It’s finally that time of year again. When the summer’s last ice cream has been had, that favourite pair of shorts has been overworn and everyone is sufficiently tanned to last through the winter, we must finally accept that fall is upon us. As the leaves turn red and a cool breeze starts to nip in the air, we begin to change with the season. There must be something about the smell of pumpkin spice and a hot drink with cinnamon sprinkled on top that trigger a sense of academic purpose. The additional nostalgia, warmth, and coziness that come with the season are not to be missed. But, surely, it can’t actually be fall without the following things. Luckily, we’ve got you covered.
Scented candle collection
First, let’s set the mood. A nice soy candle, with countless scents to choose from. Mahogany Apple, Pumpkin Pecan Waffle, Fall Farmhouse, the list goes on. With a bounty of options to choose from, and all so different, one must stock up. We are told that the only way to experience the season is to indulge all the senses. Can it really only be fall with an everpresent aroma of spice? Yes. These candles hold the scents of fall, which is why they can’t be used throughout the year. And so, long-lasting items such as candles become disposable before they are even exhausted. The candle itself serves as the perfect representation of all the money that gets burned through on fall items.
Gourds, gourds and more gourds
Someone once said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and so it goes to show some love for fall’s hues in home decor! New burnt orange pillow covers, a flannel blanket and an array of heirloom pumpkins and gourds. These are the things that make a house a home. Big-box retailers such as Homesense and Target, stock their shelves as early as July with collaborations for variations on fall home decor. This pre-emptive marketing is what builds the desire for the “aesthetic of autumn” on the hottest days of summer. Decor that brings the outside indoors suggests that one must fully immerse themself in the season to participate in it. Display it while you can, because this decor won’t match nature for long!
Sweaters, scarves, socks
With the changing weather, of course we are going to need a change in wardrobe. Colder weather calls for bigger sweaters (like the Rory Gilmore one!), another scarf for the year, more fuzzy socks, earthy-toned clothes, and a new pair of UGGs. When you buy your new fall uniform, you’ll wash and wear them but how long will you keep them for? The cost of your new clothes comes with a price greater than the price tag itself. Fast fashion is polluting our earth by overusing water and generating waste that goes into landfills. Additionally, fast fashion contains many unethical practices such as the mistreatment of workers and the usage of child labor. Still, the microtrends on our FYPs keep changing each time we scroll, flowing with the speed of fast fashion. We invest in something shown in one TikTok, and then a week later, we forget about that cute sweater we just bought and want the fluffy quarter-zip this other influencer has.
Pumpkin Spice
Don’t forget the iconic fall flavor: pumpkin spice. On August 26, the Pumpkin Spice Latte (PSL) returned to Starbucks. Run, don’t walk to your nearest coffee shop, because you surely need pumpkin spice to spice up your day, whether it be a latte or chai. While you’re drinking your yummy drink, you can think about how much PSLs have driven consumerism in the last decade. With everyone drinking the iconic fall drink, Starbucks sells over 20 million PSLs a year. That is about 20 million coffee cups used and thrown into a landfill each year. Depending on the material of the cup, it will take months to years for a singular coffee cup to be reabsorbed into the earth again. The 20 million coffee cups only address Starbucks’ sales. Pumpkin spice is a popular flavor in most popular coffee shops like Second Cup and Tim Hortons. The waste is neverending when it comes to pumpkin spice.
Bottom Line
What do we really love about the fall? Is it the cold and unreliable weather, the school work that starts to pile up, the shorter days, and less natural light? Does the temporal change really set the tone for the new season, or the marketing campaigns that accompany it? We’ve fallen in love with a curated seasonal aesthetic, one that has made us extreme consumers.
Companies and social media influencers alike use a tactic called “FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) Marketing” that preys on anxieties of missing out to drive purchases. Creating a fall wishlist of “must haves”, predicting fall beauty trends, and using the well-renowned “Lalalala” sound from Gilmore Girls to rope you into buying pumpkin-scented products; these are all examples of how social media tricks us into overconsumption.
We can use McGill students as a demographic to view how the marketing techniques play into our vulnerabilities. With Montreal’s vibrant social scene and going out culture, it can be easy to feel like one is missing out. This general “FOMO” is exploited and extrapolated into a fear of missing out on a whole season if we don’t participate in its consumerist trends. Furthermore, most of us are far away from home. Hence, it is possible that we long for coziness and comfort as we prepare for midterms in the Montreal cold. In line with this, the media promotes buying more seasonal items as the way to achieve these feelings of safety and solace.
Additionally, seasonal marketing exploits human anxieties about the passing of time. Through pre-emptive seasonal marketing campaigns, we’re led to long for something in the future. This longing only shortens the amount of time we feel engaged in each season. In the fall, companies exploit the nostalgia for simpler times, and organize their aesthetic around the 80s, 90s and early 2000s to appeal to a large millennial audience. This is implied as a way to alleviate uncertainty for the future that accompanies the season as the year comes to a close. Hence, media from the past becomes “fall coded” and Bon Iver and Nora Ephron films make their resurgence. Either way we are deterred from enjoying the current moment and primed to prepare anxiously for the next season through our consumption choices.
Whether or not we wear UGGs or indulge in PSLs everyday, we will still be participating in the season just by living through it. A brand new apple cinnamon candle can smell just as sweet as last year’s. In Montreal, there are so many ways to enjoy the season, like taking a hike up Mont Royal right behind campus! This fall, let’s take advantage of the season without letting it take advantage of us.