Buy, buy, buy - for a brief moment you feel alive! Yes, you definitely feel better! Now you are someone! Wait! Not so fast! The next moment you are no one again.
The act of buying feels so good because it is a social interaction in which people exchange two things that are seemingly equal. I give you something, so that you can give me something back that I desire of the same value. However, mere seconds later, I feel like I got the worse end of the deal and we seem to be unequal. I can hardly look forward to my house, my car and my boat because I like your house, your car and your boat much better.
The football club FC Bayern München earns about 90 million euros per season through merchandise such as pennants, towels, ties, key chains, pacifiers and bed sheets. However, the undisputed first place on the
Happy Meal of the Buy-Yourself-Happy
list is taken by the current jersey of FC Bayern München. At the beginning of a season, it already gives you the feeling that you’re wearing the jersey of the coming champion and that you are part of your club’s success story. Things look very different for the 17 losers in the Bundesliga, who did not make it to first place - thanks to jerseys and other merchandise, they only earned 100 million in revenue - a problem that can be solved only through comfort shopping and comfort eating.
The
Happy Meal of Buy-Yourself-Happy
is a 3-in-1 offer to deal with your frustration: comfort shopping, comfort eating and one more really exciting toy. Depression then becomes a piece of cake and a depression is replaced by eternal bliss … However, it won’t be; at least not until you seriously deal with the conditions and consequences of industrial agriculture and livestock.