Hasta La Ideas

The show Marketplace that aired on National Public Radio had a very poignant piece this past Friday about the hypocrisy surrounding the business, marketing, and branding of Eat, Pray, Love‘s “simplification” and “de-cluttering” merchandise.

You can listen to the segment or read the transcript on the NPR website.

My favorite excerpt from Stacey Vanek-Smith’s Marketplace piece:

[Andrew] Bennett [author of the book Consumed] says “Eat Pray Love” taps into something the whole culture has been moving towards.

Bennett: “It talks about finding your inner self and spirituality and a return to simplicity and enjoying life’s simple pleasures.”

Like drinking “Eat Pray Love” tea, out of an “Eat Pray Love” cup, in your “Eat Pray Love” tunic, on your “Eat Pray Love” Malay queen bed. What could be simpler?

I was also surprised to learn about the Home Shopping Network’s “three-day ‘Eat Pray Love’-a-palooza” with more than 400 simplification-themed products, Sony’s Eat Pray Love laptop, and the Eat Pray Love prayer beads. The marketing of thousands of products surrounding this stuff-won’t-make-you-happy themed movie makes Disney film merchandising look like literal child’s play. Unclutterers are smart consumers who are not wholly against buying things, but does the merchandising industry really believe that dedicated followers of simple living are going to rush out and buy ALL of this stuff? Does the world really need thousands of Eat, Pray, Love doodads?

Apparently, the strategy for product marketing to simple living followers is: “Buy, buy, buy, and then unclutter it all so you can buy some more.”

Like this site? Buy Erin Rooney Doland’s Unclutter Your Life in One Week from Amazon.com today.