Brand Name Everything

I was sitting on the bus, the GRT bus, waiting for my stop to come so that I could get off and snag a computer at the library (since now my power cord doesn't work, oh joy). I took one good look around me and what did I notice? Bench, Coach, Chanel, Burberry, TNA, Aritizia, etc. Looking around at everything I noticed how much in our society we have brand names. We don’t think that coat is cool enough until it has the large letters “BENCH” written on the back of the collar so that everyone can see what we can afford to buy. We have to flaunt it to the world that we bought this fancy brand name and that we can afford it. This is the most effective way to market a product, to show that you are useless in society unless you own this product. These products are everywhere!
This does not only happen for things like windbreakers, coats, pants but it also happens in our society for things like water. What do we need to survive? Food, water, shelter, community and medicine (if you are lucky you will not need this last one). We have brand names for those too! We cannot simply eat our food and be happy that our peanut butter tastes good, no we need the peanut butter with the little bears on it. And no! Are you crazy? We cannot drink water out of a tap! Now you are talking complete nonsense. We must drink water that was imported by some company that was packaged in some really cool looking bottle that we will throw away after we drink it and it needs to come from some exotic place where the water is obviously better. Um did anyone else realize when looking at a map that the world is comprised of more water than land? Truth be told, our government does a wonderful job supplying us drinking water which is safe for us to consume. We cannot be bothered with the safe drinking water that comes out of the tap though, it does not look cool enough when it comes out! And that reusable water bottle?! Are you insane?
In our society we are not valued unless we have the brand names in our home. A lot of people would shy away from the idea that you can get perfectly fine clothes, which keep you warm, for a lot less than most fancy brand names. We are all guilty of this crime, even I am. In our society we cannot be valued unless we have these things and we can be seen as devalued. Don’t get me wrong, it is not like some us don’t try to not buy brand names. For example, a while ago I went shopping with a friend and he wanted a sweat shirt which was one plain colour and no brand names or symbols anywhere on it. Sounds easy? Not even in the least bit. These type of products practically do not exist, and if they do you have to pay a fee for the company to not put a symbol on it. Now how can a change be made if there seems to be no way out of the system?
Now to bring this issue to the global community rather than our North American one; people in developing countries do not have enough money to afford brand names. They are trying to focus on the basics: food, water, shelter, community and medicine (if some of them are lucky enough to be able to afford when they need it). Do we devalue these people so much, because they are not able to fit in our cookie cutter society where money rules all? It is our consumer desire that helps to keeps the people in the poverty that they are in. It is because we want what we want and we want it cheap and then after we have it, we throw it out and want something else. We exploit so many resources from developing countries to keep up with our ever demanding want of things. We need to be able to differentiate between what we want and what we need. We need to be able to stop our exploitation. I for one do not want to help contribute to keeping people in the terrible poverty that they experience. I know that I will be working in the slums of a developing country; I am going to witness what our exploitation has caused. There are so many examples where our consumer demand has caused terrible problems for other people. A good example is our ability for each and every single one of us who have bought or own a diamond. Diamonds fuelled the civil wars. Another example would be coltan. Our society’s never ending demand for the newest technology has caused a high demand for this mineral which makes our technologies function. We go through so many products that there is a gross over production of them! This all needs to stop in order for any change to begin.
Ok so now that I preached this I am going to have to try to live by it. So! Here we go! I, Jacquelyn Bellissimo, will try my absolute hardest to not keep contributing to the never ending supply chain! I will try my best to purchase only what I need. When I purchase I will think about what I am going to buy and ask myself these questions:
1) Do I really need this?
2) Is this a brand name? Am I paying more for this item because of who made it?
I will do my best to update you on my progress throughout the rest of this blog. Let me see how difficult it is to not be a product of marketers.