After that thing I told you about the other day…about how I chose some @sartorisan.brand over some Nikes, I started wondering…man…I’ve probably spent Hundreds of Thousands of dollars on Nike’s products over the years. I wear Nike clothing nearly every day of my life. I have represented the ‘swoosh’ for a good 35 years of my life. And what has it gotten me, exactly? Does Nike even know my name? (If Dot.swoosh is any indication, they don’t - for some reason my account has someone else’s name in the profile when I login lol)
I know we all like to think we’re clever and we all like to think we know what we’re doing, but…we’re really no match for marketers. The stories and the ideas and the nostalgia and the feelings that we get from pledging allegiance to a brand CAN and ARE formative…but…is it cheap?
There’s this woman I grew up with…and I follow her on social media. And she follows me. And…I don’t know if she’s like a therapist or a healer or something…but…her posts pop up on my account all of the time and the level of depth she posts with makes me feel like such a wanker. Like, while she’s posting about love and acceptance and friendship and parenthood and these sacred things, I’m posting about consumer products, likely exacerbating the corporate power structure that I despise…
I see a lot of posts from (bigger) sneaker influencers, where they talk about the way these consumer products make them feel, and the emotional and figurative feelings they derive from these consumer products and I think…’yeah…I was delusional once, too.’ And it makes me think about the message. What is the message we are getting? What is the message we are internalizing? What is the message we are spreading? Is it that products are the sole focus of our existence? Is this really what we are using to feel things? Is that what we are using to justify our lives? It’s…weird. I dunno. I’ve read the Bible multiple times and have read a million books about love and life and to think that our purpose is supposed to be wrapped up in shoes…it’s…weird. Isn’t it?