[Please refrain from sending hate mail until you've read to the end.]
Last week, Oprah graced Twitter with her presence. Or, at least her ghostwriter did. When I saw the tweets about it, I honestly could not care less than if the Pope had just joined Facebook. To me, Oprah represents a lot of things but none of those things include what all her fans love about her.
Photo credit: s.yume from Flickr
My biggest complaint is her promotion of rampant consumerism: whether it’s in the form of her favourite things, book club, magazine, or just her image itself. Think about it for just a moment. Every single show, she’s selling you something. Even if it’s an idea. Still don’t believe me? Well, explain this to me then. Frankly, this level of consumerism is what got the American (and, truth be told, most of the Western world’s) economy in trouble in the first place.
Coming off of Earth Week, I think the discussion of material goods consumption is a fitting one. If we all thought about the lifespan of our purchases, and where they eventually go to die, I think we’d be better global citizens. But that’s not the point of this post.
Today, people want more of everything, right now, without any real consideration of the consequences. I’m constantly floored by feature stories in the news taking an “in-depth” look at poverty to read about how a student can’t make ends meet because she has to pay for her cell phone bill or why one family is concerned about heating bills when they have to make payments on two vehicles. (I honestly did not make up these stories.)
That’s not poverty. This is poverty. Or, closer to home, how about this?
Oprah and everything she represents feeds into the modern myth that you can and should have everything. Whoever the hell told us that was a big, fat liar. Read these words carefully: NOT EVERYONE CAN HAVE IT ALL. PERIOD.
What buying into this myth means though is that people stretch themselves beyond their limits. Whether it’s paying for overpriced lattes and new cars, replacing technologies as soon as the next shiny thing comes onto the market, having multiple gaming consoles, televisions, and the list goes on.
Now, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with having high expectations or ambitions in life. But you have to work for it. And even then, you have to ask yourself: do material possessions define success? These days your average university graduate is looking for a good—no—excellent paying job. You’d probably be surprised about their expectations. Having recently graduated with people a decade younger than me, I know. And, again, it’s great to have such high ambitions but let’s put things into perspective: according to Statistics Canada, the median dual income family makes about $66,343. That’s dual as in two people whose average age is much higher than 21.
This average couple has to factor in a mortgage for a $289,000 house (that’s the average cost in Canada but here’s a breakdown by city), car payments, and if kids are involved there’s daycare. Then there’s heating the house, paying for necessities like food and water, and hopefully saving something for retirement. But what’s happening is that people have bought into the myth that others like Oprah are selling them. So, instead of skipping the purchase of that margarita maker, they just keep spending one pay cheque after another until they’re spending into the next pay cheque and the next one after that.
Pretty soon everyone’s running a debt that the banks can’t collect. And we know how that story ends.
So, I guess what I’m saying is that Oprah is the reason the American and world economies collapsed. And that is why she and I can never be BFFs.
OK, let the hate mail commence…now.
Kimberly Walsh is a social media and online community manager. You can follow her on Twitter @AliasGrace.
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
She strikes me as one of the emptiest peopel I have ever seen.
Wry&Ginger: While I’m sure she struggled to get to where she is today, I think her persona has become sort of a caricature.
Oprah thinks she uses her celebrity for good but she definitely has an opposite effect on the environment and her *followers’* psyche!
myogis: I certainly don’t understand the appeal myself, but perhaps we’re just not the target demographic.
Even when she’s doing good things and making good suggestions, the ones she chooses are clearly chosen strategically based on sponsorship, advertising, etc. Plus you have to consider the way they are presented in a ‘be all and end all’ fashion that is so easily misinterpreted by the average viewer.
I find it all very frightening.
Ben: I feel the same about the doing good part of the empire. When the underlying element is making money, there’s kind of a taint isn’t there?
I take Oprah with a mix of respect and bile. But I see what you’re saying and agree %100; the worst is when someone “sells” spirituality… buy this book, these yoga clothes, this herbal tea, etc.
Enlightenment ain’t for sale, yo.
Racquel: I literally could not have said it better myself!
There’s a Hugh McCloud (sp) cartoon that says ‘The market for something to believe in is infinite’. http://www.gapingvoid.com Oprah probably didn’t have her irony button switched on when she saw that!!
Queenie: That’s a great saying and definitely open to interpretation (and those who would prey on that idea).
Interesting – in the end no one can actually make people do anything. Oprah is one of the most powerful women of color in the world. Yes. she is a business woman. Yes. she lives in a materialistic world, she does after all work in television , we all do. I credit Oprah for encouraging a LOT of North Americans to read books they would never have even heard of yet considered. That type of consumerism I can endorse. Topics covered on her show get people talking about things they may never have even thought of before. Her shows about the human spirit overcoming adversity encourage many and her focus on topics of abuse empower many who have felt isolated.
I don’t watch Oprah, or read her magazine but I think it’s easy to point out the negatives. There can be no denying the positive aspects of Oprah’s empire. I wish we spent more time accentuating the positives and not the negatives. Oprah didn’t put the American public in debt – their government allowed that.
Kathryn: I think there are millions of people who focus on the “positive” aspects of Oprah’s empire. Questioning this sort of status quo is just as important as accentuating the positives in this world, I feel. Unfortunately, the average consumer isn’t as media literate as we might hope. So, while I agree that the choice is ultimately up to the individual, it’s often the individuals who don’t understand that they’re being sold on something that are the ones who fall prey to the messages of celebrity, magazines, commercials, etc.
I have to agree with you. While she is not the sole reason the economy is in the tank because of mass consumerist habits, she does play a major part in Western society’s need for consumption. Her influence over her, to put it nicely, admirers is a well-known fact. Anything she endorses goes through the roof in popularity, and it’s unfortunate that she doesn’t endorse more positive changes instead of the latest must-have gadget or book that we must buy into. Like Ben said, many of the ideas she sells to her audience are chosen based on advertising dollars and revenue, not on the merits of the ideas and the positive changes they could make. She’s a savvy businesswoman, I’ll give her that, but even she is going to suffer greatly when people really can no longer afford to buy into her empire.
Jenn: It’s an interesting situation to be in: selling so much but now being in a position where your audience may not be able to buy anymore because of past financial indiscretions brought on by consuming beyond one’s means in the first place. Kind of a Catch-22.
I remember once watching Oprah babble on about how she feels the same way the rest of us feel and how she’s “just folks” and all that crap – and then they show pictures of her relaxing on a porch swing on her beautiful $13 million dollar “getaway” because even she needs downtime.
I never watched another Oprah show again. I don’t care where she grew up, or how much money she donates to charities – she’s not just a regular joe now. She’s famous and hasn’t had to live paycheque to paycheque for a long time.
I’m sure she worked hard for all of it, and good for her that she’s achieved it – but I don’t like having parallels drawn between our lives when there are none.
Rambleicious: I agree and also don’t judge her for creating such a vast business empire. But I think there’s a point where one needs to step back, take a look at the big picture, and maybe reconnect on a different level. As I’m seeing now, we’re not the only people turned off by the excess consumerism in the face of economic hardship.
Probably my favourite post yet
Thanks, Adam!
Oprah’s the Martha of the psyche.
Martha sells you domestic bliss and the products tacked on the back
and Oprah sells you self-fulfillment and confidence with all the products tacked on the back.
I like the goals of these women, but don’t buy into the tag-along products
Gifted: That’s exactly it. The basic notion of living a life you love has merit, it’s the extras that come with what they represent that interfere with the message.