Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Addiction

When did "addictive" become a selling point? When did dependence become attractive? I'd noticed this in ads lately, the word addictive as something positive, and this puzzles me. Addictive food, or coffee, or any item being sold. Ok, maybe not tables, or socks, but every damn thing else. What is the deal?

I strove to be independent, and addiction was a weakness, a character flaw. Understandable perhaps, even treatable, but not desirable. A trait one admitted to, like being addicted to Tetris (not that I was. Welltris was my downfall.) Not anything to be proud of, more to be gotten over, or past. Certainly not a reason to buy something.

My sole drive, when I was young, was to be free of constraint, inner or outer. Failed a lot, but further dependence was repellant. So, what is the deal?

6 comments:

Rouchswalwe said...

Not too long ago, I watched as a friend sold her independence. Nothing I could say or write would sway her, and it is killing me.

gz said...

(o)

Lucy said...

It used to be a word I used flippantly, too close contact with the reality has stopped me from doing so.

Phil Plasma said...

I have not yet been a witness to anyone using the word addictive in the positive sense you cite.

It could be that I am not subject to as much media as you are. In any case, I agree with you, addictions are abhorrent.

Pacian said...

I suspect it's freudian slips on the part of marketers. Inevitably, piece by piece, their true agenda (get us hooked, regardless of quality) seeps through into the culture at large.

Zhoen said...

I notice it mostly at work, because the staff room is small, but has a TV - on most of the time. At home, I mute the ads, or skip them, so much, I don't hear them.