Simplicity is the New Black

I realized the world had truly turned upside down when I saw this full page ad in national magazines this month. It was very simple and spare, pale gray background, and these words were printed in the middle:nn___________________________________________________________________

HERE'S TO LESS

Our lives are filled with things. We're overwhelmed by possessions we own but do not treasure. Stuff we buy but never love. To be thrown away in weeks rather than passed down for generations.

Perhaps it will be different now. Perhaps now is an opportunity to reassess what really matters. After all, if everything you ever bought her disappeared ove
ight, what would she truly miss?
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Guess which giant global company produced this very evocative ad......give up? It is DeBeers, the diamond mega-conglomerate. Now, forget for a moment the fact that they are, of course, still selling some pretty conspicuous consumption, and perhaps you have issues with the diamond trade itself, but see this ad as the start of a trend rather than a fad. DeBeers is known for memorable, classical, beautiful, and very successful advertising campaigns. Their super savvy marketers recognize and reflect the shift - or possibly even the re-set - of our consumer world.

One of the best writers in America, Anna Quindlen, titled her most recent article in Newsweek "Stuff is Not Salvation" . The sub heading is "As the boom times fade, an important holiday question surfaces: why in the world did we buy all this junk in the first place?" She points out that a person in the U.S. replaces their cell phone every 16 months, not because it is old, but because it is oldish.

As a professional organizer I see the results daily of our years of rampant consumerism, forced along by brilliant and overpowering advertising. We are blasted at every turn by promises that this product or that one will make us healthier, smarter, younger, sexier, more productive, more popular, more lovable, more attractive, and yes - happier. It was irresistible, and our credit cards and rising home and stock values made it all so easy to comply.

I'm certainly not a minimalist, and I don't think we'll be returning to our agrarian roots, but this may be the time to pause and contemplate, to set new goals for 2009. Focus on the genuinely important, filter out the unnecessary and the distracting. The media is pointing or reflecting the way, the zeitgeist is clear. "Here's to Less".