It was a little disappointing to see the path my favourite toy shop chose to follow. My earliest memories of Jumbo are big, bright, colourful, happy. The experience was always fun and welcoming, the illusion -- flawless. This new Jumbo however, a massive warehouse space opened just in time for Christmas, seems to beam just a bit too brightly, but perhaps that’s because it is the only shining star on the industrial road from Larnaka to Dekelia, situated right opposite the petrol plant. Before witnessing the nature of the contents inside, the doughnut shaped letters of the logo smelled better than freshly baked banana bread. Mmmmm. Delicious. My heart almost skipped a beat. Colourfully clouded by childhood memories, nostalgia, curiosity, and a vivid series of images of all the happiness that must be trapped inside this bubble gum universe, I entered the latest addition of an empire, which built its name on being a children`s paradise, at on the afternoon of December 24th, to complete my Christmas shopping.
Imagine the shock I got when inside, instead of cuddly little cows and pigs, I found air fresheners, plastic food containers and cleaning products (most also available in Christmas colours). Not quite toys in the conventional sense. Out of the two floors, one was now completely dedicated to non-durable household goods all within the 1 euro price range. In hindsight, sober and clear headed, it`s crazy to think that just within 5 minutes of being there my initial reaction of repulsion got replaced by the basket. 1 euro. Hypnotic forces outside my control. 1 euro. Take this opportunity. 1 euro. Maybe there is something you need. 1 euro. Bargain. 1 euro. Only 1 euro. In an ideal system, or a highly surveillanced military operation, these kinds of situations would be immediately detected and dealt with to protect the citizens/soldiers in question from harm. Some sort of efficient alarm system would be employed. Signs would be flashing. Danger. Threat of system break down. Stay calm. Put the basket down. Resist the temptation. It is all an illusion.
In a market economy things work differently. The sedative effects are so strong that any escape is futile. The experience is definitely intensified during Christmas time, when the pressure to buy is paired with the moral dilema of being a good father/ brother/ daughter/ friend/ employer or employee. Loading and unloading my basket every few minutes to filter out the REALLY useless stuff, I eventually managed to battle my way to the toy section. Even though it is located on the ground floor, it is pretty much impossible to access this section without first being carted upstairs, to the 1 euro household wonderland. The inspiration must have come from the conveyer belt system employed by Ikea, where a quick dip in and out is against their shopping views.
Whether this is a good or bad example to follow is debatable, but it is highly probable that 99% of those who initially set out to buy toys, suddenly find in front of their eyes great big visions of their household lists, bright as day, and it suddenly seems a good idea to kill all possible birds with one stone and buy all those things they wanted to buy for the last year but never got round to it, as well as the glittery spotted dog-frog wall stickers on offer for only 0.99.
It is questionable whether leaving best to last was the hidden agenda, yet the prices seemed to undergo a healthy increase as I dug deeper and deeper into the shop. The piling continued uninterrupted of course. This in turn automatically activated the Layering effect. In short, as bigger objects started to pile on top, the little ones got buried. Out of sight, out of mind. Perhaps the price range correlates to the amount of time these objects actually stay in your mind. Something costing 1 euro for example, probably occupies much less space in your brain than something costing 10 euros and so on. So if we say 1 euro occupies 10 mins, then after about 11 they pretty much don’t exist anymore. Until you ve reached the cash point, and all your short term memory lapses come crashing down. In this moment of truth however, most are too caught up in the social politics of being polite to the customer behind and not creating a scene. All you can do is quietly pray that the final price wont be too high. 53 euros. Wow. Quite far off my initial guess of about 12. My guessing game scores ( a game I like to play when I reach the cash till, of adding up each item as the lady scans it through the till to see how close or far off the truth I get) are usually pretty accurate, but this time even simple maths seemed to fail me. You would think, if you consciously stick to the basic formula of 1 object = 1 euro, 50 objects = 50 euros during your basket filling, you would be immune to all the external marketing forces of seduction. Yet it is quite hard to stay sober when in the moment, especially amidst a great big Christmas mob.
I left happy-land equipped with a multi-coloured bin bag full of all sorts of plastic wonders, and some thoughts on how to improve the Christmas shopping experience for next year.
“I will be more wise. I will embrace the Christmas spirit earlier. I will get my presents when the Christmas markets open and beat the Christmas crowds....
but perhaps the end of October is still too early. And anyway this shameless display of Christmas merchandise as early as October has always kind of bothered me and actually had the opposite effect, of not wanting to buy any presents at all. But, like a good Catholic would do, I must try to rid myself of such ridiculous thoughts, to extinguish all doubts, to put an end to any inner discomforts of the soul and embrace the system. Or maybe, once again, at the last minute, contrary to my morals and intentions, I will end up at some kind of supermarket, against my will, herding for that special deal to show my special ones I care. But even if their methods of merchandise are not my cup of tea, it’s fascinating to witness them in action and be the 1st hand witness that they work every time.
For further interest in the psychology of the market, Adam Curtis` BBC series "The Century of the Self" provide a thorough overview of the manufacturing of happiness and other market machinery and in general how the masses are controlled.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6718420906413643126#
