Branded!

Chapter 7 - Advertising, Consumer Cultures, and Desire
What's in a name? There's a phenomenology about how people adopt professions based on the names given them at birth. Is it fate or mere coincidence that my talented ENGL 853 classmate, BRANDON Watt, is destined to be an advertising guru? That Tiger WOODS is the world's greatest golfer, that Thomas CRAPPER invented the toilet, or that my friend, Dr. BUSH is a gynecologist?

In thinking about branding, and brand names, I detoured into envisioning how branding, a violent method of signifying ownership, could have reverted into an object associated with desire. Do we, as consumers, desire to be owned? By donning the brand, are we, the consumers, now bound to the producer? What responsibility do we bear for what we wear? In the strictest definition of the term, the high-profile celebrity athlete who adopts the brand, is owned by the brander. The athlete is subject to behavioral and moral standards that must comply with the values and needs of the brander. Much the same as with a unit of branded livestock, there is a barrier that cannot be breached, an element of proprietary control, for which the penalty is severe, a loss of label, a loss of equipment, perhaps even a loss of livelihood.

Of course, in the case of a celebrity, I somewhat undermine my thesis, as the brander compensates the branded with monetary and material goods. But then, the ranch owner also supports the steer—with food, pasture, shelter, and an element of protection.

What do we as consumers sacrifice when we adopt a brand, when we become the property of the producer? What do we owe the producer in return, only our purchasing power? Could we be giving up more of ourselves than we think?

Photo Credit: www.stopmikelupica.com/images/TigerWoodsSmile.jpg