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    Paraschiva Luciana - Draft - Barthes' "Operation Margarine" Analysis and Critique

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    Luciana Paraschiva
    In his 1957 work "Operation Margarine", Barthes analyzes how consumerism influences society's acceptance of products through subtle indoctrination. He uses the example of margarine, showing how advertising transformed it from an inferior product to a necessity. Barthes argues consumerism has become a "disease" that turns people into "money-hungry monsters". While effectively critiquing consumerism's impacts, the summary argues Barthes overlooks its effects on low-income workers who face longer hours and lower wages to meet production demands. To conclude, consumerism is a problem that affects all levels of society and will degrade life if not addressed through changing attitudes toward material goods and wealth.

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    Paraschiva Luciana - Draft - Barthes' "Operation Margarine" Analysis and Critique

    Uploaded by

    Luciana Paraschiva
    50 views5 pages
    In his 1957 work "Operation Margarine", Barthes analyzes how consumerism influences society's acceptance of products through subtle indoctrination. He uses the example of margarine, showing how advertising transformed it from an inferior product to a necessity. Barthes argues consumerism has become a "disease" that turns people into "money-hungry monsters". While effectively critiquing consumerism's impacts, the summary argues Barthes overlooks its effects on low-income workers who face longer hours and lower wages to meet production demands. To conclude, consumerism is a problem that affects all levels of society and will degrade life if not addressed through changing attitudes toward material goods and wealth.

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    Paraschiva Luciana_Draft_Barthes’ “Operation Margarine” Analysis and Critique

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    In his 1957 work "Operation Margarine", Barthes analyzes how consumerism influences society's acceptance of products through subtle indoctrination. He uses the example of margarine, showing how advertising transformed it from an inferior product to a necessity. Barthes argues consumerism has become a "disease" that turns people into "money-hungry monsters". While effectively critiquing consumerism's impacts, the summary argues Barthes overlooks its effects on low-income workers who face longer hours and lower wages to meet production demands. To conclude, consumerism is a problem that affects all levels of society and will degrade life if not addressed through changing attitudes toward material goods and wealth.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    50 views5 pages

    Paraschiva Luciana - Draft - Barthes' "Operation Margarine" Analysis and Critique

    Uploaded by

    Luciana Paraschiva
    In his 1957 work "Operation Margarine", Barthes analyzes how consumerism influences society's acceptance of products through subtle indoctrination. He uses the example of margarine, showing how advertising transformed it from an inferior product to a necessity. Barthes argues consumerism has become a "disease" that turns people into "money-hungry monsters". While effectively critiquing consumerism's impacts, the summary argues Barthes overlooks its effects on low-income workers who face longer hours and lower wages to meet production demands. To conclude, consumerism is a problem that affects all levels of society and will degrade life if not addressed through changing attitudes toward material goods and wealth.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 5

    Paraschiva Elisabeta-Luciana

    Barthes’ “Operation Margarine” Analysis and Critique

    Consumerism has been a great part of our contemporary existence, all around us people tend

    to spend more and more on things that they might not necessarily need just with the sole

    purpose of having something more than other people that might be around them. This idea

    that the increase in consumption and the gain of material goods and services is the only way

    to a person’s wellbeing and happiness is completely detrimental in the long run, only turning

    people from a respectable member of society into a money-hungry monster with one goal set

    in mind. If this “trend” is not stopped the world as we know it could morph into something

    far more savage, into a place where money rules over all. Barthes knows this and he uses his

    writings in “Operation Margarine” to subtly underline this with the hope of maybe opening

    someone’s eyes to this horrific process and ultimately stop the greed from spreading in every

    corner of this world.

    In his work, “Operation Margarine” from the volume “Mythologies”(1957), Barthes creates a

    beautifully crafted picture of how our subconscious works, showing us how we can and how

    we actually are influenced by the so-called “Established Order” into accepting something

    even if we know of its undeniable flaws. He gives us the basic formula of how this accepting

    process can be started, by saying that all you have to do is take a concept that you want to
    change, burn it down by showing all its failures, how detrimental it can be for the people and,

    after this whole process is done, show that without it, life cannot go on.

    Barthes gives us the example of the Army. He points out that by taking off its disguise, its

    cover of a place where honour is at home and where young men fight to defend their homes

    and possibly become heroes, it is nothing but generals that demand complete obedience from

    their soldiers, discipline that is just unnecessary, created just to torment the poor souls of men

    that fight for their country. To counter this, the Army is presented as triumphant, flags raised

    in the name of your country and the death of a hero. He also criticises the scientific aspect of

    the army, by saying that all the death it has caused is purely ignored and covered by the idea

    that it is necessary, that it is done to protect the people, in a “us versus them” scenario.

    Another example given by Barthes is the Church. He says that people prefer to overlook the

    bad aspects of religion, the merciless killings of the Crusades, the non-sense the priests say

    and so on by indoctrinating people into believing that without faith, our lives are

    meaningless, that we need to pledge our life to the Lord if we want to go to Heaven.

    During the last part of the text, Ronald Barthes perfectly puts in the forefront the issue of

    consumerism, by subtly saying that the “infection” and indoctrination is so deep rooted into

    our minds that we tend to overlook some things just because we are basically told to. He says

    that in the butter-margarine “conflict” even if butter is the superior product, people tend to

    lean more over to the side of margarine, just because advertisements told them that they it is

    better in each and every way. For Barthes, consumerism is just like a disease that is spreading

    indefinitely, ready to infect the whole world and turn us into savages, thirsty for money and

    fame, with no interest in mind other than their wellbeing.


    In the final paragraph of his essay, Barthes makes an astonishing analogy, saying that the

    advertisement for Astra margarine follows the same scheme as these examples. At first,

    people are doubtful of it, saying that butter is a way better product, but then their eyes are

    opened and suddenly margarine becomes this superior product, only because it can be used

    for absolutely anything and, more importantly, it is more economical. In the same way,

    people tend to overlook the bad aspects of some things in our society just because they are

    seen as a “necessary evil” that we need for “the greater good”.

    The idea of consumerism is also making an appearance in the essay “Toys”, from the same

    volume, with Barthes putting the emphasis on the material used to make toys nowadays, that

    being plastic, which is clearly inferior to the wood that was once used, this creating less

    reliable products that break more easily, thus forcing, basically, people to buy more and think

    less. This proves that this plague can spread without borders, no one is safe and that includes

    children, which are “programmed” since they are young, only growing to become a slave to

    the system. Barthes does an amazing thing by putting these two essays in the same volume

    because he is basically attacking the issue from each and every side. “Operation Margarine”

    is meant for the adult side of consumerism, the one that deals with clothes, food and other

    problems of the adult world, while “Toys” is meant for the childish side of consumerism, the

    one related to influencing the mind of the little ones, and their young parents, ensuring a

    uniformized world. “Toys” is also an astonishing reflection over how corporations can, and

    do, influence the mind of our young ones. They are subtly influenced into believing that

    everything can be easily replaced, if you have enough money that is. This is done by giving

    them poorly made toys that break easily and can be just as easily replaced. This is naturally
    not a beneficial process as it only makes them shallow people that have no interest in the

    others around them.

    Although Barthes covers many sides of consumerism, he still misses out on some things and

    seems to be kind of biased in a way, giving the impression that he only cares about the

    middle class and ignoring almost completely the lower class, the working man, the one who

    is subjected to hours upon hours of work, with little to no break, overworked and underpaid.

    He makes these essays, for the most part, about how consumerism affects the middle class,

    the one that spends money on products, but overlooks how the working man is affected by

    consumerism, how they need to work even longer shifts just to meet the required norm. With

    this increasing demand more people will be hired and so the wages will be lowered and the

    living conditions will be even worse for those people and this thing needs to be highlighted.

    For example, cosmetic products, clothes and so on are made in poor countries, such as India

    and Bangladesh, just because in those countries people are paid less and work a lot more and

    if they can survive from one day to the other, they are more than happy. This is a critical

    problem as if we don’t stop this process, we might end up with a whole lot more people in

    this dire situation.

    To conclude, consumerism is a plague that haunts all of us, no matter our financial status, no

    matter the education we got and it cannot be stopped unless we change our mentality

    permanently. We need to learn that material goods are not the only way to reach happiness

    and wellbeing and listen to the words of Barthes. He manages to capture perfectly how

    deeply rooted the consumerism is into our minds, and how we are “programmed” into

    wanting to acquire wealth and do whatever it takes. His essays are a wake-up call for anyone
    who is willing to listen and they give a perfect illustration of what our world might turn out to

    be if we continue to refuse to change.

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