San Antonio, TX

To travel down from Boerne in the Texas Hill Country to San Antonio is to pass through whirlwind of incessant advertisement. It certainly contrasts colourfully to the bleak stretches of motorway we have in Britain, but it also sheds light on the modern components of American society in general.

Billboards on top of tall metal poles sporting brand names for fast-food restaurants, shops and car dealers all jostle for your attention along the road side. It's literally incessant. All space is filled the command to consume. It's capitalism at its most extreme. The advertising detaches itself from its original being (something trying to sell you burgers, or whatever) and creates an existence of its own. The sign MacDonald's, for instance, is just the golden arches, there's no need for writing.

Each fast-food joint sells pretty much the same thing as next one over- if you were to simplify each sign post to its bare essentials it would read something like BURGERS-TACOS-CHICKEN-TACOS-BURGERS. But the marketing style convinces you of a uniqueness to a particular business; we have this, they don't.

I find myself being enticed into this world of indulgence. It's like a giant playground where you can temporarily shirk off any long-held convictions of yours to scoff down an unbelievably un-healthy breakfast or to, I don't know, fondle some firearms.