SAD MAD and dangerous to know
At this time of year many (except Queenslanders and garden gnomes) suffer from that winter syndrome known cutely as SAD (seasonal affective disorder). Such individuals are generally known to take refuge beneath the doona and an extra blanket of depression during the winter months, or, if they are of a more proactive character, to spend up on light therapy, chocolates or a holiday to Bali. Or a whole heap of fashion and beauty products they have no need for.
This last form of therapy is certainly the most fun, although the acronym that spawned it generally takes on a whole new meaning; Shopping Addiction Disaster or, if it occurs around the same time as the end of financial year stock take sales MAD; Manic Avarice for Discounts.
MAD symptoms include: a delusional belief that, even though sales ended weeks ago there are still bargain priced gems lurking around every corner; an inability to stop pounding the pavements in search of sales even though it's three o'clock on a Tuesday morning, you're wearing pyjamas and you've no idea how you got here; recurring dreams that Alex Perry has stopped you on the red carpet to ask where you got that gorgeous frock, to which you breezily reply that it was a bargain; and finally that unjustifiable need to kerb crawl in search of "SALE" signs, causing traffic accidents of varying degrees of severity (recently my electric red scooter nudged a fellow cyclist into the kerb, causing her to break a nail (acrylic) all because I was ogling the metallic shift in a shop window, peeking seductively at me from behind the "70 per cent discount" sign.)
Like most of the ills of the world advertising is of course the root cause of SAD and MAD. What's that I hear you say? Of course personal responsibility has nothing to do with it! Advertising can even be blamed for car accidents, as the ad for Ambra underwear in Melbourne's Punt Road illustrates. Really, could you expect anything other than Carmaggedon from a hoarding the size of the Nylex tower featuring enticing derrieres and legs enlarged to scale?
It's dangerous, feeding the consumer machine. You've got to wonder about advertising when the former head of a formerly communist country is hailed as the new face of one of the world's most renowned luxury brands. The latest Louis Vuitton ad shows Mikhail Gorbachev in a luxury car, a Vuitton bag at his side and the Berlin Wall in the background. Other ads in the same campaign feature film star Catherine Deneuve and tennis players Stefi Graff and Andre Agassi, but, as the former head of a formerly communist country, "Gorby" makes the most radical statement... or is that just because he's a middle aged man rather than an enticing young woman? It made me wonder, how would it be if some bright spark decided to use John Howard to advertise their oh-so-desirable accessories. Now that really would cause a traffic accident.