Spring is usually the most tempting time of year for me to buy things. The feeling of possibility and new growth on the trees calls to me: “A new you, a new life!” And how will we get there? Stuff!
Tempting— but deep down I know it’s not true.
Here's some stuff I'd like to stop being pushed to buy1—the items peddlers are peddling extra hard these days. Are you seeing some of these same things? What's currently being pushed on you?
Warby Parker Glasses
Lately, it feels like every other influencer is giving me a soulless stare from behind a pair of Warby Parkers. I want to tell them to blink three times if there's someone offscreen holding a Warby Parker-branded gun to their heads. The influencers look exhausted, begging for your clicks, while the Warby marketing budget is going up in flames.
Warby Parker isn't new—they've been around for quite a while. I was recently in one of their stores, helping my mom pick out some cute frames. The selection was fine, but it feels like they're trying really hard to push themselves back into the spotlight, given they were such a darling brand years ago. Rothys has made a similar comeback lately.
I like to dig into any company when I see them going all out with ads, collabs, and influencers. I read that Warby Parker plans to have 900(!) stores open by the end of this year. People on reddit have spilled on the declining quality in their products, shipping, and treatment of employees. WP employees seem pretty busy responding to negative consumer reviews. Could this company be on the fast track to bankruptcy?
As a consumer, I enjoy delving into this information—not solely for ethical consumption reasons, but because it reveals a lot about the founders and the company when they're truly focused on maximizing profit.
When I observe this behavior, I ask: are they still producing with the customer in mind, or have they succumbed to the same fate as so many—becoming merely a venture capitalist's exit strategy?
I don’t think you should trash your Warby Parker glasses if you genuinely enjoy them, but it's important to scrutinize all companies when their behavior changes. Ensuring consistent quality and attention to the consumer is crucial, and I’m always ready to move on when those standards decline! It’s pretty easy for subtle changes to go unnoticed especially when they distract you with lots of influencing and ads with pigeons.
Mouth tape
For those unfamiliar, mouth breathing is bad. Mouth breathing while sleeping? Even worse. Taping your mouth shut at night forces you to breathe through your nose, supposedly optimizing sleep and health. Do I even know if I'm a sleep mouth breather? Um not really, but I almost bought into it. In a former life, I listened to a lot of irritating biohacker podcasts, so I'm a bit more susceptible to this type of thing.
Plus, I'll do almost anything for better sleep. I'm allergic to Botox (is the universe hinting at something deeper, or is it just out to get me? Thank goodness for
—who helps me cope) Either way, I prioritize being and looking genuinely well rested.But seriously, why should I pay for this? It's $200+ a year just to tape my mouth every night? I could just grab some 3M medical tape for $5 and call it a day. Then I'll have extra cash to splurge on wrist ties to ensure my premium hostage slumber package is complete. For the elite upgrade, I can sleep in the trunk of my car.
Ciao Lucia + ALÉMAIS
Two adorable brands are targeting me HARD and I refuse to shell out the crazy prices for their clothes!
Ciao Lucia is really the moment— I was curious if there was a special reason for their sky-high prices on polyester clothes. All I dug up was this tale: the founder, totally obsessed with jet-setting, ran a boutique for jet-setting outfits and then saw a psychic who said, “Why not just make the clothes you sell?” Wild business plan…maybe these prices come to us straight from the crystal ball too?
So I did what I always do to gain some perspective—I try to ignore the cute millennial fonts and European holiday styling. I check resale sites, hoping to find photos of the clothes on the floor. It was my lucky day: Depop had clothes on hardwood AND carpet! It's fascinating how different Ciao Lucia's items look when you strip away the editorialized photos. They feel less like a Sicilian holiday and more like a Sicilian Forever 21.
Don’t get me wrong, many of the clothes are very cute but they feel a little Victoria’s Secret Pink at times? I think Ciao Lucia’s marketing imagery is very convincing. Should I spend $395 on a casual dress, or should I put it towards what I truly want: a trip to a pebble beach and a bowl of handmade pasta?2
For good measure, I tried an experiment with this dress.
Check out this cute dress from Ciao Lucia…
Sike! It's actually from Old Navy. I wanted to see if the cute Ciao Lucia font with the print somehow made it feel more convincing to want—or more appealing overall?
Anyway, let me know if you’re a die hard Ciao Lucia fan and you think their clothes are really worth it. I found some similar styles cheaper on Nordstrom Rack, Pixie Market and yes, two from Old Navy: here and here.
ALÉMAIS is another really young brand (founded in 2020) that is gaining popularity, having a moment, and sparking a growing appetite in me.
As much as I love the bold prints and sets, I can’t stomach the price.
This brand feels different from Ciao Lucia for me. Sure, their branding is cool as it gets, but what really sets them apart is their distinctive ethos and unique design perspective. I'm genuinely drawn to their prints and aesthetic, and I can start to justify the value even without it being in a vacation setting.
However, I know that when a brand becomes popular and is suddenly everywhere, I'll eventually see it flooding resale sites as people move on to the next. So, I’ll wait. Part of me wants to stomp my feet like a giant adult baby, “But no! I want it now or not at all!” Sure, that mindset might work for a candy bar, but dropping $600+ on a dress?
It feels ridiculous and hardly worth the fleeting dopamine hit, especially if it ends up looking outdated in a couple of seasons by the time my savings account recovers. Ugh, being all enlightened and shit is such a buzzkill.
That’s why I've been tempted to buy variations like this one from Walmart and this one from Amazon. But I resist because they're obvious knockoffs, and I'm a perfect angel! (maybe it’s okay if I just wear them as pajamas around the house?)
Owala Water Bottles
There's yet another new hot water bottle? Honestly, I am chronically dehydrated at this point due to the trauma of the Stanley craze and our weird American hydration culture. I stand firmly against “water recipes” and Watertok.
I already have three water bottles—all reusable—so why am I tempted to buy another one? The Owala bottles come in cute colors, but they look a bit childish. Besides, I've nearly lost friends before over silly water bottle purchases. There was a time in my life where people refused to be seen with me carrying this:
This absolutely giant gallon water bottle almost ruined my life. I was running to the bathroom every ten minutes, and I'm pretty sure I threw out a disc in my back just lugging it to and from the gym. (Don't worry.. the bottle was donated and is now gone)
In a long, roundabout way, I'm saying: I already have several water containers that don't leak, and I'll be fine. Isn't the whole point of a reusable water bottle to reduce waste? So do I really need a cuter, better, upgraded one? No.
Stuff to Keep My Other Stuff In
I'm getting way too many ads for storage solutions. It's unsettling, seemingly justified hyper-consumer culture: ads for belt organizers, bikini bags, and large clear or mesh pouches to store other smaller mesh pouches, all to organize everything.
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Sure, some storage is helpful. But after a while, it feels like people who need storage containers may just need less stuff overall? If anything is inspiring me to buy less junk, it's seeing ads for junk that organizes my other junk…
So tell me, what are you constantly being pushed or influenced to buy lately? Maybe we can do some due diligence together.
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I'm well aware that the real solution to stop seeing stuff is installing an ad blocker. If you’re really suffering and that will genuinely help you, go for it! This one is good. After working in advertising for so long, I still find ads fascinating and don’t feel quite as susceptible—they give me a sense of what's happening in society, showing who's checked in and who's checked out. But if ads are seriously taking away your serenity, why not block?
The brand I can’t seem to get away from is Sezane. What cured me of becoming influenced at every turn of my social media was hearing a French friend describe it as the Ann Taylor of France, being sold to the kind of American who will fall for anything French-coded. (Much like your point about Ciao Lucia!)
11 PM Piss your fucking bed. You make me HOWLLLLL. Even if I am. The angek who won’t by the Amazon dupes. (Which BTW will suck and you will give away.) Most of my ads are cat related but the thing that kills me rn is they all talk about my cats’ mental health— they are “depressed” without the right bed and that’s why they look bored. I thought it was because they’re cats.