A commercial that promotes the worst of today

[William Stratford]

No, they are not. You think they are. I don't.

I think the problem is that we don't mean they same by "individualism".

Individualism - the notion that the individual, and their expression of individual identity, is more important than wider society.

Our manners are something which we receive from the previous generation. They are the means by which a society coheres and cooperates but they are not universal in form - different societies can have different tweakings of interpretations of them. They do not need to be based on empathy at all - do you think that not putting your elbows on the table whilst eating, or passing the port to the left (for example) are about empathy? Manners have a value in the coherence that they bring (with everyone sharing them) but also in our disciplining/submitting ourselves to them (and thus learning to be social creatures rather than anti-social ones).

When I say "individualism" I mean the opposite of peer pressure and swallowing any silliness just because "everybody else does it".

Then you are mis-using the term (which, of course, is a very individualistic thing to do...hence why people today are often seeking to redefine words to a new meaning).

Individualism is anti-social. It is not simply having a bit of personality or a little eccentricity, but rather putting the individual before the society.

Rationalists insist on our behaviour being justified, as if fitting with an external and absolute measure, but that is a bizarre notion that would mechanise humanity by ignoring the fact that much of what we do is rightly arational.

Not that I expect a lawyer to understand that.

 

[Angus Forbes]

Regarding the new bathroom and the destruction required to get there: "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American Public" -- H. L. Mencken

 

[gdc]

In America everyone wants to be first to be just like everyone else.

 

[Flicka]

Rationalists insist on our behaviour being justified, as if fitting with an external and absolute measure, but that is a bizarre notion that would mechanise humanity by ignoring the fact that much of what we do is rightly arational.

Not that I expect a lawyer to understand that.

Yes, because we lawyers absolutely do not believe in following rules. We always say: "if it ain't rational to obey the law, then don't." We're crazy like that, us lawyers.

 

[William Stratford]

Yes, because we lawyers absolutely do not believe in following rules. We always say: "if it ain't rational to obey the law, then don't." We're crazy like that, us lawyers.

Which is part of why society is in a mess; there is no rational reason for women to not wander around topless, afterall, in other societies they do, but just because our ruling against such is not rational does not mean that it is wrong - public decency has much like that.

 

[Mr. Hallack]

Ad makes me sick. I don't think I can go back to Lowe's now

 

[Mr Vim]

We don't have Lowe's in Juneau

I'm guessing that they built that on a set, I don't imagine the folks who made the commercial showing up at someone's door and saying, do you mind if an actress smashes your sink?

And ha! Did everyone read the comments on beneath the video? They're exactly what we're saying!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Which is part of why society is in a mess; there is no rational reason for women to not wander around topless...

I disagree. There are certain places where one doesn't want to be bitten by blackflies. Keeping these areas covered is eminently rational.

 

[matrioshka]

I disagree. There are certain places where one doesn't want to be bitten by blackflies. Keeping these areas covered is eminently rational.

Spoken like a true Yankee. Blackflies should be classified as birds of prey.

 

[ButteMT61]

Only a bunch of lawyers could yap so much about a bad, 15 second commercial

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Only a bunch of lawyers could yap so much about a bad, 15 second commercial

In legalspeak 2 + 2 = a five-page document.

 

[ButteMT61]

In legalspeak 2 + 2 = a five-page document.

That's if there's only two lawyers in the room

 

[PrettySquareGal]

This commercial makes me think of this:

http://nymag.com/news/features/48948/

It's the idea that beautiful women need to make themselves artificially creepy looking and like everyone else by getting puckery ducky bloaty lips and "stuffed" cheeks.

Really it's the same game. Take something lovely and destroy/replace it with expensive, ugly, uniform parts made overseas to create a face, room or life devoid of individualism, charm or authenticity.

 

[Dixie_Amazon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rP2_8FhGvN8

That's right. Destroy a lovely vintage bathroom in excellent condition for new and improved ugly banality.

I couldn;t even watch the whole thing.

The destroyed bath is the same style as two of our bathrooms in the part of the house built in 1960. We have never had to do anything to the faucets which have been used and abused by my 3 boys since 2001. Tubs were reglazed due to my MIL's strenuous use of Comet.

The faucets in the new master bath have had some plastic part replaced several times since 2001.

 

[John in Covina]

1984 is only about 40 years late.

 

[Noirblack]

The premise of the advert is that you should modernise into the latest fashion rather than keep something as it is, repair it, or restore it into a traditional pattern. It is idiocy because consumerism is idiocy, in that it tells us to want something new until we have it...at which point we are supposed to want something new again - this being the essence of fashion.

Modern society is obsessed with "expressing your individuality"...which is probably why manners are rapidly disappearing; because we receive them rather than invent them ourselves, and that makes them "anti-individualism".

That is explicitly not the premise. The commercial talks about changing out a bathroom that they have hated looking at like since they have bought the house for one they do like. Why can't people renovate to their tastes?

The commercial does not use the word "individuality" I'd suggest this is a bee you have in your bonnet and are just looking for an occasion to go on about it.

Consumerism is idiocy, you say. So many people on this thread just want to thrash those who buy something new. The term "consumerism" is getting thrown around in this thread to the point where using it as a criticism is simply vacuous. People do purchase things. Would you have this stop? Or is it only ok to buy antiques?

By the way, so many of the vintage articles that people rave about were mass produced consumer goods in their day, whether it was a vintage car, victrola, etc. Why is it ok to purchase these things now, given that they were mass produced when they were made? That doesn't make any sense to me. Hardly anything is a one of a kind.

 

[ButteMT61]

It's kinda funny as some of these folks were so upset over the Subaru forum dissing people here... I guess it's only dissing if you don't agree with it.But. That said. I hate the commercial and the message in it too. Preservationists can get a little wacky. We are sometimes

 

[William Stratford]

That is explicitly not the premise. The commercial talks about changing out a bathroom that they have hated looking at like since they have bought the house for one they do like. Why can't people renovate to their tastes?

Adverts are an act of fiction, and the fiction that they are selling here is the desirability of a "new modern bathroom". You can guarantee that the same company, 5 years from now, would be telling the next owners (after these ones had "moved up" the property market) to destroy the previous bathroom that they sold in order that the next couple can "express their own individuality" on it.

The commercial does not use the word "individuality" I'd suggest this is a bee you have in your bonnet and are just looking for an occasion to go on about it.

No, I have the capacity to read between the lines...a useful trait when dealing with the media.

Consumerism is idiocy, you say. So many people on this thread just want to thrash those who buy something new. The term "consumerism" is getting thrown around in this thread to the point where using it as a criticism is simply vacuous. People do purchase things. Would you have this stop? Or is it only ok to buy antiques?

People have little choice but to 'buy' these days, as there is little left to inherit, but then consumerism is not about 'buying'...rather it is about neophilia, the move to get/use/discard/get-anew. That is what the modern economy is based upon - if we stopped this (potty and dehumanising) level of turnover, the economy would collapse. This advert (like pretty much every advert) is promoting this behaviour...the idea that we should impose our individuality on the world (with each generation buying the new "individuality product") rather than preserving our history....all as a subtle propaganda to maintain a crazy economy built on invented obsolesence.

Consumerism and individualism go together, as they both teach us to see the world (of both nature and of culture) as our servant rather than us as its custodian. Sadly, more than a few people who are "into" "vintage" act from this very same (consumerist individualist) value but just do it with a different market product....which to me is missing the whole point.

By the way, so many of the vintage articles that people rave about were mass produced consumer goods in their day, whether it was a vintage car, victrola, etc. Why is it ok to purchase these things now, given that they were mass produced when they were made? That doesn't make any sense to me. Hardly anything is a one of a kind.

Older goods tend to have more craftsmanship put into them, and lasted far longer than the plastic tat we see today, but yes they are still mass produced - sadly the individual items are often prohibitively priced. The fact that they are no longer made at least takes them out of modern consumerism though, as they are not being replaced as part of the rapid-turnover sales machine that our economies have become. Thus even though they were mass produced, they are often a means of stepping out of the procure/consume/discard/procure loop of the crazy and rootless modern economy.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

Ah, this commercial was done on a set constructed in a studio. Vary obvious from the camera angles.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Ah, this commercial was done on a set constructed in a studio. Vary obvious from the camera angles.

Now here's a marketing idea for Lowes to make even more money. Have the commercial then include a woman bashing the ugly new bathroom to introduce Lowe's new retro-inspired bathroom supplies! I don't encourage destroying usable items, old or new, but...