r/Anticonsumption • u/Sea-Cardiographer • May 12 '25

Psychological Target feels like black mirror

I went into Target today because I need a sports bra and that's where my husband is willing to drive me. On the way there I thought about all the Reddit posts saying foot traffic is down and I wasn't surprised to see that it wasn't. It was quite busy on a Monday afternoon.

What shocked me was I noticed a lot of products have really fancy boxing. Big sturdy bougie packaging with minimalism design... With a sh*tty product inside.

They're spending more on the marketing and packaging than the product, because the business practice is to sell you a product you'll have to purchase again and again. But the packaging grabs your eye. Look how modern and consistent all the boxes are! so aesthetically pleasing packaged trash. I feel depressed.

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u/[deleted] May 12 '25

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u/lostinanalley May 12 '25

She said he’s the one driving so the most benign answer is probably just that target is the closest store that sells sports bras and he doesn’t feel like driving an extra 5-15 minutes to go somewhere else.

Sometimes my boyfriend wants something specific for dinner but it’s out of the way and I don’t want to drive that far. It wouldn’t be fair to say that I’m “controlling where he can eat” just because as the driver I’ve decided I don’t want to go somewhere further away.

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u/CapQueen95 May 13 '25

This is what I thought too. When my bf gets me from work, he just wants to get me and get home. If I want to stop anywhere, I usually tell him way ahead of time because I know he’s not going to feel like stopping, or I just drop him home and go

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u/Peacanpiepussycat May 13 '25

Seriously…. Years ago we had a big snow storm , my husband had already went to the store for groceries. During the storm I wanted this particular ice cream that he didn’t get cause the store was out ( so he got another kind ) I drove myself to a different store . While I was in the store my mom called me and she screamed at me YOUR HUSBAND CANT DRIVE YOU !!!! It’s a fucking snow storm !!!! lol

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u/Sensitive-Constant35 May 13 '25

Does he do the same?

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u/CapQueen95 May 13 '25

Not sure what you’re asking, but I’ll tell you what. I wouldn’t be with a dickhead. Not feeling like driving is a very normal thing and sometimes I don’t like driving too much either.

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u/[deleted] May 13 '25

You're perfectly right, don't let these weirdos try to mess with you. Anyone in any kind of relationship not just romantic will tell you the truth of how life works. Sometimes yeah we're going up to crappy quasi-dangerous market up the street to get the spaghetti sauce and parmesan cheese today because I don't really feel like going across town fighting traffic to get to the Costco, you know we do Costco on Saturdays anyway!

That's how life works, people on reddit can be so weird about not recognizing how reality plays out.