Do I really need a burger?
“There is enough in the world for everyone’s need; there is not enough for everyone’s greed.”
Gandhi
Recently, I was watching a movie about a famous burger chain. I was fascinated by the chain’s marketing decisions. I am interested in business, but not burgers. I eat (vegetarian) burgers once in a year, at best! So even though, a movie about burgers should not really get to me but this one did. I must tell you, however, that I am usually somehow never tempted by any TV food commercials. They just never click with me. Perhaps because I don’t really like all that products they want to sell me.
But this movie I watched had the characters ordering and eating ordinary burgers and raving about the delicious taste. The movie was shot attractively enough for someone like me, who rarely eats meat, to feel tempted to bite into a sumptuous, fresh, juicy meat patty (chicken or any other kind of meat) between a bun along with some pickled cucumber, lettuce leaves and mayonnaise.
Although commercials don’t work on me, this movie did! I did not eaten that burger, but it came into my mind for several time for at least four days! I stay off meat (and fish) for a few reasons, and these reasons have helped me stay off that burger that I “wanted”, but definitely didn’t really need.
One, because I believe in animal welfare and protection, second I am against eating meat every single day because of over consumption. Besides, third, the conditions in slaughterhouses are brutal and cruel to animals. Animals in slaughterhouses create stress-hormones during their stay and of course, right before they get killed.Those stress hormones affects the quality of meat/ people also eaten this meat then means one eats also that stress hormones since they get not released from the dead animal anymore. Latter one is a concern of your own health!
Fourth, hygiene and safety are big concerns. The hygiene in slaughterhouses is not always good and also the transportation can lack e.g. in the cooling system during the entire transportation. Fifth, I meditate daily, and eating meat interferes with meditation. It may not be so for everyone, though.
Coming back to the burger movie and the burger craving I had, let me tell you I was curious how it kept me for a few days “trapped” with the thought and thus the question, “Do I really ‘need’ or ‘want’ a burger?” I do not really ‘need’ it. But isn’t it amazing how a well-made movie with excellent marketing pitches made even someone who rarely eats meat and dislike burgers want to eat that burger?
Isn’t it astounding how a well-marketed product can actually make people crave or want to buy a product? This just proves that good marketing makes people want what the sellers want them to want. Not just burgers, this applies to everything around us. When something is marketed well, it helps viewers identify better with the main character and her/his experience.
Although the aim of marketing is to create a win-win situation for the sellers and the buyers, often the buyers end up buying more than they actually need. Advertisers feed on the limitless emotional need of humans to find happiness in material things and the false belief that the more they have, the happier they will be. Only because all the ads and commercials around you manipulate you into believing that you must buy the product in order to feel better, happier and satisfied, doesn’t really mean you need to buy it.
There are so many marketing gimmicks and commercials around you. Sit in a car and the radio has a commercial after every song, go to the airports, railway stations, stores, and even at home, and you have so many attractive ads for so many different products. Throughout every waking moment of your life, someone or the other is marketing something to you. So it becomes very easy to end up consuming something you feel like you want but don’t really need. You end up buying these products believing that you actually need them.And before you know, you fall prey to over-consumption, overuse and overspending!
I believe only if all of us learn to differentiate between what we need and what we want will there be balance in our lives.
So before you buy or consume something, it is wiser to ask “Do I want this or do I need this?” You will be surprised how often, we humans end up buying or using things just because we want them and not because we need them. So stop to think before you overuse, over consume and overspend, because it’s best for you and the world.
Let me finish my article with a philosophical question:
What do we, as human beings, actually really need in life?
My answer is: ridiculous less. And that what we need apart from food and shelder is: love, appreciation and sense for this life we live.
Read also: PEOPLE AND LOVE — WHAT TO EXPECT
Jasmin Waldmann is a well renowned international Life Coach. She guides people of any age, occupations, gender or nationality to work on their charisma, inner balance, guide how to become more successful and boost mental and physical health – and this counts for business and private life. Jasmin helps in a team-character way to a life full of joy and satisfaction.
Share your feedback, questions, experiences and suggestions to office@jasminwaldmann.com and read more articles here: www.jasminwaldmann.com/blog
