This week I’ve been thinking about the advertisements we continue to get in the midst of a global pandemic. I’m definitely viewing more ads than I used to, from watching more live news now that I’m at home, streaming more tv with commercials with more free time, and spending more time on social media while still listening to my podcasts I listened to at school. Most companies have rewritten their ad copies to have the same sentiment: “In the midst of these crazy and uncertain times, we all need a [product/service/policy] that we can rely on.” Although I understand that advertising is both a necessary evil and a vast money making platform that allows me to enjoy free content, there is something deeply disturbing about leveraging this pandemic for capitalist gain. Or, even if they aren’t exploiting it, companies must acknowledge the pandemic, and navigate their commercials around the elephant in the room in order to still maintain profits despite the global suffering. Both routes make me uncomfortable, and are both incredibly perverse considering the rampant economic hardship that the virus is causing, in part because of our exploitative economic system.

When I started googling advertisements during coronavirus to try to find examples, I ended up down a rabbit hole in some of the top search results which were not examples, but were instead tips and strategies for how to change your corporation’s image. One website on AdAge tracks what companies have been doing far in response to the pandemic. Most of the entries are things like Dunkin’ Donuts giving out free coffee to frontline workers, Mattel designing toys inspired by frontline workers whose profits are going to relief efforts, and Reebok promoting a competition where people can submit names of frontline workers in order for them to win new shoes, all with an obvious common theme of celebrating the pandemic’s heroes. However there were also much more disturbing ones, such as Mercedes-Benz hosting their annual car show later today via zoom, wherein celebrities and car aficionados like Martha Stewart and Jay Leno will show off their Benzes virtually. Some companies are really trying to do good, some are clearly trying to do while also getting name ID as a hero, and some are willfully insensitive. It is frustrating to feel so bound to an economic system that forces companies to continue to encourage us to spend money frivolously even during a crisis.

Today my twitter feed was flooded with people telling me not to drink bleach, or other disinfectants, to try to stop the coronavirus. Not something I thought I ever needed to be told, but the media, appropriately, feels the need to state what is obvious when our President says the opposite. Yesterday I started reading Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler for Danielle’s class, which I know a number of other people have read, too. I’m only a few chapters in, but have been thinking about the election that happens about 40 pages in. It is only briefly mentioned; she at first laments that her father wants to vote for the challenger to the incumbent, because he wants to dismantle their space program and the bureau established to monitor it. Her father agrees, thinking it’s a waste of time, but Lauren, the narrator, sees the space program as a beacon of hope and potential. She says that her father was the only person she knew who planned to vote, but he, too, once the election rolled around, chose not to vote either, because politicians had nothing to offer him, and had always let him down.

Despite the fact that we are nowhere near the level of societal collapse that Butler describes, I can’t be the only person feeling hopeless at the permanent ramifications of the Trump administration and political system as a whole. The pale optimism I clung (and try to cling) to was undoubtedly the result of privilege — I more or less am the kind of person our system is supposed to work for, and thus expect more out of it — but I also don’t know what the alternative is.

I'm looking for ways to focus on the politicians who do inspire me, and make me proud, but today was feeling defeated by a president who can posit that ingesting disinfectants could cure the virus, while still maintaining an approval rating in the 40%s. Every day he reinforces the scrutiny that his privilege and systems of supremacy allow him to avoid. I’ve been struggling with finding the balance between feeling obligated to pay attention to the harm he is causing, and ignoring him when I need to (most of the time), and am definitely seeking more people and things to be proud of, especially now.