“Identity and desire in consumerism” ‘In a society of consumers, turning into a desirable and desired commodity is the stuff of which dreams, and fairy tales, are made of’ (Bauman, 2007, p. 13) This essay will explore how brand identity creates a desire for ownership and how this creates in turn a personal identity for a company and their products, which consumers can then adopt as their own by buying into the brand. This will be done through an exploration of the brand Apple and how the brand has been built over the years to send a message of doing things differently. This essay will also explore the advertising behind the IPod and how Apple has branded it as not only a desirable product but to sell it as a lifestyle. The power of advertising allows brands to not only sell a product but to sell a lifestyle or an idea, this is far more powerful than just selling a product. In Naomi Klein’s book “No Logo” (2004) she states, ‘The idea of selling the courageous message of a brand, as opposed to a product, intoxicated these CEOs.’ (p. 24) This means that a brand did not need to be connected to a specific product but it could send a message across a range of products allowing the company room for “limitless expansion”. Consumers buy into a brand and the message it is sending and lead their life by it. In Zygmunt Bauman’s book “Consuming Life” (2007) he goes on to talk about having to buy into a commodity to feel socially adequate, he stated that ‘to consume therefore means to invest in one’s own social membership’ (p. 56) this means that being part of a consumer commodity allows you access to be accepted within today’s modern society and to represent your lifestyle choices through the brands you consume. In today’s society there is a desire to fit in and to be accepted, Zygmunt Bauman stated ‘…they need to equip themselves with one or other shop-‐supplied product if they want to be able to gain and retain the social standing they desire.’ (p. 55) This statement shows that if consumers want to fit into society they need to perform their social obligations by buying into the right products to build up an identity which consumers can develop and therefore protect their self-‐esteem. Anyone can be accepted by a brand and the lifestyle they sell, Bauman states, ‘they can be refused a consumer commodity if they have the money to pay its price.’ (p. 56) This means
that any consumer can be part of a brand, which allows you to build your own identity as long as you can afford it. Fashion is constantly changing, things which are cool today is not cool tomorrow and in Bauman’s Liquid Modernity theory he goes on to explain how in today’s society the passage from ‘solid’ to ‘liquid’ modernity has resulted in producing a series of challenges for an individual as society is constantly changing therefore forcing the individual to put together a series of short term projects to keep up to date with the current trends. In today’s consumer culture there is much more than just picking a product and buying it, take for instance the Ipod, there are various competing products in the market out there which are cheaper and potentially better value for money but it is not about picking the best value for money its about what brand your buying into and what that brand says about you, Bauman states ‘Consumers get bombarded from all sides by suggestion of products they need to gain social status’ (p. 55) this means that buying into an MP3 player can say something about yourself as a person due to the brand associations which go with the product. These associations also link in with Bauman’s trickle down theory where we are in a liquid state of modernity and each individual needs to carefully construct their own identity through the products they represent themselves with. Karl Marx quotes ‘but, so soon as it steps forth as a commodity, it is changed into something transcendent’ which means that something as simple as an IPod will have a different social value as a commodity even though it is just an MP3 player and it will be far more desirable to consumers than any other product in its class even though there is not much of a difference except to be part of a brand and the message it is sending. There is something very appealing about being part of a brand message, it allows consumers to be send a message about their identity and what they stand for in today’s society it is up to the consumer to pick through the thousands of established brands and what they represent to then apply it to their lifestyle or to base their lifestyle on the message that particular brand is sending. By living by a brand it allows consumers to be more confident with a feeling of acceptance in today’s brand society this also builds and helps to retain a consumers self-‐esteem.
Apple as a company has been built on branding and almost went bankrupt in the 1990’s only for Steve Jobs to come back and completely rebrand and rejuvenate the company as being cool which was key at this point to save the company. Jobs was a pioneer of marketing especially early on, he was donating Apple products to film directors to use before they even knew that they could charge company’s for product placement. Klein argues that Apple does not just sell products anymore but they are selling brands, something that touches on people’s dreams and aspirations, “what consumers are thinking and feeling while they were consuming the product.” (No Logo Documentary). Apple used great visionary icons like Gandhi and Albert Einstein to persuade people that their brand might also allow you to “think different”, people buy into brands like these because they are selling not only products but also powerful ideas such as transcendence and community, even democracy, it is these powerful idea’s which make Apples brand loyalty one of the strongest within the brand community. Apple also brands their products to try and drive an emotional attachment of ‘family ‘ and ‘community’ out of its customers which is why Apple has some of the most loyal customers of any brand. Another reason for Apples brand loyalty is it urges that all their products are of a high standard and that they look after their customers like a family. By buying into apple products you are buying into a community, their products are all linked together with the idea of selling the Apple lifestyle of doing things differently as soon as you buy into one of their products you are instantly part of the community which urges you to buy into more of their products with the promise of investing in your social membership with Apple and to retain this membership with the ‘Apple family’.
Georg Simmel that if you’re seeing upper class people walking at leisure as a lower class person, you’ll want to emulate this. The lower classes will try to copy what the upper classes wear. This is called the ‘Trickle down theory’ where the upper classes determine the fashion and desirable items, which were then seen as symbols of wealth by the lower classes. This can also be applied to celebrity culture, purchasing and showing off clothes and accessories that your favorite celebrity owns. Apples overall goal was to sell the IPod as being cool and trying to give their product a list of associations buyers would recognize, associations which would make their product not just desirable for being an MP3 player but as a form of social gain. Naomi stated ‘Take a cool artist, associate that mystique with your brand, hope it wears off’ (p. 45) this means that by using an artist who was already recognised as being ‘cool’ within society and then associating them with your company or product would give it the same social status. The Black Eyed Peas were used to promote the Ipod commercials, a group of artists who were already well established in the social ladder as being ‘cool’ especially within the youth culture, what this did is give the Ipod and Apple the same cultural role as the Black Eyed Peas making their brand and products desirable in the consumer culture. Associating the Ipod to celebrities links in with Simmel’s trickle down theory and gives the Ipod not only a general application to play music but also as a fashion item seen as a symbol of wealth. Klein talks about how a brand sells a lifestyle instead of just a product and this is exactly what Apple are doing, they are selling the IPod to the youth culture as a cool must have MP3 player which is far superior over anything else in the market due to what Apple brand stands for which is doing things differently and buying the IPod over the various other
products you are not just buying an MP3 player you are buying into the Apple family and brand, it is this community consumers desire.
This is an example of one of the ‘Think Different’ ad campaigns Jobs did; he uses a well-‐ known and respected icon like Albert Einstein who made incredible breakthroughs in the world of science, using something as iconic and well known like Einstein sends a strong message. Throughout these campaigns he uses various icons, all have the same thing in common which is that they did things differently and did not stick to the same conventions created by modern societies, which allowed them to flourish and become successful in their respected fields. The ad’s all give the idea that if these visionaries were still alive they would be using Apple products as well. By advertising a brand in this way build a brand lifestyle or image and it is this lifestyle which consumers want to buy into. By marketing
products in this way it allowed Apple to give the idea that their brand is what you want to be using if you are a professional who wants to make a difference and think outside the box. It is marketing the products with the idea that you can like all these visionary icons ‘think different’. As a young professional you have a desire to equip yourself with the best possible tools even if it is just to give you the confidence or to protect your self-‐esteem. The Apple brand message allows you to be part of their community; it lets you send a message about your own life style of being a Apple user, someone who stands for doing things differently. These ad’s were not featured in just computer magazines but in high end fashion magazines and other popular magazines, this allowed the public to be exposed to the apple brand in places where they assume they would see ‘cool’ products and gave the brand much more exposure. In conclusion apple has build a very strong brand message of ‘doing things differently’, which reflects a type of lifestyle with its consumers which is especially desirable if you are a young professional, this lifestyle is what attracts buyers to build their own identity through the apple brand as long as they can afford it. In my view the current climate of branding and brand messages which are being send in today’s society urges us to become commodities, the feeling of belonging to a brand and its lifestyle is going to become ever more present especially the feeling of being part of a community and reflecting your views through a brand is becoming more popular especially due to the fact that in today’s society we are constantly being bombarded with the message of what kind of person you are and what message your sending with the products you consume and the clothes wear. The only fear I do have is that brands are going to keep expanding as more and more people are buying into them to the point where they start to fully integrate into today’s modern society where we just except being part of them and life our lives by the messages they send.
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