Who's afraid of advertising?

 


I want that.

I hear this hundreds of times a day... because my son is watching commercial TV for the first time in his life. Every commercial, he says, "I want that!" Sometimes the advertisement has hit its mark and he wants the product, the fruit juice, the Lysol, the Swifter. But sometimes he’ll say, “I want that house”, or “I want that little girl!” But what’s always apparent is the need, the message of want, that commercials inspire. Its chilling. My three year old is a consumer junkie, hooked into the endless cycle of acquisition.

There is an interesting movement in the US; groups of folks vow to not buy anything new except for food, underwear and socks. Everything else comes from thrift shops, swaps, Craig’s List, dumpster diving, however it can be done. I’m sickened by the amount of money I’ve had to spend just on the ‘basics’ here in the States. My friends bought a fixer upper house and found all the fixtures second hand, for little or nothing. Unforutnately, the free kitchen cabinets came just after they’d given up and gone to Ikea… but I really admire their perseverance, their dedication to leaving a lighter footprint on the Earth. I wish there were something like that in the UAE. There are a few thrift stores in Dubai, mostly for clothes. I’ll get all of Nico’s Dubai clothes at a little thrift store near my Aunt’s house before we go, and spend about 1/10th of what I’d normally spend on new clothes, for beautiful stuff you’d never know was already worn once around. Living in the UAE is still much less expensive than here. The traffic is just about the same…

What we do have here that just thrills and excites me is culture. Free museums. Free shows. DC is a testing ground for pre-Broadway shows, so the best of the future best comes through here. Small theatres are thriving. The Smithsonian is the best of America, an institution that embodies the generosity of this nation. Beauty and knowledge for free. Would that our colleges could be like this! And let’s not forget the hundreds of camps for children my son’s age and older, filled with amazing experiences. We’ve enrolled him in a French Language immersion camp half days beginning next week. The biggest reason we left the UAE for the summer is because I couldn’t find a camp for the Pitame. I can’t imagine an entire summer stuck indoors with an active, intelligent kid. I don’t know how other families do it. I wish Qanat al Qasba would dedicate itself to its original goals. There should be a summer camp there, and an ongoing after school program, for kids with an artistic bent.

You know. Something better for the kids to do than watch television.