[thelettere]

This can't all be explained away by marketing. It matters, but status concerns are an ancient and primal part of human beings and is a central motivator of behavior.

Marketing exacerbates the issue by priming us for status constantly and muddying the values that would pull us in a healthier direction (i.e. marketing that portrays brands and products in relational terms, like the recent Taco Bell commercials where friends are abandoned for a burrito). But it still would be an issue.

More pressing I'd suggest than marketing is the atomization and alienation of society, where the only way to achieve one's relational needs is seen - consciously or not - as through consumption. A more connected and calm people would be less susceptible to marketing bs, and hypertrophied status concerns would be balanced by the values (and reality) of relating and belonging, and of (real world rather than market) achievement and power.