There are no set roles. We're living organisms

[livingorganisms]

NC for this.

I've seen this on H&M's campaign very recently and would like to understand.

www.hm.com/is/9065-my-chosen-family/

Can anybody explain what's behind this rethoric?

I wouldn't want to go into the gender aspect as it's been done to death on MN.

But what's with the 'living organisms' bit? Are we now supposed to be no longer human or do they want to erase the 'uniqueness' of being human? And we would be no different from an insect for instance

Also, why are they focusing on the family and why do all these families have more than two members but no children, parents, older people, etc?

FWIW, I'm fed up of companies preaching and adopting agendas. H&M should stick to selling clothes and ditch all the nonsense

This seems to me to be a queer theory version of the articles that came out around the time of Friends. Can friends living together replace the nuclear family etc. At that time no-one put flat share relationships under the Pride umbrella and I guess now they do because marketing execs thinks it looks more trendy and aspirational to do so. Some critics might say this is part of a wider agenda to break down the family unit as part of a mission to queer society or it could be a way just for the fashion industry to flog more cheap stuff and distract from questionnable businesa practices.

Christ, they sound fucking tedious.

I think this is the kind of existential crisis you have as you disappear up your own bottom.

It worries me that this is the kind of indulgent loss-of-plot that tends to happen before some major crisis appears to give people more real things to get a grip on and take up their time. It's tended historically to be a war, and I'd really prefer people could get a grip without one.

I’m not buying anything from people trying to sell the “chosen family” to children with challenging family dynamics. It’s unsafe.

I’m not buying anything from people trying to sell the “chosen family” to children with challenging family dynamics. It’s unsafe

Exactly. Why on earth does H&M want to get embroiled in this mess?

Some critics might say this is part of a wider agenda to break down the family unit as part of a mission to queer society

But what's next? Let's assume they do destroy nuclear families and we are no longer humans but part of the animal/plant kingdom?

What happens then? What would the world look like?

This is pretty much my initial response. Who on earth knows what these people mean by the words they've chosen, when in all likelihood words have different meanings for them.

The "living organism" is, I think, an attempt to indicate that they change and grow rather than stay in static roles. After of course discussing how they see themselves in traditional family roles... so they are a shifting constellation of family attributed/roles rather than each having a fixed traditional role.

It's all "we're much more interesting and worthwhile than you boring old people" type stuff.

‘We’re a living organism’ ‘A constellation’ Who talks like that IRL?

Completely. I couldn't get passed the first paragraph.

This nonsense is all over H&M's billboards in Oxford Circus. So it's not as if they are trying to be subtle or go unnoticed 😳

What strikes me is that party life is equated with family life, as though of equal depth and complexity. So falling deeply "in love" at first sight on a dance floor, and texting each other every day, is how you define the relationships that truly matter in life. That's a bit of a worry given how shitfaced people tend to be when clubbing.

It's just describing a normal stage of life isn't it. When teenagers an

And people in their 20s are closer to their friends than their families. They they meet someone and possibly have children and begin to join multigenerational society again.

I wonder if the "living organisms" bit is meant as a clever response to the pronoun war, basically saying we're all carbon-based life forms and labels like pronouns don't matter because hey kids, there are no rules!! We're free to make it all up as we go along!! as long as we wear bright and funky clothes from H&M, obvs.

Clever marketing really because all teens are uncertain of their identity, it's what makes the teen years so painful. Many of us take decades to establish what feels like a stable identity. Encouraging kids and young adults to be more "fluid" means they are more likely to keep reinventing themselves, so buy more and more clothes.

heavens those are some shiny clothes

<misses point>

I think what it means is that it's easier to make some adverts than sort out why your clothes fall apart in the wash.

Encouraging kids and young adults to be more "fluid" means they are more likely to keep reinventing themselves, so buy more and more clothes

This certainly sounds like something the advertising companies would tell management teams in order to secure their support (and pay for) these campaigns. And they seem to be gullible enough to go along with it.

Well I used to buy quite a bit for my preschooler there. But now we’re all just organisms and family is yet another meaningless word I’ll assume he can just be naked and if it matters someone else will sort the tedious task of the enormous amount of laundry two kids produce.

Well I used to buy quite a bit for my preschooler there

I've noticed that their children's range is rather good but goes upto the age of 10. From then on it's all teenagers clothes (quite shoddy and uninspiring) completely unsuitable for ages 11-13 I would say.

Yes indeed. I got very tired of clothes where the hems immediately unraveled and haven’t bought anything from them for a while.

I like H&Ms style (sometimes) and these stupid ads wouldn’t make me stop buying their clothes. Their shit quality did though

And given how often you spot unchosen family members, aka mums, shopping for their kids in H&M, maybe these marketing wizards should stop occasionally and reflect on who actually pays for their clothes.

And given how often you spot unchosen family members, aka mums, shopping for their kids in H&M, maybe these marketing wizards should stop occasionally and reflect on who actually pays for their clothes

This. So we are the 'unchosen' and 'unwanted' know. Go figure...

It makes me think of the life that you imagine would be so amazing at 14, buying a bus or something with your three best friends and living together and being really cool.

It makes me think of the life that you imagine would be so amazing at 14, buying a bus or something with your three best friends and living together and being really cool

The campaign specifically refers to 'family' not friends. Plus the people on the ad don't look 14, more like 30+

Can anybody explain what's behind this rhetoric?

Marketing. That’s it. That’s all.