Do you think that you have personally had been influenced by the media to become materialistic?

I would say no, I don’t put nearly any value into the goods I have, I don’t care to keep up with the newest and the latest goodies, and I certainly don’t give a crap about excessive luxuries. Keep it spartan for me.

No. I’d say I am extremely uninfluenced. I also checked out of all media in 2001.
I have a nice little house and I enjoy decorating but I am not into any name brand items other than certain groceries, and drive a 10 year old car. I don’t have any social status issues, I buy what I like.

Certainly. I am part of a consumerist society and can’t help but be influenced by it to some extent. I try to be aware of these tendencies and keep them in check. I don’t have a TV in large part because I absolutely detest commercials, for instance. I have only two pairs of shoes. One is a pair of Doc Martens I bought four years ago and I keep them in very good condition so they’ll last about forever. The other is a pair of Pumas I bought brand new for 50 cents at a thrift store, and they are about 4 years old also and I’m going to wear them til they have holes in the soles. I love shoes in theory but I certainly don’t need more than these. I bought the lowest-fi cell phone I could get with my cell plan, and did the same in France. I don’t need a status symbol, I need a way to make calls and send texts.

I was much more materialistic when I was a kid. Teenagers were invented because of materialism! I am embarrassed of it now, but I am past that blind stage at least.

But every time I buy a non-necessary item because I can (CDs, jewelry, decorations/souvenirs, etc., snacks, alcohol), I am feeding consumer capitalism. It encourages people to work hard so that they can spend most of their disposable income on the latest greatest crap, and then be grateful for the table scraps they are given in terms of social benefits.

I might have been, if I had any money to spend in the first place.

I have never been particularly materialistic. My grandmother tried to explain to me that when people get older things become more important to them. I thought to myself, “Not going to happen to me,” And it hasn’t, advertising not withstanding.

No, I need the fifty pairs of shoes.

Honestly, I think I probably would have been materialistic even if there was no such thing as Vouge. I’d just have to work harder at it.

Seeing as the whole world is materialistic too, I have apps like Fancy on my glossy new Droid to show me novel things to want. And websites like eBay and Amazon that have apps so I can buy anything my heart desires and have it on my doorstep tomorrow if I wish it to be so. Our culture and the media makes it insanely easy to be materialistic.

I’m not much into being manipulated by the counterculture media into feeling guilty for it. It seems silly to be proud of having things, and it seems even sillier to be proud of not having things.

Mostly no. Probably at least a few of the things I own are because I became aware of the item due to advertising. Whether I would have come across the item in a store anyway and purchased it, I can’t be sure. It is extremely rare I see something on TV or in a magazine and feel like I have to have it though. I never order anything through the TV, and only once can I remember buying something from a magazine ad, because my husband wanted it and knew it to be a quality product. Still, to say I am materialistic from advertising sounds incorrect to me, I think it is more like I own a few material things because of advertising.

I do have quite a bit if material things though. Well, many of the more expensive luxury things are my husband’s purchases like cars. The car advertising does influence him somewhat. They send pretty, glossy, books to us about the new cars coming out, and beautiful display thingies regarding the history of the car. I think those things do reinforce brand loyality.

But, then I still have my old big square TV’s, I can’t bring myself to get rid of a TV if it is still working just to have a newer cooler looking flat screen. I am not materialistic in the way that I feel like I need to keep up with the jones’. I finally bought smartphones about a year ago, much later than the majority of my peers. I could have afforded it, but didn’t feel like the expenditure was necessary. Finally my husband decided he needed one for work, and my dad who is on my plan needed one for work also, so we bit the bullet and got them. So, advertising of new items coming to market or new technology that supposedly people just have to have generally does not influence me at all. Except, as I said, I now know it exists if I didn’t already through friends and family.

As a side note: food advertising does make me hungry and it pisses me off. Every time I see a pizza or a burger I want one.

No. I find it very hard to believe that some people can be manipulated so much. I do think that advertising is good for letting people know what is available, but the way that the products are portrayed in many adverts (especialy on the TV) makes me laugh.

There are Sanitary towel ads that suggest women can perform all sorts of amazing things, and a body spray for men that attracts angels from heaven.(Just an aside I think this company is missing out on the pink pound they should suggest that it attracts women and men).

Soap powder ad’s ! It’s clearly not been washed, it’s a new shirt anyone can see that!

I find ad’s like this insult my intelligence.

No, I am not materialistic.

I think most people would say they are not influenced by advertising. Advertisers have massive evidence to indicate otherwise. I would like to think that I am not much influenced, but I know there are at least some cases where I have been affected.

I heard on a radio show that one of the most effective ad campaigns was the one for Poupon mustard. If you are old enough, you may remember the ad.. It has two guys in expensive cars with one of them asking the other for mustard. I have to reluctantly admit that the ad changed my choice in mustard.

On the other hand, there is evidence that more educated people are less affected by advertising. In some cases, a company will have little or no advertising for a higher end product, because they believe it is counterproductive. A lot of foods marketed as health foods are produced by companies using a different label. Kashi, for example, is part of Kellogg’s.

Without a doubt. As @bookish1 and @LostInParadise have said, it’s naive to think otherwise. I got TV out of my life decades ago because it was like having a live-in salesman parked in my living room. But more subtle messages are everywhere, and those can be even more potent because they operate under the radar.

The best you can do is develop sufficient self-awareness to observe when and how you’re being influenced. I constantly discover and defuse these influences in myself, but I don’t kid myself that I catch them all.

Yes, until about the age of 30. Now I’m almost 50 and I don’t buy anything that I really need. Except travel my needs are very few and relatively inexpensive. I’m a bad person for the economy.

By the media? No but I have been influenced by wants I couldn’t before meet and so now it’s like being a little kid again, thinking about those things and asking myself what I still want and should I get it or do it. At this point in my life, after many years of simplifying, I don’t want for many things but the few things I do want, I want them as quality as I can manage.