persuading persuaders to practice persuasion

Disturbed. I felt disturbed after seeing this film. Here is an example as to why:

1. Uggs: Like many girls on campus, I too have a pair of Uggs. (ok let's be honest. I have a knock off pair for $20 from target. I just dont believe in selling my soul for a pair of shes....they are expensive, needless to say). As I walk around campus, I notice girls or...ehem...young woman, of all ages, colors, and majors wearing these shoes. Why? Yes they are VERY comfortable but there are a few problems with these comfy slipperish shoes.
A. They are not water resistent. In the dead of winter, when you really do need boots,
wouldn't you say you need ones that will protect you from the weather? Ya'd think.
B. They are not salt resistent. When the road and...nevermind, the roads are the only
things ever salted at KU. Anyway, when the roads are salted and you trapse across in
your $648,000 Uggs, and not only get soaked but also get salt streaks on your suede
shoes, you have to admit that you own these shoes based on something other than
practicality.
Which brings me to my point. What gets thousands, literally thousands of KU girls to buy the same kind of shoe, whether knock-off or legitamate, when they are completely impractical? In 2005 Kate Hudson posed on a billboard wearing shorts and a pair of Uggs (tell me the logic in that) while promoting her movie "Raising Helen". As far as I know, this is one of the first introductions of Uggs, at least for me it was. I remember my 16 year old self thinking that i liked them. Now is this because Kate Hudson is gorgeous and looks good in everything? Probably. But for me I thought it was the shoes. Still they weren't very popular. Suddently they showed up EVERYWHERE!!!! In Victoria's Secret catalogs, JCpenny, Macy's, Newsweek....every flashy ad catalog you could find. Then boom, about 50% of women SEEM to own a pair.

This movie just made me think about this. I've never actually seen a commercial for Uggs or their knock-offs, but they are seen all over Hollywood and then put in magazines in almost a subliminal form of advertising, and somehow it has convinced millions of young women to buy them. What bothers me about this, is that it has taken away our ability to have our own tastes in clothing, style, and all of our other purchases. If we are being manipulated and we don't even realize it, then how many other opinions that are more important than shoes, have we developed because someone else wanted us to? It's scary.

Nevertheless, I still wear my shoes.