Freud&Consumerism: The century of the self-1

"This series is about how those in power have used Freud's theories to try and control the dangerous crowd in an age of mass democracy." - Adam Curtis

Consumerism = happiness + consumption + purchasing material possessions

An excellent mirror to the darkest secrets of consumerism that we are facing today.

Some quotes from the documentary:

"So why don't we use propoganda in the times of peace. It was a bad word as the Germans used it. So we used the word 'Public Relations' instead. "

"..most dramatic experiment was to persuade women to smoke...We were losing half of our market because there was a taboo for woman not to smoke in public..April [the first psychoanalist in the US] said that cigarettes were the symbol of penis and male sexual power and if he could find a way of idea to challenge that power than the woman would smoke because than they'd have their own penisses."

"Torch is freedom."

"The idea that smoking made woman freer is actually irrational. But it made them feel more independent."

"People are engaging themselves emotionally or personally to the product or service. You think you need a piece of clothing but you feel better with the piece of clothing."

"What the manufacturers were fearing was overproduction. At some point people might have enough goods and simply stop buying. Up to that point the goods were sold to the masses in the basis of need."

"We must shift the americans from the needs to a desire culture."

"Transfer people into constantly happy walking machines; machines become the key to the economics progress."

"Democracy was turned into a feel-good-medication."

Watch this video if you want to learn how the world economics is centered in consumption! Many ideas expressed on the documentary may not be new to many but it will enlighten the prior-knowledge about the consumersim. Other episodes are on the road..