‘Branded’ for life…?

Very often I face an annoying dilemma. More than a dilemma its like an eternal conflict  in the head that refuses die down. It is a conflict which most of the human race must be going though on a daily basis but it only torments a few like me. I guess for me it’s a question of rebelling against what is embedded in my DNA; to be an economical animal. The question I am asking here is if it is right to always pay for an item for only the value the buyer sees in it or is it more to do with the value the rest of the world associates with that item or is it about what value the person can generate using that particular item.

This is where the business of brands comes in. A brand is built by highlighting the value delivered to the owner of the product belonging to the brand. It sometimes does not have anything to do with the quality of the product. It is all about how the rest of the world sees you with a product whose brand name has been artificially enhanced using famous personalities, glitzy advertising or any other of the million brand building tools available today.

 

Now why is it important for someone to manipulate the way he lives, just for a large mass of people who are blinded by the branding mentioned above and base their impressions on this jaundiced eye perspective? Doesn’t it make a person feel stupid to cater to this kind of crowd? Wouldn’t it make a person happier to buy an unbranded product he sees value in and feels comfortable using?

 

The answer to all the above questions is a resounding NO! Today the human race is all geared to live in this world so cleverly built up by marketing departments of different organizations. When I say, geared up, I mean, the readiness to suppress one’s own feeling of being cheated, of being forced to do something that they would not do otherwise, for bowing to the pressures of the other people who themselves have sold their souls to the brand factory.

 

I will not deny that I myself am a victim of this peculiar disease and practice this ritual regularly. During my shopping binges, when my mind tells me I shouldn’t be succumbing to ‘ Brand Pressure’ (Think I coined a new jargon here!), I prefer to listen to my heart which in its own way makes me feel good that I got a bargain by buying something for double the price it was worth (which I realize only after I get home and feel stupid). All this is after me being a self proclaimed miser and a ‘ value for money’ seeking person! Even gifts today are judged by the brands and not by the thought behind them. Gone are the days when getting a gift mattered, now its all about getting the ‘rightly branded’ gift!

 

I would expect the world to get so full of brands in the future, that value wont be seen even in them. That is when we will look towards a classier, unbranded way of living life. I expect my humble article to get several hits during that period!

Don’t get me wrong here, and assume that now I will use only unbranded and simplistic stuff. After all, in today’s world, there is still one brand that no one wants to be branded; ‘a loser’!

~ by ashish on May 29, 2007.