Consumer culture is all around us; in the United States, advertising is on everything from Instagram posts to billboards.
One Canadian shared a recent development at their gas station that Americans are unfortunately all too familiar with.
In a short clip posted to Reddit, they expressed their irritation at a "loud" trip to fill up their gas tank.
"Was just pumping gas at a Shell with new pumps and had commercials blared at me while I pumped," they said, adding, "Sick of ads becoming more and more common everywhere you go."
The included video shows a digital screen on a gas pump featuring a commercial, and while the sound is not particularly audible in this clip, many viewers were clearly familiar with these annoying ads.
The pervasiveness of advertising has led to an ever-moving machine of consumption. Long forgotten is the age of handcrafted, well-built items, which have been replaced with the churn of fast fashion and mass production.
MIT observed that much of the U.S. economy is based on the idea of infinite growth.
"Thus, just as immense effort was being devoted to persuading people to buy things they did not actually need, manufacturers also began the intentional design of inferior items, which came to be known as 'planned obsolescence,'" the institute said.
Now, with digital devices in our pockets, on the train, and even on the gas pump, we are constantly being bombarded with messaging urging continued consumption.
While it can be hard to fight the urge, there are many ways to get your shopping fix while avoiding mass-produced items. One of the best things you can do is shop secondhand, whether online through sites like ThredUp and eBay or at your local thrift store.
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Yes 💯 Plus, pre-loved items almost always come with a discounted price tag. Lucky shoppers have found everything from designer bags to collector's items as they browse consignment shops and yard sales.
Redditors were disturbed by this additional invasion of commercials, but some had interesting advice for how to make it less bothersome.
"This has been a thing in the USA for a long time," wrote one person. "One of the side buttons is supposed to mute the ad at least."
Someone else was planning to take their business elsewhere: "If stations start doing this, I will start driving to new places."
Another person had grander plans for avoiding these gas station ads: "If they all start doing this, I'll buy an EV and charge at home."
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