Self-Doubt and Consumerism

1. Healthy Self-Doubt

We all need to doubt ourselves at times. Without self-doubt, we may refuse to seek help when we really need one, or we may become complacent with our situation and may overlook our risk of failure. This must already be obvious to us - if not and if we don't doubt ourselves now, something will eventually happen and it would (painfully) remind us of our own limitations. Pray that it won't be too harsh on us.

2. Pathological Self-Doubt 

What really interest me is when there is too much self-doubt. Unfortunately, I cannot give any advice on how to overcome this - you may know better than I do. Here I'm only interested in discussing how we can be exploited when we doubt ourselves too much. 


3. Buying Promises

I think Nike really got it when they came up with their tagline: "Just Do It". Yes, we get inspired by this adage by Nike that when we face a difficult task, we can remind ourselves to "just do it". On the other hand, behind this simple branding slogan we find the true nature of big brands: what we really buy from them are not their products (e.g shoes, bags, phones, etc), but promises of better chances in life.

It's not that Nike is telling us to 'Just Do It' - "It" being "Buy our products". Instead, by having this phrase associated with their brand, I think they really are saying that we can 'Just Do It' - 'It' being 'even the most impossible things' - if we own Nike products. This may seem more obvious when we look at other brands and products.

Lately I have noticed that smartphone ads before the screening of a film in the cinema have been more and more to do with people using the phone for the most trivial things. One of these adverts has a 'photography student' using a smartphone to do a fashion shoot while sky-diving! "Oh, nice. If I get that phone I can do that too". Maybe that wasn't the point of that advert. Its subtle message is that I can do even the most impossible things when I own that smartphone. Nice.

In fact, this advertising trick is not new. Think about all those alcohol ads with seemingly unrelated contents and old cigarette ads with healthy macho cowboys. "You drink and you can do the trivial things in life". "You smoke and you can live a free life and ride a horse all day". And of course, this also applies to lottery tickets, like what I read from this article.


4. Wants and Needs

When we advise children about spending money we like to tell them to keep their wants and needs apart. We advise them to prioritise spending more on their needs and not waste too much on fulfilling their desires. Is this advice good enough for them?

Maybe we should also advise them on the balance of having self-confidence and self-doubt. "Too much confidence will eventually land you into trouble. But if you have too much self-doubt, you can be exploited by empty promises." And yes, tell them, "Owning the latest gadget won't guarantee to make you more creative. Trust your own intelligence, and you can be creative and produce a masterpiece even with just pen and paper".