How Much is Too Much?

The title is the Ideo question of the day.

Here is my short and simple answer.

If you live in the area described as the west, then whatever you have is too much.

Looking at that from another perspective though, I've always appeared to be 'unlucky in love.' Really I'm just British and I like to feel hard done by, so I don't make my own life easy. There once was a guy, who was a dream more than anything, that once used the sentence 'Vikki, you're too much,' to describe me.

And I am.

I am too much. But surely one day I won't bee too much for someone. I think the original perpetrator of the phrase meant it as a term of endearment, but when you already know that you are 1. Over keen, which leads to 2. Over share and 3. Over care, then it just comes as a reminder when someone else picks up on the fact that I am too much.

So what do I do that makes me too much? And how does that relate to society?

We have a mindset that to gain someone's affection we lavish them with gifts. Our society teaches that to have is to be, which means that the more things I possess the more alive I am. So It's only natural that in order to win some kind of competition we would want to give gifts and do things for those that are the object of our desire, because we want to make them 'be' - or just feel alive, and then they will attribute that life to the giver.

This is not a set in stone method, and then when you are competing with a million other boys and girls for this person's affection we start to up our game and we will start giving gifts of a more thoughtful nature or an ephemeral nature - things like service and emotional insight.

But where do we stop? How much is too much to have or to give? Because at one point the receiver will just have too much and an adverse effect will occur. I think too much arises when some does not equal the desired product of returned effection. So too much occurs when there is not 1. A balance between ephemeral and corporeal things and 2. When the product is lower than the sum.

And who said maths wasn't useful?

In layman terms, if I give too much and don't get the reaction and response I want then to keep giving is too much.

Adbusters 78 Quotes

I’ve had a couple of quotes thought out for a few months now from the number 78 issue of Adbusters.



It’s when you believe in something, when you stand for something, when you put forth not a symbol, but a piece of yourself – that’s when the sparks begin to fly. Rodchenko, Heartfield, Klaman – they were more than designers. They were the life, the blood and the voice of their struggles – completely immersed in the burning issue of their day. They didn’t depict culture, they were culture. To push the boundaries of global culture in a fresh way, you have to do more than just design, you have to live.



...things have really gotten out of hand... I push tidbits of information around computer screens until what I’m working on accumulates a kind of slickness..



Children who survive through adolescence surrounded by gray walls and little time in the wilderness may not necessarily spend the rest of their lives believing that nature is a scary place, but the evidence suggests that their deficit of experience will result in an adulthood of generally higher stress and poorer health. Preserving and encouraging a natural environment is basic wisdom for the twenty-first century. An attractive future for humanity will be one in which all kids have the opportunity to roam, without fear, in an unspoiled land.

Black Friday and the Mass Production Line of Consumers.

I stood in a queue that lasted over an hour because there was no order, there was no etiquette - there was just shopping.

On the stroke of midnight on the evening of thanksgiving thousands of people took to the mall, to stand in whatever extreme weather condition their state of residence felt like throwing at them that night. In the state I was in, it was freezing temperatures, I cannot give you the exact temperature because I have the inability to convert fahrenheit to celsius. These people were not queueing for Harry Potter or hot tickets, they were queueing for clothes, for televisions, for lingerie, for make up, perfume, shoes, bags, hats, jeans, mobile phones, computers, and every other object that has been created for the sole purpose of being consumed.

As I walked in to the mall at a little after midnight three young people darted across the car park shouting 'I've gotta get to the sales.' It was their way of mocking the consumer world they understood to be a farce, how long would it be, however, until they were saying those words with sincerity. With age comes responsibility and does that, in effect, bring unnecessary consumption?

The mall was packed, every shop and fast food area was open - I couldn't believe it because it was the evening of a holiday (granted a holiday I don't celebrate being British and all). There was one shop in particular that had a queue outside of it, and my accompanying consumer wanted that shop. So we queued, and queued. As we did I watched the line of people travelling up a nearby escalator, the noise that the escalator made, as each person was deposited on another level of shops, sounded so mechanical and so rhythmic it was almost as if the people themselves were being spewed off of a mass production line.

Then I realised that they were. Every single one of us. We are moulded and shaped in to consumers. We no longer have the upper hand. We are told that we need need need. So we buy buy buy to fit those needs. The prices of certain objects in the United States are so high in comparison to those of Britain, why? Because the population of the United States have been told that they 'need' certain things, so they won't refuse to buy something based on price if they 'need' it - will they?

That is where Britain and the United States vary. The dense population of the U.S. is such that companies can charge what they like because there are enough people to buy products to keep their company in business. Where as the UK have to fight over the target market, which leads to price slashing and deals in favour of the consumer. It doesn't matter which way you look at it, both populations are being persuaded to buy.

Black Friday is a purely post-thanksgiving U.S/Canada day, but the UK have their January sales and the pre-Christmas spend. It all started when shopping centres started opening on a Sunday. I remember hearing the radio advertisements for the first rare and unheard of occurrence. It was a grimy winter back in the mid 90s. I can only hope that the future of Britain is not a day named after the mirkiest and hopeless of colours where people will risk their health to queue outside a store and fight for the products they are under the impression they need.

The Three Little Pigs: A Once Upon A Time Conclusion.

The enemy of the three little pigs was the wolf. He tried to persuade and manipulate those pigs
in to granting him entrance inside their houses. The story of the pigs starts with them all leaving home and starting their own lives, they are each very different because they choose different materials to construct their houses. Three different materials, of three different qualities and strengths. This could either mean that the pigs differed in intelligence, or in financial means.

The Wolf preys on the weakest first, cajoles him and then when the pig does not relent he blows his house down.

To apply that to the consumer world, the first little piggy would be those who want more, and who are seriously caught up in using objects to obtain happiness. The wolf is consumerism and he preys on those of us who want more, who cannot afford more, but that believe objects will provide the gratification required to be a part of the social circles we desire to be in.

The consumer world eats us all up, and we end up caught up in something that there is not an easy escape from.

But there are some of us that put up resistance, piggy two and three. Pig two put up a fight but was swallowed in consumerism in the end.

It was only when the wolf came across pig three and his solid fortress that he admitted defeat. Although, he was still trying, until the very end to infiltrate the house of pig three. He tried every possibly entry, including the chimney. Consumerism does the same, it will stop at nothing to try and tell us about a product; to try and persuade us to buy and spend; to encourage
us to own things we cannot afford; to ensure that we become brand loyal; to force feed us information about the social implications of a product; to cajole us in to believing that happiness comes in the form of a car, a washing detergent or a breakfast cereal.

We can no longer sit idly by, in our houses of straw and twigs and let advertising tell us about apparent social standards in an attempt to manipulate us in to buying things we do not need. Consumerism does not provide everything it promises to. It is necessary for our survival and to fulfil our social needs, but we need to focus on our inner identity to fulfil the needs of love, gratification and self-actualisation. We are all amazing, and we all have the inner superhero power necessary to not let the wolf blow our houses down.

Financial Value: Branded Gratification.

Every object has two ways of measuring its value. One is financially the other is emotionally, the latter will be discussed as part of the double-bill finale, the former will be discussed now.

If I was to show up to a business meeting driving a BMW, wearing a Prada skirt and jacket, Monolo Blanihk shoes, and brandishing a leather bag with the word Dior engraved subtly on the metal catch, I would be emitting sings of financial success and therefore, professionalism, ability and confidence. Whether this was my intention or not, it will happen. This is because there are certain brands that everyone knows, and understands the financial cost of, whether it’s cheap or expensive.

I drive a Ford Ka, it’s small, impractical for large loads of people or luggage, but it does the job, it’s served me well during the four years that I’ve owned it. But I am aware that I will have to upgrade one day, as I earn more money and I can afford more, the social implications of the consumer world will encourage me to change my car, to upgrade it to one that reflects how I feel I have progressed in life. This is a form of self-gratification.

According to the social implications of branding I have not ‘made it’ in life until I own a car, or a house, or any other branded object that holds such successful symbolism. The brands that cost the most, that have the best advertising and that apparently produce the best quality objects are the ones that reward the consumer by physically emanating success.

Without a healthy advertising campaign and brand presence the object’s social value will be worth nothing. It is through preconceptions of a brand and the stereotypical opinions of those owning it and not owning it that its financial value exists.

However, unless there are cars like mine on the road, with dents, and rust, then the new BMW or Porsche would be worth nothing. Our gratification and personal financial success might be emanated to the external environment by our brand purchasing decisions, but the true value only exists when it is compared to another object, when we know we are better off than our neighbours and our friends because of the kind of car we drive, the brand of jeans we wear, the supermarket we use.

This results in psychological damage, when we end up over-worked, seeing our friends and families less and less, and becoming too stressed about the things in life that are less-important. Success is measured from the inside, but it is so easy to be caught up in the social hype that demands us to buy out of our means in order to feel like we are achieving, and to feel like we are meeting the goals, demands and expectations of our neighbours, peers, and colleagues.

It’s hard to break such expectations; it takes a lot of inner self-confidence and the knowledge to exist in the consumer world by standing out and going against the grain; by questioning the social expectations and blatantly challenging them.

The Three Rs: Radiohead, Ramones, Right Said Fred.

I came to discover and hear Radiohead the same way Jonathan Ross did. I was around the age of 14 when I bought the Clueless Soundtrack in Dublin. I’ve always claimed that they ‘saved’ me - but what post-teenager doesn’t claim that a musical genre or band ‘saved’ them. The movie clueless had reaffirmed my naive ambitions to live the ‘American Dream’ (something that was later quashed by Michael Moore’s realism), so the soundtrack appeared to be a logical audio choice.

The varying tracks were definitely different to the classically composed music of Gershwin that I would usually be found listening to. I didn’t have a vast musical knowledge of anything other than Classical and perhaps some of the popular bands of the time like Right Said Fred. This was a time when the Spice Girls had hit the UK with a zig-a-zig-a, Boyzone were established and the eye-candy of every other girl my age and Take That were still being mourned after. I was, as you can imagine, not the most popular person in school. So it was only natural that I was to slip in to the pre-defined shoes of a Radiohead fan.

Their musical composition, their lyrics and their sound, was truly amazing. It was like nothing I had heard. It was like a phenomenal discovery. Oddly enough, there was an OK Computer album to hand (belonging to my cousin), and without further ado I was hooked.

Naturally my thirst for rock music was not quenched. With the introduction of Napster at the age of 15 I was able to explore and experience a lot of music. I was at the brink of musical knowledge. As well as using the internet for musical gain,
I was using it to communicate and ‘chat’ to people across the globe, usually Americans, who would fill my head with bands that were new there, which meant they were never heard of in the UK. I had a general thirst to be unique, so to have music that no one else had in the UK was one of the best feelings I have ever had. As my musical tastes began to settle and develop I started to make new friends, ones who shared the same passion for music as I did, before long I was dressing in baggy clothing wearing band T-shirts and, for a good couple of years, I sported chains attached to my belt hoops, my bracelet collection began and all my consumer choices were based upon the foundations of my musical choices.

A few years, many eyeliner pencils, experiments with hair and a change of shoes led me to the punk era of my life. Changing from DC Skate shoes to Converse’s Chuck Taylor’s opened up realms I never knew before.

My wardrobe started to change again to accommodate the ‘chucks’ – mainly my jeans became skinner, the studded belt stayed and so did the eyeliner - my music tastes even incurred a paradigm shift, as I started to explore older punk genres like the Ramones and the Sex Pistols. Regardless of what I was exactly listening to, I had always made a conscious effort to always appear that I was listening to music within the punk/rock genre. I would judge people solely on their appearance and decide within a split-second what kind of person they were, how dedicated to the music they were and what music they preferred
by something as menial as a shoe or the colour of their hair.



Every musical genre has values and beliefs stereotyped and attached to it: like listening to Radiohead means you must be miserable, or listening to hardcore dance music means you are violent, irresponsible and a drug user. Why can it no longer just be music, a form of entertainment? Back in my days of listening to Gershwin and Right Said Fred, there was no way of knowing that was what I liked unless I had been asked. There was no set attire, or rule of advertising my own musical taste to the rest of society. I had no desire to do it either. What has driven us to the point that we feel we must wear our personalities? There is a need to broadcast our lives and tell people who we are and what we think and what we like, it is almost like we are all competing for the most attention, and the most recognition of being part of something. Are we that lost amongst the objects that we must use them to be noticed?

The point is, that in the consumer world there is nothing untouched. Everything is an object. Music is an object. The like and dislike of music is an object that can now be bought and I’m not just referring to the hoards of merchandising that occurs, my reference is to the manner by which an individual displays their likes or dislikes, their passions and preferences. I elected to join a genre of music and with it came a natural consumer map for me, it was easier that way, to know that because I liked Radiohead I was supposed to buy clothes that suited the ambient emotions their music emitted; that because I liked Rage Against the Machine I was supposed to wear chains and have spiked, leather bracelets; that because I liked the Ramones, I was supposed to (and have), at least once in my life visit CBGB’s; that because once upon a time when I liked Right Said Fred
and George Gershwin I was able to pass under the radar of society, unnoticed, because there was no pressure to uphold the preset archetype of a particular musical genre. Although, to have such passion for a belief and or preference is quite a good quality, times were just simpler when it was just me, George and Fred: There was just life and just music.

Authenticity: Our Authentic Soles.

I remember my first pair of Authentic Dr Martens (the shoe with the bouncing sole). When I ripped them out of their box to start breaking them in, I noticed an advertising flyer in the bottom of the box that read ‘if you walk a mile in another man’s shoes you will understand his pain. If you walk a mile in another man’s Dr Martens, you will never give them back.’

Over the years I have worn several different brands of shoes, and with every new pair I have had to break them in, and mould them into the shape of my personal footprint, making them unique and intrinsic to only myself. I have walked in several different places and the places I have walked are completely unique, and no one will ever be able to mimic my experiences - although they can wear the same shoes. These experiences are what make us all authentic, real and completely unique; they have become inseparable to our own personal identities, because it is our opinions, beliefs, values, emotions, feelings, and experiences that make us who we are. Our identities are the only thing left that is truly authentic.



Our inner soul (I use the term soul to mean our emotional and psychological attributes, rather than an attempt to spark debate about the existence of the human soul) is no longer what matters to the consumer culture. We already have two branded soles on our feet, why would we need another that takes time to understand? By electing to wear a pair of Dr. Martens I was attaching that brand to my physical identity. Since then I have associated with scores of objects that have been scrutinised and judged by other individuals. Our physical appearances are always on trial, and our external identities are based upon our relationship with objects, brands, and the symbols that they emanate. In this contemporary world everything
is consumed quickly: objects, information, images, attitudes, the general ethos of society; we all expect things to happen now. There is no longer time to walk a mile in another person’s shoes and truly discover their soul brand, because the only soul that matters in the consumer world is the brand name on our sole.








* This article was published in the June 2007 edition (issue 72) of Adbusters - The Journal of the Mental Environment.

The Big Bad Wolf: A Once Upon A Time Introduction.

The defamation of the character of the Wolf has occurred in every single fairy-tale that he has featured in. The Wolf is the fairy-tale symbol of everything that is dangerous and everything we should avoid. Fairy-tales and story telling are a large part of our childhood and create a foundation for the teaching of morals and ideas.

There is one story in particular in which the wolf dresses as a sheep in order to trick the shepherd, his motives are clear: he is hungry and he wants to eat the sheep – he will do whatever is necessary in order to sustain himself.

This one story and principle can be compared to contemporary consumer trends. Consumerism is essential in this society because we no longer self-produce the things necessary for our survival. So we consume to live. But there is a large consumer market filled with hundreds of products – some of them essential, some of them no so much – every product has a manufacturer and a brand and they all want to survive in the marketplace. To help the individual decide what products to consume advertising, packaging and branding were created to communicate the products contents, manufacturer and to convey its quality.

Over the years as more and more brands started to appear, it became essential for products to compete for their share of the market place. This led to surreptitious methods of communication that uses psychology to exploit the needs of the individual in order to achieve a higher status and standing in the market place.

This involved lowering prices, changing packaging, introducing new sub-brands or products under the same brand and advertising campaigns that promised happiness and fulfilment through purchasing objects – in other words, the brands and the products, did everything they could to stay afloat in a competitive market. Just like the wolf they dressed themselves in ‘clothing’ that allowed the consumer to feel comfortable enough to trust and believe in the brand. But where is the danger in that?

The danger is that these brands and products are not fulfilling their promises; they are not making us happy, they are not helping us to find romance, or to succeed in our job, or to have the perfect family, because, these things cannot be achieved by buying.

Consumerism has become a ‘vicious cycle.’ It involves ‘the chronic overwork to be able to spend more; the social disintegration resulting from overwork; the environmental damage caused by consumer waste; conflict over resources to supply consumer demand. In other words, a myriad of problems loosely bound by the innocent desire for an iPod or a luxury car collection’ (Uechi, 2007, p.51).

It is necessary to consume, but over-consumption is damaging our mental and natural environment and clouding our perspective and priorities in life. I don’t want to preach, and I don’t want to tell anyone how to live their life, I just want to bring these issues to the forefront. With the rise in fear of global warming, a focus has been made on the amount we consume and the exploited countries and people that are affected by our over-consumption habits.

So, I am crying wolf, in the hope that someone will listen and realise that just because the wolf is in a disguise, of either sheep’s clothing or Granny’s clothing, doesn’t mean he is not there.