For the Sake of Fitting In

The other day I was sitting at home spending time with my dear friend Condescending Wonka. For those of you who haven't met him, he's one of the famous memes that has taken social media by storm in the last year. Condescending Wonka is super sarcastic and just about every single one of them cracks me up. The two posted below made me think of this class. 

        I feel they both pertain to branding as well as the "cool" factor we talked about earlier in the semester. Basically, branding is cool. The cool kids all wear the name brand clothes and have all the brand name appliances. For example, UGG boots, Sperrys, North Face jackets, and Apple products. I know in high school for me, it was all about the brands. When I asked for a pair of boots for Christmas and I got the Bear Claw gray knit boots that look exactly like the UGG version, but weren't the real UGGs, I freaked. I fell for the marketing ploy of branding and felt uncomfortable wearing my brand new boots. I felt this way all because of the mere fact that "UGG" wasn't printed anywhere on my boots like it was for some of the other girls walking in the halls. 

        I also remember the feeling I had when I got a North Face jacket. It's like putting it on added a certain "swagger" to my appearance, like I had finally made it into the "cool" group. When in reality the coats were made for people who need the extra thermal for hiking and more strenuous activities versus me who wore it out to go shopping.

        I'm still trying to make sense of it all because realistically I know it shouldn't matter if my coat says North Face or not and it shouldn't matter if my boots have a certain logo or not. As long as I have the items that serve their purpose of keeping me warm than what's the big deal if somethings embroidered on it or not?  I believe it's because marketing tools have made it very evident that it's all for the sake of fitting in and until you have a certain brand you aren't fitting in with the "cool" kids.