“I’m asking each of you to take a look at how much television commercials affect you. Take one evening, sit in front of the television for three or four hours and pay special attention to the commercials. They do two things: They take away the reality of life and they also create a method of thinking to make you believe you will be a better person by owning that product.
What do I mean by ‘take away the reality of life’? Television commercials are strategically placed. Suppose you are watching a film and it is really intense about drug addiction or rape or something else that is very traumatic. Right at that precise intense moment when you are beginning to really feel what’s going on, the commercial will intervene. And it is usually something lighthearted to take your mind off the trauma. So we’re not allowed to really feel. If you don’t believe me, watch and see how strategically commercials are placed.”
Kaye takes us a step further:
“The other aspect addresses the quality of your life. If you don’t have whatever the product is, then you can’t possibly be living up to your potential. As I’m writing this book the wars between Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola, AT&T and Sprint, would be absolutely hilarious were it not for the fact that millions of dollars are involved which could be better spent. Pay special attention to commercials. These are created by bright Madison Avenue psychologically-oriented people who know exactly what they do.”
Today, we might add the Internet as a source of self-definition and a source of readily accessible spending. We can easily not only gain a sense of temporary joy (dopamine hit) but also a sense of self from what we buy on-line.
Dr. Kaye (1991, p. 69) asks:
“What do people say when you are in . . pain? “Go out and have a good time. . . Go out and buy something.” There’s nothing wrong with that if you are not a compulsive spender. However, there are other ways of rewarding yourself without spending, spending, spending.”
Once again, we now live in a somewhat different reality from that in which Dr. Kaye was working and writing. In our digital world, we can now suggest that someone near us who is in pain find relief by turning to their mobile device or computer and escaping into a world asking us to buy, buy, buy. The world may have changed, but channels to financial addiction remain widely accessible and open to addressing our need for emotional fixes, co-dependent giving, and search for a stable and desirable self.
Obsession with Money
Continuing her reflections on the pathology associated with money, Yvonne Kaye (1991, p. 54) writes about the obsession of some people with the accumulation of money. She relates this obsession directly to the broader preoccupation in our society with wealth and considers this obsession among people whether or not they are wealthy (Kaye, 1991, p. 54):
