Fueling spiritual ADD

Money can't buy you Happiness, but it can buy Joy.

As ad people, we wonder about the value our work brings to society. Are we really helping the world move forward? or just convincing people to buy things they don't need?

Advertising certainly helps improve the world by informing people and fueling competition, which eventually translates into better, more affordable goods for all and creates jobs along the way.

Another way to look at it would suggest that advertising helps fuel spiritual ADD, distracting society from the pursuit of happiness and instead tempting us with the rewards of joy.

A new dress, a new car, a new stereo or a vacation are Joy Fuel: acquisitions that give us a rush of a temporary wellbeing, which disappears as soon as new events unfold or the novelty wears out.

Happiness in the other hand may be a permanent state of higher bliss, but attaining it requires years of spiritual work. Certainly a daunting prospect, and a far less attractive one in a society driven by instant gratification.

In such a world, it is far too easy to be distracted from our pursuit of Happiness and instead fall prey of the quick fix offered by the Joys of Capitalism.

So while advertising isn't any more evil than a hammer or a cup, it can enrich popular culture and our lives just as quickly as it can become the lubricant of our procrastinations, perpetually distracting us from our true purpose in this Life.

Interestingly, research indicates that the elder, precisely the section of society less impressed by brands, novelty and trends, are consistently happier than younger generations.

For more details on this particular evidence, see this Washington Post article.