my history, I'm prone to juxtaposing avatar and sim while trying to create something artistic without being too snooty) but the reality that some of the free handouts are dependent on producing something was really brought home to me. I'm currently on the fence about what I'm going to do about it - whether I'll remain on the gravy train because the things I get are awesome and I'm introduced to stores I wouldn't normally wear, or whether I'll drop out and go back to buying most of what I wear. Well, buying and/or shilling lucky boards and midnight manias.
Part of me thinks I'm taking this whole thing a bit too seriously, though.
( More pictures here. )
Credits:
Skin: De La Soul, Kei Cream
Eyes: V Tattoo Store, Black Eyes
Eyelashes: Flugeln Brise, Eyelash 05
Tattoo: V Tattoo Store, Cracked
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Ear
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Yumi Hair - Grass
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Wings
Necklace: La Petite Morte, Ribbon Choker - white
Dress: SLC, Party Dress - white
Bracelet: Kyccie, Hopeful Flower - Diamond
Shoes: G Field, Ribbon Slingback Shoes - white
Poses: Studio Sidhe
Location: Ebony Coast
Light Settings: Kunming
Water Settings: Default
Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only
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