Increasing divorce rates, the presumable demographic development, and a greater valorisation of individualism in the so-called Western world has lead to the discovery of a new consumer group: singles.
Whereas in earlier times one was condescendingly considered a spinster, an eccentric bachelor, or simply as a pot that hasn't found its lid yet, nowadays, you can find products tailored to a life "alone": Vacations organized especially for singles (which, of course, have only one aim: that you're not single anymore after the vacation), single-packages of toast or ready-made meals (which are - though smaller - almost twice as expensive as family-size packages, suggesting of course that as a single you have enough money to spend even on small packages of food), single parties, etc. (I guess it's very interesting though how most of the activities that are aimed at the single-consumer-group do in fact ultimately want to help you find a partner; which means of course that the attitude towards living alone hasn't really changed. If you live alone, you do so out of necessity, not choice; you're in fact always trying to change your single-status and finally! find someone to be together with so that you can buy family-size packages of chips.)
In any case, today I saw what I think is the sadest product ever made for singles: a telescope back scratcher, which basically looked like a slightly bent fork on a metal tube. It wasn't openly advertised as being for singles, but I think by its function it was pretty clear that it was for those sad and lonesome people who don't even have someone who'd scratch their backs when they need to (hence: the telescope back scratcher). Tempting as it was, I didn't buy it. If I feel an itch on my back, I prefer to do what bears in the wildlife do: rub against a tree.
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