Branding The Individual

“Branding The Individual” was a reading we were assigned in class which was written by Jane Pavitt. The article was really interesting to me because it discussed brands and how the identities of certain brands affect that brand’s relationship with consumers. The whole idea of branding, and how just a logo, or a “lifestyle” represented in a brand’s advertising can sell a product to consumers is fascinating to me. Before the television and internet of the modern world, consumers didn’t have access to as much advertising, so branding wasn’t as important. In our modernist society, however, companies spend more money on branding and advertising their products than they do on the manufacturing of the products themselves. This essentially means that we, as consumers, often find ourselves choosing to buy one product over another simply because of the branding and advertising which surrounds that product, rather than buying based on the actual quality or design of the piece. In the article, Pavitt gives examples of branding affecting consumerism in the real world when she highlights a young girl named Nicole, who talks about how branding has affected her relationships in school. Nicole discusses how important it is in her school to wear clothing with actual brand names stamped out on it—such as t-shirts that say ABERCROMBIE AND FITCH. These t-shirts aren’t at all different from regular t-shirts from any other store, except for the fact that the Abercrombie brand name is stamped out across them. This idea of branding is somewhat frightening when I really think about the fact that even I am guilty of purchasing items more so for the brand name than what I actually know about the quality of the item I’m buying.