The things you own end up owning you.

Consumerism is capitalism's ugly step sister.

When I was growing up the who's who of Harbor View Elementary school could be determined by the brand of shoes they wore. Air Jordans, Reebok's, Adidas were the pumped up kicks of the day. If you wore Pay less specials you weren't even on the fringes of cool. This continues today in a more muted and subversive way, I haven't heard anyone making fun of me for the clothes that I wear lately.

We watch ads where perfect physical specimens wear a certain brand of undies, we watch movies where our hero drives a certain car and our sports stars drink their electrolytes from a certain manufacturer. Is it too much to say that we are saturated with marketing? Even our Facebook profiles have ads on them.

Joe Camel was the face of cigarettes for a generation, as was the Marlboro man. They both went the way of the Dodo. Joe was killed off when we started to get wise that a cartoon character was the perfect way to sell cancer sticks to kids. The Marlboro man fought a bigger battle, seeing as he kept buying the farm it was harder to sell his image of manly invulnerability.

The demise of these key players in advertising was brought about, in part, by an increased public awareness. We are becoming aware that sometimes the media lies to us, especially when they stand to make a buck or two. Why else would they imply that a certain underwear will make you appealing to the opposite sex? The name of the game is making money, and they play on our insecurities, fears, and desires. We all want to be healthy wealthy and wise, so if the guy on television is one of those because he eats a certain brand of cereal then, by golly, I will too.

We are wising up to the fact that not everything on the tube is true, and that we should do our research. For instance, the link between genetically modified foods and cancer has shown a positive correlation, and not just in California. What does this mean for the average American, are we all doomed?

The benefit of this study and others along similar veins, is that we are becoming informed. We now go to the super market knowing that the Twinkies are not the best source of Calcium, or that Soda may be detrimental to our teeth. We are learning that the key to longevity is not wearing C.K. underoos, or smelling of Dior, but rather taking care of ourselves.