Woodland Mall Trip

It was another typical weekends. Students sought for a break from busy college life, and I could see many of them leaving to the mall. For Calvin students, or perhaps for most of us, shopping mall of today is not simply a place for buying goods; it is a culture, lifestyle, or perhaps even a salvation. We usually think, inside this gigantic windowless building, there is a place for rest, happiness, and lots of cool stuff that we ‘really’ need. This was true for me until I visited Woodland Mall on last weekend.

           As I stepped into JC Penny, the phrase, “30% off just for today” welcomed me. I don’t know why, but somehow those words, ‘just for today’ stirred up my desire to buy that almost brand new Levi’s jeans. For I did not take my wallet with me, I decided to move on. Then, I walked into one of the clothing stores that I frequently visit - Gap. Looking through the store, I saw a statement that says, “Share Orange!” displayed with new designed shirts and pants (of course, they were in orange). I thought the statements meant that we can join part of this ‘orange community’ of Gap when we buy those clothes. As Douglas Rushkoff, the director of ‘the Persuaders’, says, “Brand is an invitation for a lifelong culture”. These days, brands are not just about product symbols, but they are more of community, movement, and culture. What Gap was trying to do here was to give the customers a sense that they belong to Gap ‘community’ by selling their clothes. The fact that ‘you belong to community’ is important because people tends to define themselves by community that they are belonged to. And Douglas says that "this how the companies earn loyalty beyond reason from the customers. Usually, the customers do not recognize this, and unconsciously, they would keep purchase Gap more and more.

          

           John Pahl argues that the shopping mall has instilled the religious values and faith, and it became much powerful than the any other religions before. The mall advertises themselves with hope for prosperity, happiness, and unity in community. It even uses symbols to uphold these values. For instance, in the mall, almost all the lights were natural lights. These lights were placed so that the products stood out more prominently than it really is. In religion, light is a symbol of “our primary experience of energy”, as John puts it. Without these lights, the companies won’t be able to draw as much customers as it could before. Also, what I noticed about Macy’s and JC Penny was that they brought natural environment inside the mall. Starbucks, which was at the center of the mall, was surrounded by the trees and flowers on open space where there were no doors or walls. It seemed to me that Starbucks intended to appeal to the customers about their atmosphere where there is full of life, and also open space seemed to represents welcoming invitations to the customers. These ‘growing things’, such as bushes, trees, and flower, usually represents life in many religions, and the mall has brought these ideas to the mall to set intimate and friendly atmosphere. John also states that these ‘growing things’ represents life that the mall could bring to the customers.

The mall has succeeded in injecting these values at the center of people’s heart. Now, people are more drawn to natural lights and neon lights than the light that truly shines darkness of this world. They put their hope in the advertisement rather than in Jesus. They are eager to join Gap community, Apple community, rather than to unite as one body of Church. The trip to Woodland Mall made me ponder deeply about the real truth and hope that we should hold onto.