Branded

Advertising is the art of convincing people to spend money they don't have for something they don't need. Will Rogers.

For various reasons (being generally miserly, hating shopping, being an introvert and a control freak - no-one is going to mess with my mind), I consider myself fairly immune to advertising. Lately, however, I've started to notice more and more the proliferation of advertising, and not just the billboard, social media pop-up, product placement advertising that we are all accustomed to and can all, at least to some degree, ignore, but regular people pushing everything from travel services to nutritional supplements.

As if the whole "selfie" phenomena wasn't irritating enough, selfies now feature you wearing the latest brand of sneakers, jackets, shirts, whatever, while digesting the latest processed "nutritional supplement" (give your head a rub if you think maltodextrin is anything other than sugar), drinking branded coffee, ordering a branded meal, even as you tag the latest travel company/shuttle/gondola/whatever that got you where you are. 

Don't get me wrong, I can ignore this kind of advertising just as easily as I can ignore other kinds of advertising. Philosophically, I think there is no fool so stupid as the one that is convinced they need the latest consumer gimmick when in fact, they already have everything they need to do X/Y or Z that the latest gimmick is supposed to provide. But I do think regular people becoming mini-advertising machines is a disturbing trend, not least because most people (including the "advertisers" themselves) have probably failed to recognise that they are being manipulated by Big Pharma/Big Food/Big Whatever to not only buy the brand, but brand themselves. 

So, the next time you're tempted to post a selfie of yourself wearing your branded logo T-shirt, eating a branded nutrition bar, while wearing your branded sneakers, listening to your branded music device, and tagging the branded company that got you where-ever, ask yourself if you'd also be comfortable walking about town wearing a sandwich board advertising all those brands. If the answer is no, pause before posting. 

Dude is at least honest about advertising