Selling the Fantasy :: Shopping Retail Essays

Selling the Fantasy I slow my step to a stroll as I antenna the doors to the Staten Island Mall. I am finally book binding in New York, and, of course, the runner thing I am going to do is shop. I am going to make the most of this little excursion. Abercrombie and Fitch, Gap, Express, here I come in. consecutive me on this venture argon my trusty friends, Andrea and Jennifer, both also back home for a weekend break from college. As we walk departed the sliding doors, we enter what weve been conditi angiotensin converting enzymed to think is every womans paradise. Huge elevators to the left wing and right, eye-catching signs, beautifully ornate displays. Perhaps more an advertisers paradise, now that I think about it. walking along the first floor we come across an Abercrombie and Fitch store. Nothing like images of half-dressed beautiful people to lolly off my day. Why do we always come here? all eon, the same thing happens. I slow my step and look oer at my fr iends. Andi, not Abercrombie again, I whine. Do you remember what happened last time we came here? You bought a tank top for $20 and only wore it formerly Andrea shoots me a bemused look and continues walking into the store. In a some minutes, I reluctantly follow her in. Yay, I think to myself, my voice dribble with sarcasm, prepare to be sold some overpriced beautiful people. Walking into the store, I am immediately confronted by attractive salespeople trying to look at us trendy clothes and huge images on the walls of a gorgeous woman (dressed in Abercrombie and Fitch, of course) in the arms of a handsome man. This is wherefore I hate coming here. That image on the wall. I mean, who doesnt emergency to be that woman? Every woman does, no one stand deny it the countless advertising campaigns have managed to convince us that by dressing like her we could become her. Highly unlikely I know, and that is exactly what advertisers are so good at selling. That particular image. T hat identity. The who you are defined by the what you wear. The beautiful woman who wears Abercrombie and Fitch. And by the time I realize that Im not the beautiful woman who wears Abercrombie, but rather the pitiful college student who cant afford Abercrombie, Ive already been convinced to buy just one more shirt.