The Magic Of Macy's?

We live in a consumer society - so much so that prior to the current economic debacle, consumer spending represented something like 70% of the U.S. economy. What that translates to is that going shopping and buying stuff on a regular basis was almost a patriotic duty. Unless all of us are hitting the malls on a regular basis, buying more and more stuff that we don't need and won't use, the economy will crater, and that's pretty much what we're seeing now. I have a lot of thoughts on this subject and will probably be writing about it frequently on this blog, but what's on my mind today is a really stupid commercial I saw this morning.

It started with several clips from movies and TV shows that mention Macy's department store, and it turns out there are a lot of them. Miracle on 34th Street was just the beginning. (Historical note: Most, if not all, of the clips are referring to the flagship Macy's store in New York City. Here in Chicagoland, Macy's is the department store formerly known as Marshall Field's.)

The voice-over says something about how Macy's is part of our lives, and then comes the tagline: "the magic of Macy's." What? The magic of Macy's??? The more I think about it the more it annoys me. Seriously - what part of a department store is "magical"? Is it the thrill and the joy of being able to walk in the door and breathe the air? The exquisite fun of handing over some money to buy another product? As Americans, we're continuously bombarded with messages from advertisers, all designed to convince us to buy something, and regardless of the overt message, the covert message is the same: Buying the product equals finding happiness. In a consumer society like ours it's almost impossible to resist the never-ending exhortations to buy, buy, buy, but for what it's worth, I'm trying to.