All valid points.

To my mind, "happiness" is completely subjective and means so many different things to different people.
For me, it's about inner strength, peace of mind, and knowing what works for ME.
Not being told what I "need", or should want, by anyone else.
(Well, I can be told, but I'm sure as hell not going to heed to any of it.)
I don't need "stuff", I don't really even need much money. Just enough to cover
the essentials, and I have that.

External factors mean less and less.

I agree with the thrust of your argument, and concur about the Advertising Industry being responsible for promoting unhappiness. The debt incurred by those pursuing the ever newer and trendier, in order to be at the forefront of what is current is another factor in the increasing unhappiness in society, more purchases means more debt for many. More debt means more worry, more depression and more unhappiness. They are purveyors of unhappiness and discontent and only the strong and independent minded seem able to resist their blandishments. At my age, I now realise that I have already got every consumer item I could ever possibly need, and apart from food and occasionally some new clothing, I need buy nothing new as long as I live...and have vowed that unless something breaks or stops working I will follow that plan. I have always had an aversion to following the latest trends and been happy to think that I’m able to resist the trap others fall into so easily.

Clever points!

I think happiness is much more complex than that. I think there are certainly universal components to happiness such as purpose, pride, confidence, love, peace, self-worth, security, and many more. Then there are components that are relative to each individual. I don't think there is any absolute combination of components for happiness that would apply to everyone but I would say that there are certain things that are foundational for most. Many different formulas can lead to happiness. It's up to the individual to find theirs.

i'm way past the point of gaining even momentary happiness thru consumerism. my wife & i drive older vehicles & have no desire to trade up. why would i want to trade a reliable vehicle for a new one in which i would then be worried about the first dent?

Some time ago a movement got started called "Voluntary Simplicity." You took some free courses and developed a listing which had items in 3 columns: necessities, want to have and luxuries. Unhappiness for men seem to be mostly time oriented (too much time at work and not enough doing things they enjoyed or being with family). For women it tended to be about money and shopping. A bell curve was made and one had to find a peak or stuff they felt were important. Everything over the peak actually brought stress and unhappiness. Like Marionville said debt and too much stuff brings unhappiness. A film was make titled "Affluenza". [imdb.com] and an anti ad magazine was (it might still be) "Ad Busters[ecosia.org] A convention was held in LA and the symbol was a hearse with a luggage rack. It beat expectations for attendance. Just another example of industries intruding in our lives.

The secret to happiness is cocaine and ecstasy. Just don’t over do it.

Ads I see want to ask if you are driving a car you are unhappy with. They also ask if you want to get rid of that clunker. Medical ads are similar when they ask if you have certain pains and then make impossible claims for simple over the counter meds. Advertising is all there is anymore and we are now the product. Everyone has a better widget and they will worry you to death trying to sell it to you. If your friends bought one they want to know why you did not. My friends still want me to get a new car but they are not willing to pay for it. I am told sometimes that I am unhappy but I have more money than most of my friends simply because I do not buy everything. I live in a different world than they do.

I am quite happy in my own little place in my mind. I avoid most advertising by just ignoring it, to me it is just white noise. I see and hear it but just don't care. A big part of happiness is attitude and being at ease with who you are.

Yes, I think you are on to something here. Our default state is joy, but we are not aware of that joy if our minds are swirling around a bunch of semi-lies propagated by those who want us to be fearful or stressed. That would be politicians, advertisers, news people, church leaders, even family members sometimes. And we generate our own lies sometimes.

Maybe we need to set up personal filter systems to filter out all the negative and judgmental information and thoughts. John Nash said that he cured himself from schizophrenia by learning to police his thoughts.

My filters are set to block such input as: “We’re going to burn in hell” “We’re going to burn up from global warming” “We’re going to have a civil war” “Evangelicals are going to install a theocracy” “Trump is going to stage a coup” “Southerners are racist” “Republicans are racist” “Evangelicals are racists” .

I should not even be typing these lies because that feeds them into the subconscious. The result of thinking lies is sadness, depression, loneliness, poor health, poverty and death.

One of the main tenets of Buddhism is that suffering, which includes unhappiness, comes from attachment which is caused by desire. Desire can be for good things, like winning the million dollar lottery, or for avoiding bad things, like old age, sickness, & death.

As long as we have desire we have attachment , which leads to suffering(dukkha). Attachment leads to being mired in sanskaras (impressions) based on maya (illusion). This attachment keeps us from seeing through illusion & reaching samadhi (enlightenment). In Buddhism the way to free yourself from illusion is to give up desires through discipline of thought & meditation.

We live in a society with a multi billion dollar advertising industry that uses very sophisticated psychological techniques to create & enhance desire. Your desire creates profit for advertising's clients.

Of course we have great suffering because once aroused, desire is endless. No matter what you have, you want more. The advertising industry is very skilled at manipulating sanskaras to keep you attached to their particular maya.

The advertisers give you the impression the way to avoid unhappiness is to buy their product. They create constant dissatisfaction to keep you unhappy so you will self medicate by buying their stuff.

Religion, of course, sells the biggest product of all--salvation & the answer to life's problems.

The secret of happiness is to get yourself into a position that you will never be told what to do .... including what to buy or believe. Nothing wrong with getting formation, but you make the decisions and so does everyone around you that you love.

I cringe when I hear, mostly women, saying that they are going for some "retail therapy". Buying something new does probably raise the spirits in the short term but to keep this "high" more and more stuff has to be bought and the advertisers use this to their advantage.

If I never had to see or hear anything Kardashian ever again that would make me happy.

Other than that, I have learned that detaching from the carnal aspects of the world and a NEED for them brings me closer to happiness. Giving and receiving love brings me happiness. I have found that focusing on others and their wellbeing is a very powerful elixir for jettisoning unhappiness.

It seems to me that unhappiness stems from not accepting unattainable circumstances.

Probably the most commendable commentator on unhappiness is Danish existentialist philosopher Soren Kierkegaard.

“The unhappy man is always absent from himself, never present to himself. ” from “Either/Or; A Fragment of Life” (1843)

He is referring to living in the past or considering the future. He also states “Of all ridiculous things the most ridiculous seems to me, to be busy.”

Echoing the basic tenets of Buddhism and Vedic thought.

Part of happiness, I have found, is managing expectations. Yours, your employer's, your friend's, you spouse's, etc. Just like you wouldn't set your expectation to win the lottery every time you play (or any time you play), you need to gauge and reassess goals and expectations throughout life. I find that the hardest thing about aging is not being able to do what I did at 20. I can still do most of it... But I sure will be sore or have aches and pains letting me know I'm not 20 anymore. This is especially true with tough projects around the house or fixing my trucks or tractor when I have to be jammed up in a certain space for 2 hours while fixing it.

Cocaine and Ecstasy? (As mentioned below) I'd be afraid to try coke these days as it is so pure. I've never done E... Neither are a safe way to be happy.

IMHO, Advertising and religion don't create unhappiness, they feed on what's already there. When people are feeling empty and lonely, instead of doing the more difficult thing of facing what's going on with them, or even accepting that unhappiness occurring sometimes is a normal part of the human condition, they'll turn to anything that tells them it's going to make them feel better.

As much as I loathe the primary purpose of advertising to push products on the gullible target market, I also think that there is no feasible substitute to create effective product awareness for non essentials as well as otherwise.

On the flip side, looking at the expenditure on advertisement for a product, it does significantly increase the selling price of the product as well. It is always the naïve customer funding the ads to get more customers.

As far as the impact of consumerism and the tendency of the majority to swayed by 'branding' as a process has led to goods / services being systematically overpriced.

Personally, I just can't comprehend how purchasing a luxury watch costing something like 5000$ can make someone happy.

When comparing advertisement to religion, at least the victims of advertisement have been sold something that exists.

I didn't mean you had failed to communicate your idea. You communicated just fine. And you did a great job of it.

Happiness, like all other physical quantities, ( mass, charge, spin, etc. ) is conserved across time and space.

Jimi Hendrix said it best, "It's all in your mind!"

You may be interested in my post here: "Sigmund Freud's nephew Edward Bernays (1891-1995), also known as the "Father of Spin", has designed ..."

there is no secret to happiness. it's very transitory. anyone who is not on drugs & not so busy that they don't have time to be alone & think can't possibly be happy except for brief periods.