Social relations represented or replaced by commodities Our consumer culture translates social relations into things for sale. The diamond ring represents love and union. The right detergent symbolizes the mother who cares about her family. Brand name clothing and cigarettes indicates membership in a particular group that recognizes those products. Disneyland sells versions of history and fairytale that tell us stories of who we are.
Therapists sell friendship by the hour.
Consumption displays your taste. Poor people's taste is often based on necessity , they come to like what they can afford. It communicates how a product will improve your life. To do that, it first has to convince you that you need something, that your life is lacking in some way. Both advertisement and PR speak in stories, images, and emotions more than with words or logic because that is what human beings seem to remember most deeply.