Breaking Up with My Brands

Brands... I Think We Need a Break 

Sorry to have been away from my blog for a few days; I am sure you have missed hearing about my branded life.

Last week you heard about some of the brands I consumed and what factors lead me to consume them. This week I am challenging myself to only consume generic or non-branded products or services. I will attempt to not buy, use, reuse, dispose of or in any way consume anything that is not a generic/store brand or unbranded (foods bought directly from a farmer). My posts for this week will discuss my experiences with this sort of anti-branding activism. I will keep a diary on the products and services I have consumed throughout the day. Furthermore, I will also discuss any challenges I had with this activism or activity. At the end of this week I intend to reflect on my activism and what affects, if any, I think such activism had or could have had on branding.

As a disclaimer there are some branded products or services that, as of now, I know I cannot reasonably avoid. The first is my computer; as a university student it is not reasonable for me to not use my computer this week and as previously discussed any other computer I could use would likely be branded. Similarly, I also cannot avoid the university itself, which is also a branded product. Moreover, although it may be true that some people can live without using a cellphone (mine is a Samsung Galaxy s2) I am not one of those people. My phone is my “lifeline” I talk to my parents on it, message friends on it and check bus times with it. In fact, as a young woman who often has to walk in isolated areas I feel that not having my phone would be a risk to my safety. I will also have to wear clothes for this week. Crazy right? I do not intend on making my own clothes or finding unbranded clothes, if that is even possible. Instead I will be using tape to cover up any logo, name, or other brand signifier on my clothes. I will also be using some of the beauty or hygienic products that I have at home that are branded because I cannot reasonably afford to buy and use other generic products. That being said anything that I can reasonably use in replacement of these products will be used. For instance, brushing my teeth with the generic baking soda in my cupboard (oh boy). Any other branded products and services that I cannot avoid will be mentioned in this week’s blogs.