When jeans were jeans

Barry Schwartz calls it "The Paradox of Choice." I had to read pieces of it in some of my previous classes at UWT, and his argument is intriguing: by asking consumers to make more and more choices in our daily live we lose perspective on which choices are important and which are not. So we could spend hours deciding between kind of jeans (slim fit, baggy, extra baggy, easy fit, relaxed fit? Stonewashed, acid-washed, distressed? Faded, regular, dark, black?) and lose great parts of our day. Schwartz writes in his prologue:

The jeans I bought turned out just fine, but it occcurred to me that buying a pair of jeans should not be a daylong project. By creating all these options, the store undoubtedly had done a favor for customers with varied tastes and body types. However, by vastly expanding the range of choices, they also created a new problem that needed to be solved. Before these options were available, a buyer like myself had to settle for an imperfect fit, but at least purchasing jeans was a five-minute affair. Now it was a complex decision in which I was forced to invest time, energy, and no small amount of self-doubt, anxiety, and dread.

I had a hard time with some of his arguments, but the more I look around I start to see that Schwartz might have a point. I came to this conclusion that he might have a good point when I saw the display of Goldfish crackers at the grocery store tonight. Here were my options: Goldfish, Giant Goldfish, Colored Goldfish, Color Changing Goldfish, Goldfish Crisps, Goldfish Party Mix, and Goldfish Sandwich Snackers.

Uh huh. Cause I need that many goldfish options.

(By the way, I confirmed the kinds of goldfish on the most needlessly complex website www.meetfinn.com. Not only does the world not need to choose between kinds of goldfish crackers, but we certainly don't need to waste time watching cartoon goldfish swim around on the web. Now perhaps if we spent that time doing something more constructive like watching hamsters dance--remember that way back in 1998?--we'd be doing much better.)