Youth Marketing (TMON-30 - The Myth of Normal, Chapter 13, "Song" 5)

Alex Hickey ©2024
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This spoken word piece is based on information in Chapter 13 of The Myth of Normal, a book written by Dr. Gabor Maté with Daniel Maté. You can find more information about this book on Dr. Maté's website: drgabormate.com/book/the-myth...
I am writing a series of songs (and spoken word) in response to the ideas in this book, sometimes in combination with ideas from other books by Dr. Maté and some of his colleagues. These are my interpretations of these ideas. I acknowledge that I can make mistakes, misunderstand and/or take poetic license when transforming these ideas into songs. I welcome questions in the comments section and refer you to the book itself as the final authority about what it is saying.
Words:
This increasing gap
between parents and kids,
mature adults and maturing youth,
Leaves young folks open
Looking, groping
for the truth
Finding only
Capitalism’s abuse
A world that seeks to exploit them
In different ways
According to class and location
With some kids manufacturing
the things that other kids
have marketed to them.
In the Global West
Consumerism is pushed
As a solution
Compare yourself
Follow the leader
Breeder of competition
Who has more?
Who has less?
Whose is better?
Who is richer?
More ambitious?
More a winner?
Manipulation and persuasion
30,000 TV ads
an absolute invasion
Into every conscious thought
Can happiness be bought?
Can I be sold?
What am I worth?
Spend 15 billion dollars to corrupt me
before I’m old enough to drive a car
Old enough to vote
Or drink
Or smoke
They come for us
Tunneling through our loss of connection
Looking to grant us identification
With brands
Not surprising that once meant
a mark of ownership
Burnt upon our skin
Now worn on our clothing, but burrowing in
Until our minds are possessed
by squatter slogans
And we become obsessed
with the three pillars of marketing:
Love which is commodification
Fear which is terrorization
And mastery which is separation
From the very concept of maturation
From wholehearted role models
From hope.
From inspiration.
We are searching
We are lost
The growth economy, we are told,
Has value
But what of its cost?
The cost is not counted
Our protests all in vain
In every algorithm
You can see the price we’re payin’
In the currency of eating disorders
And suicide stats
The last words of kids who could not bear
These facts of life
This bottom line
How’s it going?
Oh, it’s fine
Between the bullies and what’s trending
And my sense the world is ending
Think I’ll buy another sweater
And Amazon had better
get it here by Tuesday
Or my life is ruined.
#gabormate #youthmarketing #consumerism