At Such a Price

In a picture of a barber shop from 1935, I saw a slogan for Fatima cigarettes: "There is no other cigarette of such quality at such a price."

The statement is long, measured, modest, and possibly even true. In other words, the opposite of modern advertising. That type of literalism is long gone, replaced by insinuations of grandeur. Not only would a modern advertisement never qualify its claims with a phrase like "at such a price," being the finest cigarette at any price would not be enough unless it also allowed you to leap over buildings and fuck whoever you want.

As BS Fest 2012 approaches, I was thinking that maybe the price we pay for unprecedented affluence and being able to say pretty much whatever we want without being shot or imprisoned is the creeping of advertising into every part of our lives, politics very much so. Capitalism is the best system, at such a price.