Two words come to mind when I hear "commodity culture": SKY MALL. On almost all domestic and international flights, travelers can find the aptly titled magazine in the pocket below their fold-out tray. While I always immediately dismiss the publication as junk, turn on my iPod and stare out my tiny window, I inevitably become so bored mid-flight that I start to wonder what kind of worthless crap the editors of SkyMall are trying to convince consumers they cannot live without. Curiosity gets the best of me and I begrudgingly take the magazine from the seat pocket and hope the stranger next to me isn't watching/judging. I'm immediately struck by one item: a set of plastic facial parts intended to be nailed into a tree to give the effect of a tree trunk smiling or frowning, in the style of the popular Mr. Potato Head toy (Here is one version of a Tree Face available through the SkyMall: http://www.skymall.com/shopping/detail.htm?pid=102211795&c=10519). But it is not the novelty of the item that catches my eye, it's the familiarity of it. I know I have seen this product before - not in a store, not in a magazine, but in use. Then it hits me: the last time I went home, I was driving into my neighborhood when I saw a tree with one of these faces and nearly crashed into a fence. Every time I open a SkyMall I can't help but wonder WHO actually buys the obscure items occupying every corner of every page; apparently people like my neighbor do. Any doubts that consumers bought these items that I so quickly dismiss as worthless crap, disappeared after I saw the tree face staring at me in my car from a tall oak tree. Certainly my experience, the existence of SkyMall and its ability to stay in business are a testament to "Commodity Culture."

And while its a stretch for me to say that anything in SkyMall is worth what they charge - let alone worth buying at all - I do give the magazine credit for it's entertainment value and its ability to distract me, albeit briefly, from the monotony of a long flight. I also give it credit for creating a consumer need and fulfilling that need - the need for tree accessories. 

In addendum, I encourage everyone to visit skymall.com, if for no other reason than to be entertained for a few minutes or hours.