Have you ever seen the movie “The Hurt Locker?” In a brief summary, the movie follows an American bomb squad in Iraq going through the streets disarming IEDs. Near the end of the movie there is a scene where the main character, William James, is back home with his wife and they are at the grocery store. William is alone in the cereal isle scanning the what seems to be and endless wall of cereal brands. After about 15 seconds of looking William just grabs a box in front of him and tosses it in the shopping cart. As he walks away he knocks over a couple of boxes in frustration.
The other day I was doing some shopping for some toiletries so I went to Wal-Mart. I went through the store grabbing what I needed weaving in and out of people trying to get through the isles. After a bit I started to feel kinda goofy. I started to get overwhelmed with a feeling of “what am I doing?” I got to the dental isle and watched a couple of older ladies talk about toothpastes. It was intriguing because it seemed like a deep discussion about what toothpaste they should buy. When I started to look for myself………I got rather frustrated. I think there had to be at least a dozen and a half different brands. Colgate alone though had to have 20 or so different boxes of toothpaste. This toothpaste helps prevent cavities and cures bad breath. This toothpaste whitens teeth in 1 week. This toothpaste makes women want you. THIS TOOTHPASTE LETS YOU BREATH FIRE!!! I sat there for a bit looking back and forth. Finally I grabbed the box that looked the funkiest and went to check out.
I started to look for a word to fit this kind of situation and what seemed best was a something called “choice overload” or “overchoice.” In “The Hurt Locker” this is exactly what William James experienced and honestly I felt that’s kind of what I felt as well. I am not a war veteran like William was in the movie but I do feel like this can happen to anyone who has been removed from normal the American lifestyle for a bit. It is such a minute task but for me it became frustrating because I honestly didn’t know what to get. It sounds stupid I know, but to me it’s stupid when one toothpaste brand has to have 30 billion different types of toothpaste. I’m sure some “league of dentists” will argue that every person is different and say that it’s necessary. I would argue that they are silly.
It probably sound ridiculous but I feel as though something as simple as purchasing toothpaste should not be that confusing/annoying. I had another instance were I was looking for a backpack to bring with me on the World Race. I went to 4 different stores to try and find the best deal and find a good backpack. I finally narrowed it down to a couple of choices. One was a north face that rang up at $65. The other was a brand called High Sierra and it rang up at $20. Yep the $20 backpack is the right choice. Why? I can’t justify buying a $65 backpack that, in my opinion, isn’t as nice as the $20 one.
It’s a bit of a goofy topic to be blogging about, but I’m curious to see what others think. Especially when some of these developing countries don’t have the luxury of toothpaste choice.
