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Vincent's Blog of Opinionated Ramblings
Vincent's Blog of Opinionated Ramblings
Brand Vigilanteism - Good vibrations in a tight situation.
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Freaks everywhere I thought, walking down the corridors of a Sandton city, in full swing after its Friday evening youth spending-orgy. Freaks, badly dressed, poorly made, half witted and wreaking of a generations hard working money inappropriately spent. So moral fibre is getting a media player, I’ve just decided it whilst typing this, we need one, must have one, won’t be the same without one.

Yes, freaks, that’s what I was talking about. Why are they freaks you ask, what have you and I got that they don’t? Personality maybe, but probably not, no they’ve become formulaic, a culmination of a market researchers focus group and a night of recommendations created whilst under the influence of his / her own arrogance. They’ve become brand extensions, not simply consumers but living embodiments of the brands which they will once scrutinized purport only to wear. Some of you reading this will have a torn loin cloth on, paired up with a 70’s Led Zeppelin shirt, this doesn’t make you different you’ve clothed yourself in a fad, we’ve become the resurrection – generation and you are it’s billboard.

Inescapable, probably, but completely explicit and hence understandable this dilemma is. We’ve got to use a little Diesel profanity, Levi’s edge and maybe a little bit of a frayed innuendo from Savannah to beat this. I needn’t even preface that line with an explanation you know exactly what I mean, and if you don’t what does the word Castle Lager bring to mind? The woman behind me just uttered, “Sushi, babe” this world is too far fucked for me to even care anymore, but I’ll attempt to school you.

So lesson one, self-awareness. That’s right, you’re in the twelve step programme, locked into my hypnotic gaze. You’ve got to understand that you’re in control, you’re the one who barters your hard working hours for that latest yellow and pink scarf, or that second hand black leather jacket or in fact your waterfall fringe. Yes if you’re wearing black pep all – star knock offs I’m lumping you into this archetype too. You’ve become lost in the synapse between your space, and the time in which you live, and you’ve become a coat-stand for someone’s brand or a collectives anti-brand cult and generally I’m involved with making that happen, it’s what I do. You really cannot escape it!

No matter where I’ve been young kids covet not others wealth but wealth’s ability to purchase elite brands. Its not that brands set up an achievable set of goals that one ought to work toward, like Nike’s fitness drive for instance, but rather brands aim at your heart, the outcome of which is their pursuit of your loyalty. Wait what, holy crap, great idea, they’re pitching ideas at you most often expecting you to reject them, like I would a car guard (on principle of course, they do not own cars and are thus not fit to guide me in and out of my parking) and most if not all of the time your wealth is their biggest barrier. If we lived in utopia and there were no poor people, I assure you, this earth would be brandless. Brands are out to make you inferior for not purchasing them, if you’re feeling entirely content with your current status and want for nothing more you’d never be open to marketing companies cross-hairs, there’d simply be no point in creating a subversive or alternatively an aspirational brand. You’re reaction should thus be to buy for purely aesthetic purposes, everything is going to change in a few weeks time anyway, why not buy that which will make you happy rather than purchase that which I order you to purchase. So self-awareness then enables you to move onto step two. We’ve ascertained that it is in fact you who ultimately decides upon the fate of a brand and thus we can move onto you becoming the ultimate brand-vigilante.

Brand – Vigilanteism is where you’re headed, it’s not really something you can buy into, nor is it something that you can mix and match with your current lifestyle. It’s an awakening, which allows you to peer into the formless world of arbitrary value and ascribe only those products / ideas which you feel are aesthetically tolerable as having real value to you. You see it’s a subtle shift, from emotional association to a brand’s personality, a manifest of your buying into its marketing and a shift to consumerism driven by aesthetic functionality and its appeal to your mind’s

April 5, 2008 | 1:04 AM Comments  0 comments

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