Am I a Product?

The question we aim to explore today is simply: Am I a product to sell? Unfortunately, the answer to this question is “yes”. All of us, human beings of the planet earth, are products that seek to sell ourselves in some way. We sell who we are in pursuit of a job, a girlfriend or boyfriend, friends - in short, a better life. We sell our own image and we also sell the image of other people trying to make “a perfect picture”. The important thing is to be clear about what image I want to show. These guidelines are called “Personal Marketing”.

It is essential to pay due care to how we present ourselves to the world. There are two ways to deal with this issue; the first is to present ourselves as though it does not matter at all what people may say or think about us, and the second is to mould our image to one that, while similar to our true selves, covers the expectations of the wider world and/or the market we aim to conquer. There are people who think that presenting themselves as they are can cause them to stand out from the pack - I think this is correct in a limited number of cases, as most of us must have crafted an image designed to reach our target audience.

Are social networks useful for this purpose? Of course; networks are the perfect tool to show only what we wish while hiding that which we consider undesirable or detrimental to our ambitions, instead creating an image specially designed to achieve our goals.

The first thing to ask yourself is, “How do I want to be seen?” Let’s start with a picture - would you describe yourself as sweet? Perhaps cute, bizarre, aggressive, or impulsive? What makes you, you? These traits can be conveyed effectively in our gestures and pose in a photograph attached to an online profile. Even if one says that our image cannot define us, the world will take care of talking about us and it is important to consider what they might say. The tattoos, the piercings, what do they say about me? The colours I use - do they fit with who I see myself as being?

I am a firm believer that in order to achieve the perfect middle-ground, we must be acceptable to the world without losing our essence. It is important to be clear about this; we have tastes and we must cultivate them, create a particular aesthetic, a way of seeing the world that makes us unique and special. Why should I be unique and special? Because through that individuality we will make our difference in the community. We must know who we are to know what we can contribute. Without this, we really are just one more forgotten wanderer.

For us a “like” is a sign of acceptance, of feeling part of society. I am not a pariah, I belong to this place. Actually it is a daily contradiction, I want to be original but I want to be like everyone else. So we go back to what was said in the beginning - who I am and what I want to sell depends on each one of us and such things are never easily defined.

Luis Del Prado - Contributor

Luis is a scriptwriter, teacher and journalist for newspapers and magazines in Lima, Peru.

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