SO OVER IT

Ballpark, where we only consciously consume around a 100 pieces of marketed material a day we are actually exposed to any number between 4,000-10,000 on a daily basis.

Whether that may be on screens: in branded content, influencer collaborations, dedicated campaigns, spam emails, pop ups, on our streaming services, and most annoyingly a solid 20 minutes of pure advertisement before a movie screening, it seems perennial.

Off of our screens this consumption continues almost constantly, ever present with a less incessant, but consistently potent number of traditional advertisements. Billboards, the outside of our telephone boxes, on flyers, posters, banners pasted along our train platforms, rolling on screens in our shopping centres, stitched into our team’s jerseys and encircling our sports stadiums. We don’t necessarily process them, pay as much heed or attention, but that is likely put to the fact that they have always been there, and are more easily avoided. You can walk past without reading, they can fly by so quickly you only see a flash of colour on the side of a bus, train, tram or taxi, or we can be so consumed in our phones we don’t realise promotional material is coming from all sides.

However, even if you were not on social media, and never saw a single advertisement out in the wild, in simply existing in the world, interacting and conversing with others, observing those around you, their hair, their clothes their image, overhearing strangers recommend shows, films or music, we are constantly being sold to, influenced and influencing others to watch, buy, read, look and ultimately consume more.

Consuming itself isn’t a bad thing, and when measured and intentional can be entirely beneficial both to the individual and beyond.

If we look to film and cinema, in 2026 there has been an international boom or a “theatrical rebound” for the industry. Global box office projections estimate an income of 35-50 billion dollars by the end of this year, marking it the healthiest performance for the industry since 2019.

A consistent roll out of blockbuster films, from The Odyssey, Toy Story 5, Spider-Man: Brand New Day and the highly anticipated Dune: Part 3 and Avengers:Doomsday coming to cinemas in December, these huge titles certainly continue to drive ticket sales. Nonetheless, this substantial boom can largely be put to the uptick of Gen-Zs looking to the big screen for entertainment, a source of social connection and consequentially driving peers to change their own consumption.

Considering just my for you page, it has been packed with cinema content, the mantras of “Cinema is so back” and “Hot Girls Support Cinema” relatively prominent as I scroll. Movie specific content became particularly noticeable after the release of the Michael Jackson Biopic and indie horror films Backrooms and Obsession, remaining rampant as the world fights to experience the odyssey in IMAX.

Michael became the highest grossing biopic of all time surpassing the critically acclaimed Oppenheimer despite jarringly negative reviews.

Where critics described the biopic as “decent”, “bowdlerised” and even “bland” TikTok took no notice. Widely recognising the film to bring a theatrical energy to the screen that had Gen-Z rewatching and posting, keeping the film in cinemas for 15 weeks, significantly longer than the average 6-8 week run.

The following two Gen-Z directed horror films generated nothing short of a cult following. Yes, Prior to viewing their YouTube roots and existing engagement propelled movie going, but the compelling and engrossing nature of the films specifically for Gen-Z may be said to lie in substantiating specific anxieties of our generation. Transforming an air of fear around the “manosphere”, A.I., and toxic relationships into unsettling and tangible horror on the big screen, Running on to generate huge discussions both on and offline.

Cinema has turned into a relatively affordable catch up. Consuming it has revived a communal and immersive experience that can drive much needed further connections after viewing and is a welcome break from superficial and ever growing monotonous doomscrolling.

Really, the issue with our modern consumerism is that when we were once dancing around the line between consumption and overconsumption we have now leapt over it and are hurtling into a society that pushes (and normalises) mindless absorption.

We are living in a time of fast trends, easy buying and short life design. Every second day there is a new best thing. You can buy it cheap, easily online, and experience a dopamine rush after you’ve searched for, found and anticipate the arrival of something new. A going out top worn once, then the excitement wears off because you’ve already got pictures in it, or the cheap and essential basic top you needed turns into you ordering a new one every month because the fabric quality is too poor to remain soft once you get that stain out so the top you bought because it was buttery “smooth” and “the most flattering” is now stained and rough at the back or your closet or it’s synthetic material ends up withstanding for up to 500 years in a landfill, But maybe and worst of all you didn’t actually like it but bought it because it was seemingly inexpensive and an influencer said you needed it.

I think we have established that I am very online, and to put my two cents in Sydney airport please give us some GF options, but If you are as addicted to social media as I am, you will have also likely noticed that it has turned into a virtual runway hybridised with a pixelated mall.

Every second post tries to sell you something. But not just something that can be useful, something “You cannot LIVE without” a “MUST BUY”, “MUST WATCH”, “MUST TRY” oh and it’s “Sooo bingeworthy” no no no, it’s “VIRAL” “NICHE” a “RIDE OR DIE” and “If you haven’t tried it, what are you doing!?!?” you need to ”RUN don’t walk” for this amazing, creative, “next obsession!”

Nope.

I’m loosing my mind a little bit.

Those words target a sense of urgency and mandate, my fight or flight explodes and there is no way that I or anyone should be stressed over an ad for lipgloss.

Maybe it’s just me but I also don’t think that I want to be obsessed with my lipgloss.

It feels as though being neutral isn’t an option. Liking something isn’t enough to warrant attention. For anything to seem engaging or worth while it appears in extremes, entirely for, against or decidedly unbothered. Contributing to a societal paralysis between nonchalance, to be mysterious and maintain intrigue at the same that you have to stay updated with every new mania that sweeps over the public eye.

Moreover, it’s not just content. When I think about my own conversations with loved ones I don’t commonly bring up topics that I have no opinion on, seemingly we don’t allow ourselves to talk to subjects with the people we care about or listen to outside opinions on issues we only approach with impartiality.

And that carries over into this intense marketing, holding onto the belief that for consumers to purchase, we need to the have the opportunity for obsession, to become fixated and entertained by the sellable to the point where it remains on the psyche.

But if it gets to that point, where a thing sits at the forefront of your brain, unmoveable, are we still dictating our consumption? Are we not then no longer consuming it but being consumed?

Things started being cool, then niche, and now everything is chic. But largely these “buzz words” and phrases are focusing less on what the thing being sold actually does, and instead a purchase is being marketed via the notion that it has the potential to make your life better, more exciting or improve your social standing. To chase and maintain relevance not in knowledge but what you tangibly possess.

Basically, the message reads that in buying a top, watching a show or obtaining a product that you are told is about to go viral you will get ahead if you buy it now. You can garner and hold a degree of superiority, some sort of “betterness” because you bought it before anyone else. You can be the one to put someone else onto the newest thing. You can say you were an original fan when a littler artist releases a new album that gets accepted into mainstream stream media. You get to be perceived as a Shepard, not a sheep.

However in our modern reality, there are A million albums, TV, shows, brands, and books that you haven’t seen. There are endless people, places and experiences that you are yet to interact with. You could do your hair, cut it, style it, slick it, crimp it a ridiculous number of ways yet everything and everyones buying the same thing, wearing the same clothes, same this, same that, same world. Which doesn’t feel authentic, and if it’s all the same how can it be niche? how can it be chic? how would it make you cool?

To me someone who is cool is individual, someone who is cool has a sense of themselves, and what is cool is relative and opinionated. One persons cool is not the next. So why would you then buy a product based on marketing that says it’s cool? Are you cool if you think your cool? Is trying to be cool, cool? Genuinely asking

A trending product isn’t magic, or remarkably different from the last thing everyone decided was top of the line. A thing can’t make you morally superior, cooler, more popular or a better person. It is your character, the combination of your own interests, style and passions that makes you an individual and interesting.

In conscious consumerism, or as I’ve been calling it lately, pondering before purchase, you can develop your own personal style, tastes and identity. To like what you like because you actually like it. To watch what you enjoy because you enjoy it. To develop opinions that are yours and not someone else’s regurgitated to shrink yourself or your ideas into a socially acceptable bubble with a bow on it.

I don’t really have a resolution here, but at the end of the day let’s work to apply energy with intention, create more than we consume, and put your phone down while you watch a movie or TV. One screen at a time, one day at a time, fight for your attention span, go to the cinema, maybe next time you see your friends talk about something you know they care about but you don’t really have an opinion on and develop it, see the sun and have some funnnnn

Love you cuties xxxx

ALSO don’t be scared to use the “not-interested” feature when TikTok sends you rogue content, it’s truly magical