The force-feeding of American pop culture, coupled with a never-ending barrage of advertising, has left most people with a sense of self that is not themselves at all. The criteria from which they measure their happiness seem not to be the result of introspection or universal contemplation, but rather the unconscious influence of advertisements, celebrity endorsements, magazines, television, the government, your friends, your parents, the guy next door, etc., all of which have become the main constituents of a person’s sense of self. With pop culture so willingly providing countless numbers of prepackaged lifestyles, people no longer feel a need to truly think for themselves and do not bother to take the time to question the true origin of their own ideals and motives for desire. Nothing can be taken for face value. Everything that portrays itself as one thing, turns out to be something else. Enter Slumber Inc.

There are several goals or purposes of the Slumber Inc. campaign. One, is to get people aware of and to begin questioning the many misleading and disguised outside voices that constantly try to impress false ideals of fulfillment, meaning, and happiness upon them. Another is to blatantly illuminate the superficiality, absurdity,and baselessness of many of these ideals as well as their irrelevance in the fulfillment of a meaningful and happy existence. While these ideals are not blatantly stated nor publicly acknowledged, they do lie just beneath the surface of what the majority of society is conscious of. Although these goals are an integral part of the Slumber Inc. campaign, the most important objective is to get people to realize that the only way to find a true sense of ‘self’ is through themselves, and not someone or something else. Your car, your clothes, your breasts, and your lifestyle should have no bearing on the constituents of your self or your happiness. Yet all of these things, and many others both material or ideological, assert and emphasize a fabricated nonexistent relationship between themselves and happiness. People are told, be it explicitly or subliminally, that if they own this car they'll be happier; if they dress like this they'll be happier; if they support their country they'll be happier and a better person; if they get a high paying job they'll be happier. Almost everything has some sort of attachment promising a type of emotional fulfillment. Because of this, many people accept the packaging for what it is and don't really bother to ask themselves if this is what they truly desire or belief. A person's self and happiness is solely determined and defined by that person and not someone else. As Socrates says "an unexamined life is not worth living for a human being". People need to question the true fundamental nature of what is being presented to them instead of blindly accepting it at face value.

People get used to noises, scenery, and anything else if they experience it on a continuous and routine basis. They only realize they have been unconsciously affected by it when something changes or is removed. Advertising and pop culture are no different from the buzz a refrigerator makes. Sure, you stop noticing it after a while, but when the refrigerator breaks you suddenly can't sleep, think it's too quiet where you live, etc. and you realize how much that buzz really shaped your perception of the world. Our culture is no different except that it affects how you perceive your self as well as your surroundings. Slumber Inc. is the quieting of the buzz or even more so, a louder one in order to get people to realize the buzz they've been ignoring for so long. Unfortunately, it seems society no longer has the attention span/interest to question what they're hearing, seeing, or even thinking. Slumber Inc. is the final test to see just how "asleep" people really are.

Slumber Inc. is meant to be a contradiction. It utilizes the very elements it is meant to oppose. The entity itself is merely a fabrication. Whatever "Slumber Inc." says, the opposite is what is truly being asserted. Slumber Inc. is supposed to come off as the corporation that has finally crossed all lines and taken everything to the utmost extreme. It's a metaphor for not only corporations and their advertisements, but of pop culture and/or anything that is constantly and consistently trying to reshape one's perception of life and one's self. Slumber Inc. wants you to stay asleep, but the purpose of the campaign is to wake you up.

Something that always presents itself with an answer deserves the most questions.

Stay Awake,
Voice

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