Brand loyalty

I was at the cash register in a bookstore when they asked me if I was interested in getting a customer loyalty card. I hadn't been exposed to the term in person yet, and my face instinctively broke out in a rictus snarl. I didn't think of the proper response until I left, which is of course to ask about the punishment for disloyalty. perhaps a "D" for disloyalty on the forehead. I would turn to the shareholders and exclaim: "A fair mark, my Lords."

The term branding is not a coincidence. Marketeers think of you as cattle, and who can blame them? That is what you get when you behave like a herd. It's not you showing off what you own, it's them.



Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. It's a bit too easy to deride advertising in any form when it obviously pays for so much. The entire entertainment industry is dependent on it. But it's not like you are powerless to defend yourself against this system. They are desperate for your money and there's no reason you shouldn't treat them like the overeager suitor they are.

Every company in the world would love to know what you will buy. Market research for toys is an ongoing torture chamber for the big toy companies, who honestly have no idea how to get children to buy something, unless they actually want it. If the movie industry was smart enough to realise that they have the same problem the music industry still has, they would implement the same solution. It really isn't that complicated anyway.

Big Corporations also care what you think, because it's profitable to do so. P.R. damage equals serious losses in their books, so don't hesitate to vote with your wallet. We have the luxury to make these choices now, so why shouldn't we? Unethical practices disappear quite quickly when sales suffer. It's far from perfect, most companies just shift the slave labour to a vendor, but they won't be able to keep that up forever.

The real advantage of multinationals being the only world wide organisations that will set policy in the future, is that they are a lot more vulnerable to checks and balances than a national government with a set term in office. They will rule a world where they are dependent on a fickle consumer with constantly changing needs and allegiances, who will turn on the corporations like rabid wolverines whenever they don't get what they want.

But I love foie gras, in spite of what they have to do to those geese to get it. Sometimes cruelty is just tastier. I don't see a problem with anesthatising piglets for castration, but if it doesn't happen, I won't stop eating pork. The weak link in that positive consumer-driven future is that people are easily satisfied idiots. Democracy did not work as advertised either. Realistically, don't give up the samosas made from ground-up Chinese fetuses, but demand that it consist of at least 90% unwanted children.