This quote has been attributed to various people such as Will Rogers, Walter Winchell, Will Smith and the book Fight Club, by Chuck Palahniuk. In the movie Fight Club, a variation of this quote is spoken by Tyler Durden.
Let’s apply this a step further. We can argue that not only does advertising have us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need, social media does, too. Tyler concludes that, “We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.” This can also fit influences from social media and reality television.
When we focus on impressing people, we are way too externally focused. Sure, we all love the idea of impressing others. But taken to an extreme, we can begin to focus on how we value ourselves based off what other people think about us.
What things have you purchased to impress people?
