As the Sept 17th bonfire date draws ever nearer, I've started panic buying replacements to my (previously) beloved branded gear. From ostentatious hyper-brands to no-key anonymity. Where I previously sought exotic colours, high-tech design and garish logos, I now seek…. primary school plimsolls. Honestly these were the kind of shoes you used to get beaten up for wearing at school, and now I'm actively seeking them out; the most bland, low profile, no name sneakers that money can buy. Guess how much they cost me? £4.99. I wouldn't have thought twice about paying £100+ for a pair of trainers before. I bought three pairs.
These plimsolls mark a victory over the playground bullies who have continued to influence my behaviour for all this time. My obsession with brands was borne out of the pressure that bullies exert over all kids to conform to their codes of behaviour. To be in, to be cool, you must amongst other things, have the right gear. From an early age I took that message to heart, and ever since I have been over-compensating for the expectations that those bullies placed upon me. In wearing these plimsolls, I feel like I am finally standing up to the bullies in the playground, the bullies in the fashion magazines and the bullies at the brands. I can wear whatever I bloody well want on my feet, without pledging some allegiance to a tribe, without sending signals to say who I am. I don't need a company logo on my feet to make me feel better about myself.
17 Comments:
"I can wear whatever I bloody well want on my feet, without pledging some allegiance to a tribe, without sending signals to say who I am. I don't need a company logo on my feet to make me feel better about myself."
I trust you recognize that this logic applies to the consumption and utilization of branded goods as well. IOW, your insouciance shouldn't preclude your purchase of branded goods. On the contrary, it should emancipate you from any concern whatsoever.
Writer, Robert Anton Wilson, has an object lesson for you in his notion of the "Tar Baby Principle." It goes something like this: You are attached to what you attack. Remembering that brer rabbit became inexorably more and more insinuated into the tar baby the more he thrashed at it, one would hope that you should begin to see the folly of your experiment.
Eliot
I agree, if I were to truly divorce myself from status anxiety, I should be able to consume any product I choose, branded or no.
However this project is a personal journey, at which I am at the very beginning. Perhaps one day I can hope to reach your level of enlightenment, but for now i'll take it one step at a time.
For those that are interested, Mr Frick works at an 'idea farm' called bigwidesky.
In their words...
'We cultivate transgenic marketing ideas. We start with traditional marketing seeds and insert the genetic material of genuine human exchange through new communication technologies. We do this so we can help our clients’ organizations to act more like humans.'
Interestingly, their accompanying e-zine is called Hot Air.
Ooh good call. I was going to say something but worrying about getting the wrong end of the 'experiment' I checked back to the first post on here and saw the first ever comment - here
Interesting - whilst this is a personal project and many people are not affected by branding (my flat mate seems to have no concept of brand value or added whatever) a lot of people including myself are very susceptible to marketing or at least very much aware of it and you really can feel a sense of drowning in subliminal sales pitches. Whilst any Buddhist can tell you that releasing yourself of wanting will lead you on your way to ‘enlightenment’ most people aren’t Buddhists and most people are very easily led. Considering that Neil edited a style magazine I would say that this is a worthy endeavor which at the very least should produce a book of one mans ‘quest’ for a brand-less lifestyle and to what extent that is possible.
On a side note whilst reading some Brer Rabbit I noticed something interesting -
‘Brer Rabbit kept on asking HER why she wouldn't talk and the Tar-Baby kept on saying nothing until Brer Rabbit finally drew back his fist, he did, and blip--he hit the Tar-Baby on the jaw.’
Anyway surely Mr Boorman has already been, like most of us, attached to the tar baby and just looking for a way out?
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Grumblemouse
I honestly thank you for posting that comment. I'm willing to take criticism (thats what the blog's for) and I realise some aspects of this project are 'folly' (in a way the futility encapsulates the seemingly hopeless situation some of us find ourselves in), but I take exception to lectures from blue skies marketing people who don't take the time to digest the background before laying judgement.
Again, thanks for the support.
Although unbranded, plims were trendy recently after they were seen ont he feet of people like Johnny Borrell and scores of other dull indierock sound-a-likes.
On an old Atari Teenage Riot album, Alec Empire bemoaned the fact that 'Anti-fashion seems to be fashion too by now'.
My town centre seems to be full of indentical goth-lite kids who, with the exception of perhaps NewRock boots, are largely unbranded. Still, they are ultimately just as uniformly turned-out as the 'townie kids' (with their heavily branded styles)they see as a the opposition.
Is branding now so deeply enshrined where even adopting an anti-brand outlook we end up falling into the same bland uniformity that brands are often accused of producing?
If you suddenly lost all your money and could only afford to buy trainers for a fiver would your project be as revolutionary?
Much as I am amused by the flirtation with ad hominem my orbiter dicta seem to have provoked, I wish to take a mulligan, as it were.
Foremost, I wish to extend my genuine condolence that you appear to have taken umbrage to my remarks. I’m quite certain you’re a good fellow. I would happily buy you as many as you can drink in an evening of the lager of your choice (branded or not) should we ever have the fortune to make acquaintance. Please contact me if you ever happen to be in Saint Louis (quality of our local brew notwithstanding.)
My visceral reaction to your experiment (from which I cannot seem to logically unbundle your blog and putatively forthcoming book) is alternately amusement and bemusement. Which strikes me in the broadest sense as a good thing. I am familiar with similarexperiments and, y’know, bully for y’all. Truly. I assume you would like your audience to attend your adventure with some amount of sober cogitation. How can anyone but commend the aspiration to provoke thought?
I hope you see I wish to make no argument with your character, motives, nor aspirations. Where I would like to make argument (primarily for the purpose of mutual edification; but hey, a good argument is what makes blogs go,) is with what I believe to be the core assumption underlying your experiment. Given that my argument is perhaps too long to be politely posted as a comment, I’ve elected to offer it as an entry on bigwidesky’s blog.
Cheers.
Oh, and we call it “Hotair” out of a sense that people who evince a high regard for the importance of their own utterances have few friends, though often many sycophants. Also, please don’t take offence to my use of the word “experiment” as I intend no pejoration thereby.
Oh, and you can find that blog post here.
Eliot
many thanks for posting the comment on your blog. You are indeed right that blogs such as ours are forums for debate, and yours is most welcome. In point of fact, the particular word that I took exception to was 'folly', but that is primarily because my father used to use that phrase on me when I was younger, being the psychological cliche that I am, such paternal memories trigger very negative emotions.
I'll duly post a comment on your blog asap.
I can just about make out Eliot Frick's points beyond the self-consciously verbose nature of his comments. Perhaps he doesn't realise that writing in such an inaccessible, annoying and frankly arrogant manner is about as twatty is some c*nt dressed head to toe in Galliano couture. What a dick.
Plain English is my brand of choice.
"Where I previously sought exotic colours, high-tech design and garish logos, I now seek…. primary school plimsolls."
but non-branded things are not always blank, plain, and boring. find some orange shoes, or paint them yourself. marker up your plain shirts, write your initials on things, or create your own logos out of common symbols like stars or arrows.
i understand that part of your frustration is the abundance of logos&brands around all of us, i share that with you. but shouldnt we be encouraged to leave our own marks, also? graffiti artists and installation artists do this, why not average joe?
if a person were to skip the entire marketing & purchasing parts of the fashion industry they would find some very creative designers, no? then again, i probably spent way too much time around fashion students. hmmm...
ps: i love the idea, and the publicity you have spawned. i hope you benefit from it financially & mentally.
How about sharing your information of shops for getting these non-branded/cheap goods.
How long will you sustain the non-brand life style.
Muji is good for non-branded stuff but it can be expensive (relatively).
Are you hoping to save a lot of money as well by adopting this austere fashion life style (you'll spend it somewhere else).
Why burn the stuff when you can give it to Oxfam or Benardos.
I've just found out about this stunt today. Its pretentious hypocrisy. The act of burning your branded goods after sepnding time advertising it and writing a book about it is effectively you becoming a brand. You are encouraging people to buy into this idea by promoting the notion of not buying into brands - its very clever and it will make you piles of money, which, when all is said and done, is the outcome you set out to achieve. If you truly wanted the brand free, easy living lifestyle, free from the shackles of consumerism, marketing and logos then why didn't you do it quietly, donating your belongings to charities.
plimsols for £4.99... wonder who slaved away to make those.
I realize this is so late that it's unlikely to be seen, but I can't resist pointing out that Eliot Frick is the anonymous poster from this exchange:
http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=24451029&postID=115190994344533147
Triple-click the above URL to highlight all of it for copy/pasting, or, failing that, piece the following together:
http://www.blogger.com/comment.g
?blogID=24451029
&postID=115190994344533147
I would stake my life on them being one and the same. There are many giveaways I won't bore you with; any observant reader will come to the same conclusion.
And I agree with The Unsartorialist -- he is very "twatty," indeed. Or as Piere said in the aforementioned exchange, he is the very definition of "turgid."
If only Neil could have tossed Eliot on his bonfire... *sigh*
Alain de Botton wannabes: "Modern culture is superficial. It diverts our attention to consumerism when it should be focused upon more important things."
Alain de Botton wannabes confronted by a substantive response to their thesis: "Too many notes. Use plain english, dick. We can't address your arguments because you're a dick. It's not an academic argument therefore it is immune to criticism, twat. Oh yeah, and since our interlocutor has used language we find inaesthetic, let's toss his turgid ass on the fire."
Well met, you giants of intellect.
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