My second project while getting classes at Duke University.

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Luciana Pereira
Professor Denise Comer
English Composition I: Achieving Expertise
Project 2 Final Draft: Analyzing a Visual Image
May 6, 2013
Human beings and their obsessive consumerism
First looking, the image above looks like simple using just two colors, black and white, like those that are easily founded in newspapers charts. And also has the Human Race Timeline, since 55 million years ago, with the picture of a primitive primate until the complete evolution of human being. But the image goes further and after the complete evolution of the human being comes a picture of the continuation of our specie. The image works as a joke and shows how superficial and extremely consumerism the society of XXI century became.
The continuation of our specie appears in the picture after a sequence of transformation. This transformation can be seeing starting in the fifth man. The fifth man starts to lose his movements comparing with the fourth. These movements are represented by little traces close to heads and arms in the picture. The fifth man`s arms and legs start to look heavy and the man

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is not anymore walking confident as before. The sixth man starts to lose his face lines as his nose for example, and also his arms and his breastplate becomes just one. His feet are lower than before as a way to show that he is almost not walking at all. The seventh man loses half of his head or “brain” and his legs are also unified, forming just one piece. Furthermore, this seventh man has almost no feet, just his ankles are visible. Finally, the last and eight man becomes a statue integrated by just one piece, with no legs, no arms, no feet and no face lines. Movements are gone completely and this new “human being” is transformed, changing to a barcode that can be found in every product that we buy nowadays.
The image is clearly a joke about how people buy so many things that in fact are not necessary. Unfortunately a huge part of the society continues buying just because going shopping is extremely satisfying. It is a society that does not think anymore. Human beings are been taking by the media and companies specialized in Marketing that are capable of brainwashing people with their impressive advertisings and irresistible commercials.
This picture also makes me realize how Psychology in Marketing can be strong and effective, making people think they need products that rationally thinking, they have no necessity at all to have. In the article Psychology of a Purchase Decision it says, “Customers make decisions based on a large number of factors and although it is impossible to influence them all, successful marketers try to strike a balance between appealing to the emotional and rational sides to our personality”. So if you go to a store and go back home with a lot of products that were not in your list, it is not your fault or basically, is not “just” your fault. But basically behind of your unnecessary purchase was a professional that studied consumer behaviors and a lot of aspects as color, music, word use, and imagery that will effectively reach you, your brain and finally your pocket.
Even though is extremely hard to live without a bunch of products that are televised as miracles in the media, as the fantastic “George Foreman grill” and the amazing “Hot Buns” is still possible training ourselves to become better consumers and the term “deep practice”, as

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cited by Coyle`s in the Sweet Spot, can be useful in this point. If every time we go shopping we make a list and search the best prices, ways to use the product and recommendations of other costumers, a new and smarter way to buy will be created in our minds and unnecessary purchases will be avoided.
In the article “What it takes to be great” by Colvin, he also argues that everyone can improve a skill. He says, “You can make yourself into any number of things, and you can even make yourself great”. I completely argue with Coyle`s and Colvin`s idea and I believe that we can be great in whatever we want. However, deep practice and trying to make our skills great can work as a double edged sword. In this case, consumers are deep practicing to change their consumerism behavior and in the other hand marketers are also deep practicing to find ways of making people buy more and more. So be smarter and persistent at this point will be the way to win this fight.

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Works Cited
Coyle, Daniel. "The Sweet Spot." The Talent Code. Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. Here’s How. New York: Bantam, 2009. 11-29.
Colvin, Geoffrey. “What It Takes to be Great.” Fortune 19 October 2006.
Psychology of Marketing. Article. Marketing made simple. 4 April 2013. Web.
Timeline Human Evolution. New Scientist. Article. 4 April 2013. Web.