The End Caps

Watching the ABC evening news tonight, the broadcast wasn't at all concerned with any distinction between "American" and "Consumer." These two words are synonyms.

ABC showed some lady from Everytown Anytown, USA, with her cart full of merchandise in a Sam's Club Warehouse outlet as she's beaming to the camera her newfound prowess for bargain shopping. She is no longer referred to an American. She is a Consumer. And indeed, the news only ever referred to this lady as a consumer. She is nothing but an insignificant cunt until she consumes -- at which point wa-hey! she becomes a worthy American, one worthy of marketing attention to her and her demographic, especially in this age where consumers are "snapping their wallets shut."

The news panned across the end caps -- the retail displays at the end of the warehouse isles that are among the most important attractants in warehouse shopping. You are less than American unless you buy this item, the end cap screams, an item that has been especially chosen to accommodate you, the "new" consumer -- the frugal American. Now that the typical American can't re-fi his or her house to buy shit he or she couldn't afford in the first place, these items are even harder to sell, so the "display" is most crucial. Being on the end cap is now the sole criterion if an item will move in any significant volume.

This is what you've been reduced to...a consumer whose response to end caps means more than anything else. You aren't a human anymore. You are Homo Consumerensis, nothing more...