Gillian Wearing exposes in her art the opposition between public and private faces. She called her work 'editing life'.When I look at how people use brands I often think how we use them to tell the public world a story about who we are: or rather how we wish to be perceived by others. They are a way of protecting our private selves from disclosure. We carefully edit into our lives the ones which best represent our desired public persona.
And look at how brands are facilitating this in the way they present themselves to consumers: linked-in says I'm networked; facebook says I'm social; fairtrade says I'm ethically aware; Nike says I challenge myself. The list goes on.
Perhaps in the future, brands will start to facilitate a more open, revealing dialogue: a collective experience. A confessional platform for group catharsis, closing the gap between all of the fragmented versions of ourselves that exist out there digitally.
AT
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I think the "brand community" you are describing is on it's way, but it may not look the way we expect when it gets here. As a Gen X'er, I have struggled with all things community, but this is not true for the next generation (the Millennials). The idea of creating community around a brand is something they don't mind much at all. It will be interesting to see how this shift progresses. I have been writing about these generational shifts on my blog at http://www.thegenxfiles.com. There is one post in particular, on how Gen X and Millennials see networks, that you might find interesting.
ReplyDeleteWhat do AT and RT think about those of us who, whenever possible, consume brands which only those in the know would be able to finger? I am brand aware, like everyone else in our saturated world, but what does it say about me and about brands that I really don't want to telegraph my brand choices to anyone?
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