Ellis establishes a link between the mass availability of consumer goods that provide constant, visual, physical, and psychological stimuli for his characters and the subsequent numbness they feel to the world around them. His characters are immersed in a world of magazines, music, high-tech gadgets, and drugs. That Ellis’ characters have access to everything they could ever want or need is the ensuing reason why they feel very little, or nothing at all in Clay’s case.
Clay and his friends live in a world where the only things they do is purchase and consume, and the emotional weight of owning material goods has subsequently waned. Yet, they continue this cycle of consumerism as it is the only pattern of behavior they evidently know. Ellis has chosen a specific sub-group of wealthy middle-upper-class white figures to embody the ideal purchaser, raised in a city (Los Angeles) that is built upon notions of materialism, performance, and façade, to act out the role of the subservient consumer.
Ellis equates the bombardment of consumer culture and materialism in his characters' lives to a new form of addiction, whereby his characters find themselves in desperate need of newer, more radical experiences to feel something ‘authentic’ in a world where nothing seems real to them. This is why we see the gradually disturbing sequences of violence, exploitation, and abuse throughout the novel, as Clay and his friends seek newer forms of consumerism through the commodification of the body. This takes various forms, from the exploitation of other bodies (the snuff film, the abuse of the young girl, etc.) or the commodification of the self (Julian’s prostitution, Clay’s voyeurism, etc.).
In other words, the world that Clay lives within encourages a complete disassociation from reality, where the fictional realms of materialism, advertising, and entertainment take precedent. The only way these characters believe they can break free from this situation is through extreme means that ironically render themselves into products and consumable entities, thus perpetuating a cycle of exploitation.
