The giraffes of the “society of abundance” form a composite image‑illustration of the contemporary condition.
The colourful, detail‑saturated background metaphorically sends us to Baudrillard’s “hyperreality”, while the phrase “Mom, I’m a rich man” on a newspaper clipping refers to artificially constructed “simulacra”, whose mass dissemination is driven primarily by the media.
The society of abundance is a self‑deception — an endless chase after the illusion of happiness, where the process of consumption has long since become an irrational end in itself. “Wealth”, “abundance” is in reality only an accumulation of signs of happiness; as Jean Baudrillard writes in his fundamental book “The Consumer Society”, people in the society of abundance are surrounded not so much — as was always the case — by other people as by objects of consumption.
Half a century after its publication in 1970, this text remains acutely relevant: its problematic is echoed and extended by contemporary concepts of downshifting, conscious consumption, the rejection of the cult of luxury and the turn toward immaterial values. Awareness begins with questions; the bewildered, inward‑turned gaze of the giraffes becomes a mirror for the viewer and a reason to pose these questions to oneself.