Why Naomi Klein is wrong
Branding has to do with loyalty. While Naomi Klein is cynical about branding and thinks that branding is manipulative and destroying humans–brands cannot exist if humans don’t believe in them. In our generation, a brand has to go beyond a product. It’s how the consumer connects to the personality of the brand. This generation believes in “doing the right thing,” and “cruelty-free” brands who are involved in endorsements and social responsibilities.
For example, I read a recent article about how Blue Bell had to recall all of their products and shut down the entire organization because of the listeria issue. They screwed up the entire brand because the listeria issue had been going on for five years and they lied about fixing it. When 4 individuals died because of their products, then it was okay to take action. When (and if) Blue Bell returns, I don’t think they would have the brand loyalty anymore. Why would anyone want to buy their product–even if they fixed it–when there’s brands like Unilever and Hagan-Daaz who haven’t lied to their customers about something that can put them in danger?
The same also goes for employees working for a brand. I wouldn’t work for a brand/company or buy a product if I don’t believe in the ideas and values of the brand.
Here’s a video from Entreprenuer that successfully defines why branding is so important and Naomi Klein is absolutely wrong.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHbKgA9mENw
One response so far
But there is a flaw in your reasoning, you’re implying that people will have perfect knowledge about their brands when in most cases that’s completely false. Maybe its the over saturation of branding on everything but its not more important then the individual product. Branding definitely plays a large role in consumer relationships but mostly its because of the capitalist values that we put so much stock in branding to begin with. 4-5 years from now Blue Bell is going to be back on the market but under a different brand and no one is going to be able to tell the difference.