Brand *bleep*

    As I read the articles for this week, it was so evident that at times I am a brand whore and I am completely OK with that. I believe that if you like a brand and CAN AFFORD a brand you should have it. The biggest thing though, is being able to afford the brand. I would never purchase a brand knowing that it would seen me straight to the poor house. For me, there are certain things I buy that must be brand name such as: shoes (specifically sneakers), electronics, and some foods. However, my mother believes that every food item she purchases MUST be brand name. There have been times I called my mother a food brand whore or sidity (bourgeois). My mother is an amazing cook and when she cooks people stalk our house for whatever she prepared. 
     Last Thanksgiving, I was sent to buy heavy whipping cream for her famous homemade vanilla ice cream and well I picked up the Great Value (Walmart) brand priced at $3 a quart. When I got home, you would have thought I committed a heinous crime. As she mixed all the ingredients and taste tested the mixture, she swore that it didn't taste right simply because I bought the wrong brand. After a comical argument, I told her she was crazy and that the cream was made from the same milk milked from the same cow that Dean's used. The next time she made her ice cream she purchased the name brand cream that was $5 a quart and according to her taste buds, her ice cream tasted heavenly. 
     Although, I believe my mother's belief about branded foods is naive, I do understand that it is something we program ourselves to believe. If a item is not branded with a name we trust and know, we believe that it is an imitation and of lower quality. When I got in college and moved into my own apartment, I removed that naivety from my life because I couldn't afford the higher priced brands anymore. I learned to read and compare name brand items to the store brand and ultimately realized they were the same damn thing. Recognizable brands make people feel like they're a part of a community and sadly they will go broke trying to fit in.