Alphabetarion # Commerce | Matt Haig, 2015

Ellsworth Kelly, Colors on a Grid (Axsom 140), 1976 

“The World Is increasingly designed to depress us. Happiness isn’t very good for the economy.

 If we were happy with what we had, why would we need more? How do you sell an anti-ageing

 moisturiser? You make someone worry about ageing. How do you get people to vote for a political

 party? You make them worry about immigration. How do you get them to buy insurance? By making

 them worry about everything. How do you get them to have plastic surgery? By highlighting their

 physical flaws. How do you get them to watch a TV show? By making them worry about missing 

out. How do you get them to buy a new smartphone? By making them feel like they are being left

 behind. To be calm becomes a kind of revolutionary act. To be happy with your own non-upgraded

 existence. To be comfortable with our messy, human selves, would not be good for business.”

 Matt Haig, Reasons to Stay Alive, 2015