{"id":149537,"date":"2025-11-05T12:51:32","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T10:51:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=149537"},"modified":"2025-11-05T12:55:21","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T10:55:21","slug":"its-time-to-remind-the-poor-to-shop-apparently","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=149537","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Time! (To Remind the\u00a0Poor to Shop, Apparently)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-tiktok wp-block-embed-tiktok\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"tiktok-embed\" cite=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@raysrabbithole\/video\/7568263916296342814\" data-video-id=\"7568263916296342814\" data-embed-from=\"oembed\" style=\"max-width:605px; min-width:325px;\"> <section> <a target=\"_blank\" title=\"@raysrabbithole\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@raysrabbithole?refer=embed\">@raysrabbithole<\/a> <p>Corporate America is waging war\u2026 I think this ad was the declaration \u2026<a title=\"discover\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/discover?refer=embed\">#discover<\/a> <a title=\"politics\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/politics?refer=embed\">#politics<\/a> <a title=\"influencer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/influencer?refer=embed\">#influencer<\/a> <a title=\"fyp\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/fyp?refer=embed\">#fyp<\/a> <a title=\"foryoupage\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/foryoupage?refer=embed\">#foryoupage<\/a> <\/p> <a target=\"_blank\" title=\"\u266c original sound - Raygina George\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/music\/original-sound-7568263903717624607?refer=embed\">\u266c original sound &#8211; Raygina George<\/a> <\/section> <\/blockquote> <script async src=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">It\u2019s Time! (To Remind the Poor to Shop, Apparently)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ah, November.<\/strong> The leaves fall, the bills pile up, and Mariah Carey emerges from her cryogenic chamber to sell us self-love&#8230;this time, in partnership with Sephora. <em>\u201cIt\u2019s Time!\u201d<\/em> For what, exactly? Apparently, for late-stage capitalism to hit a new low, soundtracked by a jingle we can\u2019t escape even in the checkout queue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This year\u2019s \u201cfestive\u201d blockbuster stars a luxury-drenched Mariah sparring with a unionising elf, exhausted from Christmas labour. His wish? \u201cElf therapy.\u201d Because, of course, nothing heals burnout faster than monetising it, with a side of Luminous Glow highlighter. In the gospel of beauty marketing, trauma is temporary, shimmer is forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sephora\u2019s Instagram sleight of hand, perfectly timed for an era of record inflation and wage stagnation, achieves the impossible: it\u2019s both aspirational and tone-deaf. \u201cTreat yourself,\u201d the campaign urges, as audiences juggle whether to treat their family to heat or dinner this December. Mariah\u2019s not here to liberate anyone from the grind she\u2019s here to remind us we\u2019re only a purchase away from happiness, if we splurge hard enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The real miracle of <em>It\u2019s Time!<\/em> isn\u2019t the production value or the elf\u2019s labour rights negotiationit\u2019s the collective amnesia it assumes: that anyone can forget retail therapy is what created this mess. The only truly relatable scene? The elf threatening to sell everything just to survive the holidays &#8230;.a story most of us could tell without the glitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Social media tore through the campaign like wrapping paper in a clearance bin: \u201cClassist.\u201d \u201cOut of touch.\u201d \u201cNo bells, no cheer, all branding.\u201d When your best defence is \u201cAt least we didn\u2019t use AI,\u201d you\u2019ve already lost the plot&#8230;.and the original song\u2014about wanting love, not luxury..has never sounded more like a hostage soundtrack for sponsored despair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, Mariah and Sephora play the world\u2019s tiniest violin&#8230;probably available, gold-plated, exclusively at Sephora.com. Because who needs accountability when you\u2019ve got influencers, elf therapy, and a hundred million views to monetise?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So yes, Mariah&#8230;<em>it\u2019s time.<\/em> Time to remember that for most people, the true miracle would be brands not weaponising \u201cself-care\u201d as an answer to poverty. Or, at the very least, next year, let the elves unionise on camera. Who knows? Revolution might just go viral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"922\" height=\"519\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Nn2KZOiYgUY?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s Time! (To Remind the Poor to Shop, Apparently) Ah, November. The leaves fall, the bills pile up, and Mariah Carey emerges from her cryogenic chamber to sell us self-love&#8230;this time, in partnership with Sephora. \u201cIt\u2019s Time!\u201d For what, exactly? Apparently, for late-stage capitalism to hit a new low, soundtracked by a jingle we can\u2019t [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":149541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-149537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ads"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thecuriousbrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/its-time-to-remind-the-poor-to-s.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":134695,"url":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=134695","url_meta":{"origin":149537,"position":0},"title":"Mariah Carey plays in the background","author":"thebrainbehind","date":"24\/11\/2020","format":false,"excerpt":"via","rel":"","context":"In &quot;all other stuff&quot;","block_context":{"text":"all other stuff","link":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thecuriousbrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot-2020-11-24-at-18.51.25.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thecuriousbrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot-2020-11-24-at-18.51.25.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thecuriousbrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot-2020-11-24-at-18.51.25.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thecuriousbrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot-2020-11-24-at-18.51.25.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thecuriousbrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot-2020-11-24-at-18.51.25.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":35149,"url":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=35149","url_meta":{"origin":149537,"position":1},"title":"The Dream &#8211; Can&#8217;t Wait to Hate You","author":"thebrainbehind","date":"10\/12\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I would never thought that I would post a Mariah Carey song in this blog but this Jerome LOL Edit is superb!!! A big thanks @yvynyl for bringing this to my attension","rel":"","context":"In &quot;sounds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"sounds","link":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?cat=5"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i1.sndcdn.com\/artworks-000035168648-eozced-t500x500.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":148039,"url":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=148039","url_meta":{"origin":149537,"position":2},"title":"Nestl\u00e9 Finally Finds a Scandal It Can\u2019t Tolerate: Romance","author":"thebrainbehind","date":"02\/09\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Let\u2019s play a little game called \u201cWhat Does It Take to Get Fired at Nestl\u00e9?\u201d Because history shows it\u2019s not child labor. Not killing babies with formula marketing. Not stealing water from drought-stricken communities. Not covering up contamination in Perrier. Nope\u2014none of those made the cut. What finally crossed the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;all other stuff&quot;","block_context":{"text":"all other stuff","link":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thecuriousbrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot-2025-09-02-at-12.38.54.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thecuriousbrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot-2025-09-02-at-12.38.54.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thecuriousbrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot-2025-09-02-at-12.38.54.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thecuriousbrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot-2025-09-02-at-12.38.54.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":139516,"url":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=139516","url_meta":{"origin":149537,"position":3},"title":"Geriatric Millennials","author":"thebrainbehind","date":"20\/09\/2021","format":false,"excerpt":"As sad as they sound! Apparently they are entering a decade of despair.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;all other stuff&quot;","block_context":{"text":"all other stuff","link":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thecuriousbrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1621415591859-gettyimages-1132565163.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thecuriousbrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1621415591859-gettyimages-1132565163.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thecuriousbrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1621415591859-gettyimages-1132565163.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thecuriousbrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1621415591859-gettyimages-1132565163.webp?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":102499,"url":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=102499","url_meta":{"origin":149537,"position":4},"title":"what we are\u00a0reading Apparently not!\u2026","author":"thebrainbehind","date":"16\/11\/2016","format":"gallery","excerpt":"what we are\u00a0reading Apparently not! via fishstickmonkey.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;all other stuff&quot;","block_context":{"text":"all other stuff","link":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thecuriousbrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_ogqmuambze1qa68vyo1_640.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":101302,"url":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=101302","url_meta":{"origin":149537,"position":5},"title":"This is London Apparently fake\u2026","author":"thebrainbehind","date":"23\/03\/2017","format":"gallery","excerpt":"This is London Apparently fake but spot on! via @DrRanj","rel":"","context":"In &quot;all other stuff&quot;","block_context":{"text":"all other stuff","link":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thecuriousbrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_on9ns8TxFZ1qa68vyo1_1280.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=149537"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149543,"href":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149537\/revisions\/149543"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/149541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=149537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=149537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=149537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}