Branded

Branded

Adult nonfiction
"Teens suffer more than any other sector of society from this
wall-to-wall selling. They are at least as anxious as their parents
about having enough money and maintaining their social class, a fear
that they have been taught is best allayed by more branded gear. And
they have taken to branding themselves, believing that the only way to
participate in the world is to turn oneself into a corporate product
or a corporate spy to help promote the product to other kids."
When I was a child, although there were product brands, branding
as a verb was reserved for cattle. But then corporations were less
grasping. Ads were produced for the purpose of getting as many
consumers as possible to chose one's brand of orange juice, breakfast
cereal, or laundry detergent over those of one's competitors.
Today corporations are demanding a level of long term brand
loyalty of consumers that inserts logos and what they stand for into
their very identities. For this reason I think that the title of
Alissa Quart's Branded is brilliant. In it Quart discusses many of
the ways tweens and teens package their identities and corporations
and other entities benefit.
Corporations gain intelligence on the high school crowd by
befriending and bestowing status and free products on teen "insiders"
and "trendspotters". They make their chosen few feel important and
connected, often turning them into unpaid advertisers for the brands
that seem to take such an interest in them.
"Teenagers have come to believe that consumer goods are their
friends--and that the companies selling products to them are their
trusted allies. After all, they inquire after the kids' opinions with
all the solicitude of an ideal parent. Tell us how to best sell you
our products, they ask. If you do, we will always love you."
There are the corporations that pay big bucks for product and
logo placement in popular video games. They're sure of a captive
audience. Avid gamers spend hours on end in their favorite virtual
worlds.
Even higher education gets into the act as students (and their
families) spend obscene amounts of time and money trying to get
accepted by the top branded trophy institutions such as the ivies.
In the 15 years since its publication I wish Branded has become
obsolete. Sadly it hasn't. So I recommend it to parents of and
people who work with Tweens, teens, and college students.
On a personal note, I made 2 major culinary discoveries concerning
Joey. When I opened a can of chicken to make Chicken Helper he really
perked up. When I gave him the juice he lapped up every bit. That's
another source of fluids and calories. The second came from following
the most excellent suggestion from my BFF Jodi to try baby food. Her
cat likes it. Joey adores it. It made such a positive impression on
him the next day he got excited at the sight of a jar of it. That was
fast learning! At this point nothing fills my heart with more joy
than finding things my little friend wants to eat.
Orono Community Garden is thriving and we're now giving out good
organic veggies every Tuesday.
A great big shout out goes out to the dearest little cat in the world
who makes every day a treasure and BFF Jodi who gave me such excellent
advice and has been helping me cope since the very sad day when I
learned that precious Joey has cancer.
jules hathaway


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