A recent ad for the latest smartphone by Motorola contains the slogan, Control It and You Control Everything. This ad markets an exaggerated claim that the phone will give its owner omnipotent power and control over everything.
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Indeed, the ad states “the Droid Bionic is an all-powerful, unstoppable machine.” The consumer might stop and think: Wait a minute, isn’t only God all-powerful? Apparently not, for the words and message of this ad heighten the expectation of the viewer and promise control, power, and happiness through consumption.
Together with the promise of power comes that of prestige. The viewer of this ad is obviously pressured into buying it since the person thinks about how everyone will have this phone and the power that comes with it. One must not be left out. Thus, modern man is constantly pressured to buy the latest and greatest product on the market, regardless of the economic, and more importantly, the spiritual consequences.
Sadly enough, man is not and will never be satisfied by the constant flow of materialistic devices on the market. These modern ads pressure consumers to leave reality and seek happiness in a consumerist utopia. There is always something big and better and so the materialistic man lives for expectations that are never realized.
This utopia offers a proliferation of choices that do not confer happiness because it does not address the spiritual nature and needs of man. Advertisements like these only create a desire for material goods, which in turn never live up to expectations, causing dissatisfaction and a desire for more goods. This vicious cycle will keep continuing. What modern man really needs is the metaphysical, not the materialistic; the spiritual not the worldly. He truly needs God, for only in Christ can one be truly happy and at peace. Christian virtue and perfection are what makes man truly happy. Only then can America return to order.
Written by Joseph Bogowith*
