Branding Identity

            The film, “Generation Like,” illustrates how social media and celebrities function religiously. In a media obsessed society, communities are formed online among individuals in the same fan base of films, television, or music. People gain celebrity and icon status when they accumulate a following, like Tyler Oakley after making his own YouTube videos. The film interviews different kids that have gained recognition through social media. One girl, a hunger games fanatic, says that gaining followers and status on social media has given her a sense of empowerment.

The kids depicted in the film had a false sense of empowerment. Their actions were conforming to what they believe will give them the most attention or validation, and thus they are stripped of their identities. Their new identities are created by obsessions they have or the brands they are promoting. Mara Einstein mentions that “scholars and social critics also clearly identify commercial culture as the source of identity creation.” This is evident with Steven Fernandez, who becomes a walking advertisement for the skating companies that support him. With fame Steven Fernandez transformed into “Baby Scumbag.” After his transformation, Steven no longer makes videos to show his skateboarding skills, but rather to gain attention and views on YouTube. The desire for attention and support from sponsors pushed Steven to create videos with sexualized women and guns, ultimately leaving behind his adolescence. 

Branding, Icons and Religion

We are our own media companies. We create ourselves and ‘brand’ ourselves anyway we like. We are empowered by the web, and the web is empowered by us. But is this really the case? How much are we really in control of our own identity? As Einstein writes in her article, “identities are constructed through consuming”. Therefore, we are not the product of our hard work, dedication and beliefs, but a consequence of what we buy (clothes, cars, laptops etc.). The brands we wear and the things we buy are more than just goods and services, they play a vital role in communicating our ‘true’ identity to the rest of the world. This branding translates to the online world, where the things we share, tweet and like become the primary means of revealing our characters.

This communication is very critical for the “like generation”, not because it reveals their personalities but because it provides a source of validation, as well as connection to the celebrities and the online community. One source of validation comes from the idea of being liked by lots of people. If that happens, you become an icon, a secular source of  “divine representation” that can inspire others. This is where religion and identity branding meet. Tyler Oakley and Steven Fernandez are true icons in this sense, they have the capacity to induce powerful and transformative experiences within a group. Their fans look up to them for a number of reasons, either in search for a life advice or simply to be entertained. Neither Tyler nor Steven expected to reach these levels of followers at first, yet the idea of being liked and “worshiped” as a celebrity was definitely flattering.

After reaching this level of celebrity adoration, how much are they still in control of their own identities? It seems like both had to give up parts of who they are in order to reach that status. Inevitably, both of them had to adjust their content according to their needs or the desire of the fans, whether it was advertising their sponsors or adding naked girls to the videos. In the end, it seems like it’s the fans and the followers who are the true marketers, they have the ultimate power to make Tyler and Steven alter their identities in order to meet the demands of the web community.

Branding Religion

     Religion and marketing share a chief interest; proposing a "product" that is meaningful and valuable to a mass of people. Religion is associated to a variety of intended "products" disguised as faith, values, and guidelines that offer individuals meaning, purpose, and order to their worlds.
     In The Language of Clothes, Alison Lurie provides a literal example of clothes and jewelry as products in religion that both help project one's religious identity and symbol larger aims of their perspective beliefs. Thus, a cross on a chain becomes more than a piece of metal to a Christian; it becomes a representation of Jesus Christ, of sacrifice, and of faith. Similarly, in her piece Branding Faith, Mara Einstein articulates the function of branding in marketing: "branding is about making meaning--taking the individual aspects of a product and turning them into more than the sum of their parts." She illustrates that consumers are taken by products because of the ideas they represent, whether that becomes a symbol of social status, wealth, or reputation. This becomes most apparent in commercials for products where the message becomes very far-fetched from the actual product. In a 2014 Super Bowl commercial titled "Puppy Love", Budweiser promotes its drink by illustrating an unbreakable bond of friendship between a puppy and the animals/people on a farm, ending with the pun-y hashtag, #bestbuds. By appealing to the deep meaning of friendship, and the undeniable cuteness of the puppy, the company is able to attract a vast array of consumers, uniting them under the feeling invoked by the commercial. Frontline's documentary, Generation Like promotes the same idea, where marketers analyze consumers' interests and friends through things like Facebook to gage future consumers and open their markets to different communities.
     Religion functions very similarly. Although these religious "products" don't have to be tangible, they can "sell" someone like Jesus Christ or something like the idea of salvation to different consumers by applying deeper meaning and purpose to these products.

The Power of Social Capital

        In the movie Generation Like, the lives and experiences of several young adults are chronicled. However, these aren't your typical teens. Most of the kids covered are exceptionally popular on social media. Whether it’s as The Hunger Games’ number one fan or as a YouTube sensation, these individuals have distinguished themselves as important figures in their field. Are these kids empowered then? Can it be called power if the rewards and accolades only have value in certain realms?  

        It could be argued that these kids are working towards arbitrary rewards. They are competing to see who can gather the most likes, the most views, or if you’re a Hunger Games fan, the most sparks. At first glance, these prizes only seem to be a measure of popularity. However, upon further examination, there is actually far more to them. These kids are working towards building up social capital. Social capital is the accumulation of relationships with people in power and the recognition of these relationships by one’s peers. Essentially, it’s who you know. So, although how many views Tyler Oakley receives on his videos may seem insignificant to some, it’s actually incredibly important. The more views Tyler receives, the more companies want him to endorse their products. Through social media, Tyler is able to build relationships with very powerful companies. He is able to acquire social capital. Therefore it is important to recognize that what seems arbitrary to some, is in fact very powerful to others.   

        In religion, the significance of seemingly meaningless rewards is very common. To outsiders of a particular religion, what is deemed important and what is considered useless may seem completely random. However, to members of that religion there is actually a fair amount of power attached to these values or rewards. Just as Tyler Oakley receives social capital for reaching one million views, so does a priest who’s demonstrated the utmost devotion to his faith. Furthermore, it is critical to recognize how these varying forms of social capital can transcend their specific realms. For example, Tyler was once just popular on YouTube. However, as he’s attracted the attention of prominent companies, he is now a voice in the media, teaches seminars to young professionals, and ultimately has become an influential figure. His power has extended beyond the domain of YouTube. The same occurs with religious leaders. Centuries ago, the Pope had immense political power in Europe. Even today, what he preaches impacts the way individuals vote, act, and live their lives. Although these figures acquire social capital within a specific field, once they have obtained enough they are able to exert their power across many different domains. Social capital, thus, possesses the ability to transcend its original borders. 

Our New Technological Identity

We commonly associate ourselves with our religion and we find it part of our identity or soul, so I'm curious to know if by losing our identity to technology (i.e; cell phones, laptops) that we as a society as a result are becoming less religious.  In the times of our forefathers, many activities and forms of entertainment were religion-centric, with many of the stories and a great amount of literature being religious myths that were taken from the holy books such as the bible and then expanded upon by the present day culture.  In today's society, religion doesn't have as big of an impact as it did in past years.  Today, people are consumed with watching television, playing on their computers, or utilizing social media so it asks the question: are we losing our religious identities to technology?
This is a difficult question to answer, and to do so, one must define an identity.  In the simplest terms, your identity is who you are as a person, your beliefs, your passions, your personality.  So in theory, it would be expected that technology could enhance your sense of identity by being connected to people with similar beliefs that would have never been connected before.  But in actuality, people become so intertwined with their celebrity gossip or hunger games fandom that that stop being present in the actual world, choosing instead to live in a virtual world.  For that reason, I believe that people are actually losing their identities, making religion less of a factor in their life.  With losing their identity, people slowly start to lose the components of their identity that make them who they are, including their religious beliefs.

The Social Media Atheist

The Social Media Atheist

     

     In her book, Branding Religion, Mara Einstein draws important comparisons between marketing and religion, arguing that they share many essential qualities and function similarly. For example, Einstein says, "Consumers see religious products as means of expressing their faith while merchandisers see products - including religious practice itself - as means to spread the faith." Here she is arguing that religious products, like a Star of David for example, function in the same way with respect to spreading one's faith, Judaism, as a pair of Jordan sneakers do in spreading one's identification with the Jordan Brand. Similarly, in Generation Like, the documentary implicitly argued that social media also functions similarly to religion as users strive to gain the most 'likes', or popularity, and present themselves in the ways that they would like to be identified by others. However, while Einstein and Generation Like argue that both branding and social media function religiously, there is an important 'sect' of individuals and users that aren't quite covered by their arguments.

     Neither of the two pieces touch on the atheist category. In the case of Einstein, the atheist is someone who purchases products from companies that don't actively use their products as marketing tools, while for Generation Like the atheist is someone who doesn't constantly post in search of 'likes' or doesn't even participate in social media at all. Since the rise of social media and the omniscience of branding and marketing, those that have actively participated in these practices have become the face of the issue, leaving the atheists overlooked. While the over-consumption of branded products and social media is still a concern, there are still billions of people who don't have internet or buy consumer products. Are we really faced with an epidemic, or are we just allowing the news and media outlet convince us that we do by putting an emphasis on the people already infected?

Sports and Religion

“I've tried 'em all, I really have, and the only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the Church of Baseball.” (“Bull Durham”, 1988)

Sports fans are more than just spectators; they are active participants in the religion of sports. For fans and athletes alike, sports provide a fulfilling sense of identity and community through its rituals, symbols, and relics.

Years ago, my family set out on a road trip to see every Major League Baseball Stadium in the country. Each stadium had a unique vibe and they each had their own traditions. The Anaheim Angels have stuffed “rally monkeys” that the fans hold up and shake when they cheer. The Phoenix diamondbacks have rattlesnake shaped rattles that the fans shake to make noise and distract the other team. Entering the stadium was like entering a whole different realm. The outside world ceases to exist and all that matters are the two teams about to play each other. The ritual of games is like a break from the monotony of everyday life; it’s when the end of the circle of routine veers out to become an enriching spiral.

 There’s something special about going to see a game rather than watching one on TV. Both rituals have distinct characteristics and superstitions. I like to think of watching a game on TV to be like a prayer group, whereas going to a game is like going to a religious service. Sports are the organized religion to correspond with the human need for play. Sports allow for play to remain present in your life past the age where play stops being socially acceptable.

Sports are a neutral zone. We create rules and narratives in attempts to make it all fair. In theory, the team with the most skill and the best technique should always win. But because of chance occurrences and weird coincidences, that is not always the case. Sometimes the wind blows too strongly in one direction or someone accidentally trips, but we chalk these unpredictable events up to result of superstitions. If we do not wear the right socks on game day or watch the game with the right people, everything will fall apart and our team will lose. In these superstitions, we create mythologies and stronger connections to our teams and our favorite athletes.

In 2006, Johnny Damon was traded from the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees. When he was on the Red Sox, he was known for his rugged look, but when he switched to the Yankees they made him clean up. My friend’s dad was the one who cut Damon’s trademark hair off, and to this day my friend has a box of Johnny Damon’s hair. That box of old hair is much more than just that, though. That hair is a relic; a myth; a symbol.

Religion in Sports

People may watch sports because it gives them a sense of community or sense of belonging within their fan base.  You celebrate with them, you mourn with them and within this community you share similar traditions.  In terms of tradition, everyone knows the same chants, can sing the same songs, and wear the same colors.  For example, at a Boston Red Sox game everyone knows “Sweet Caroline” and every Notre Dame fan can sing their fight song at the end of every win.  This sense of tradition also helps breed superstition in which fans feel they can directly impact their team’s performance by the things they do, such as wearing the same pair of socks or sitting in the same seat every week.  The character in Bull Durham plays into this sense of community because she feels that by sleeping with players, she can directly influence their performance and this also may help play into her sense of community because she feels personally connected with the teams success. 

So whether it’s wearing the same socks, or sleeping with the players, superstition is a large part of sports.  Its not only fans, but the players as well, Michael Jordan wore his North Carolina Basketball shorts underneath his Chicago Bulls shorts every game (and apparently it worked out pretty well for him).  Fans’ superstition also expands into marketing campaigns, and companies appeal to the fans’ consumerist interests.  Campaigns such as “Be Like Mike” or “Bo Knows” capitalize on fans’ obsessions of sports icons, and attempt to sell products with player’s names on it.  Fans buy these products under the false illusions that the t-shirt or shoes they wear will somehow improve their performance and they will play like their favorite superstar.               

Sports Culture

Laderman define sports as a "ritual activity [that] inspires behaviors and motivations that express prevailing values and ideals as well as less ennobling, more notorious acts that subvert those very principles and demonstrates just what is at stake in play" (48). Similar to religion, rules in sports are reinforced and sometimes broken and changed to fit into modern ideologies. These rules in turn establishes a routine for both players and fans. Laderman stated how "every game is a ritual reminder and reaffirmation of rules and law, boundaries and prohibitions that will, of necessity, break down (52). Furthermore, sports offer a realm in which people get to lose themselves in a different world. Sporting events allow people to change their appearance for a couple of hours so they can be united with other people of the same interest. Thus, sports are a unification medium in which people who will usually have nothing in common can become best friends within a couple of hours by wearing the same symbols of uniforms and logos. That is why sports is a billon-dollar industry in establishing 'brands' in which "material value is given to athletes, owners, and corporations" (Laderman, 44). People are drawn to sports because "the game is predicted on familiar sights and sounds, movements and interactions" (53-54). They find comfort in knowing that they can expect certain aspects of sports (since it is structured), while there are also parts where they cannot predict, such as the outcome of the game. 

The analogous nature of sports culture and religion allows for the utilization of the sports in navigating theodicy. Sports games offer fans a guideline. Generally in every game, there will be a win and loss, good calls and bad calls. Sporting events offer a picture of the dynamic between good and evil but on a much smaller scale. As a result, sports fans are conditioned to accept injustices – from players who use steroids to referees who make the wrong call. They have a well-ingrained means of navigating perceived unfairness. Although the injustices fans face are far less severe than those in the real world, their experiences can still be applied to reality. Essentially, the dynamic between good, evil, and justice presents a guideline that can be utilized by the sports fan in both real world experiences and sporting events.

Sports and Religion

Sports and Religion

     In order to first understand ritual in sports, it is necessary to define what a ritual is. Rituals give bonding, while also granting freedom to a group of people in a shared context. In terms of sports, symbols play an important role in supporting ritual. For example, players go about their daily rituals in order to elevate the overarching symbol of their franchise. For example, every game for Michael Jordan, a “sports deity”, was an opportunity to partake in the rituals of basketball to both represent the symbol of the Bulls, and his own symbolic representation of the Jordan brand (Laderman 59).

            Sports themselves offer an alternative movement to religions that offers the opportunity for people to both religiously follow athletes and teams. For fans, sport creates “enjoyable diversions from daily routines, a model of order and coherence, and heroes to look up to and follow” (Laderman 47).  Within the context of Bull Durham, the character Susan Sarandon portrays describes her plight of trying to find a religion to follow, and eventually chooses baseball because “it is the only church that feeds the soul day in and day out”. For her, and many other fans, sports fulfill similar spiritual needs as traditional religion does by taking people out of the profane and bringing them into the sacred. In other cases, it can serve to bring order and healing. For example, after the September 11^th attacks the Mets played a very emotional game in which Mike Piazza hit a game clinching home run in New York. According to a widowed wife who attended the game: “when Mike hit that home run, the release of everyone around us was just incredible. We never thought there would be a light at the end of the tunnel” (Botte). This is also an example of how sports can work as a force of theodicy, as they bind “fans athletes and teams together around idols that are worshipped in ways that, for some, create shared experiences and memories as impressive and meaningful as any other sacred encounters in this life” (Laderman 62). This ritualization of sports brings together the entirety of humanity by taking the universally familiar aspect of play and giving it religious connotations that transcend everyday life.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/9-11-family-forget-mets-piazza-article-1.1470645

Luis Serota, Eric Seiden, Eric Lintala

Relevant Christian Rock Rituals

How have Christian churches responded to the pervasive ritualistic culture of rock concerts?


Rituals provide places of safety in which individuals can access and play with the sacred. Although normally associated with baptisms, Bot Mitzvas, and funerals, rituals can also take the form of concerts and raves. In many ways, concerts have served more ritualistic purposes than church services of late, by providing "the possibility for fulfillment and transcendence individually and with others" that many churches have lacked (Laderman, 39).


The few churches, like Hillsong, that have adapted their ritualistic processes to meet the current culture have been critiqued as having thin theological practices and being opaque in their beliefs. Hillsong itself provides a Christian rock concert vibe, and “In sensory stimulation, Hillsong’s productions rival any other contemporary form of entertainment" (Paulson). It is this ritual change that has not only drawn tens of thousands of people to its churches around the world, but has enabled Hillsong to share other Christian rituals with thousands of people who have never heard of God. In this way, Hillsong’s ritualistic concert services have become a “prosperity movement for the millennials” that have converted rock fans, hipsters, and celebrities, like Justin Bieber, alike into Hillsong groupies and have brought relevance back to Christian rituals (Paulsong). This freedom and love that Hillsong provides in its concerts has opened the world of Christianity back up to people seeking the "sacred source of religious life" in music that has been devoid of so many Christian churches of late (Laderman, 24).





Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/10/us/hillsong-megachurch-with-a-beat-lures-a-young-flock.html?_r=0

Music and Ritual

Religious rituals are often connected to the human life cycle and to human crises. Many people turn to music in times of crisis or trouble. Music provides a spiritual connection that allows its listeners to feel comfort or sympathy. Because of this, bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, or Nirvana, developed mass followings with religious connotations. Concerts became ritualistic, with fans worshipping their idols from their seats. This ritual began to extend into people's homes and daily lives. Fans hang up posters of their favorite artists up on their walls or write lyric quotes on their belongings. People are so obsessed with worshipping bands and music that we have even created The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where fanatics can go to worship and bond with some of their favorite musicians.


Laderman says, "Americans… have turned to music as a sacred source of religious life, discovering the rhythms and beats, lyrics and sentiments a valuable way to escape." Many individuals turn to music to escape the realities of their everyday lives. We choose to worship music because we are attracted to the lifestyle it presents.   We may never experience life on the road or the struggles that musicians go through, but by investing ourselves into their music we are connecting to an entirely different world.

Why We Worship

Why is that masses and masses of people devote themselves to celebrities? What does the individual take away from celebrity worship?

       In Sacred Matters, Gary Laderman attempts to answer these questions. He equates celebrity worship and religion: “…but not really religion – rather a secular version of more authentic religious devotional practices, a displacement of a deep human need onto stars rather than saints…” (Laderman, 76). A critical aspect of Laderman’s argument is the notion that the underlying principle behind both types of devotional practices is “a deep human need”. There is a human desire that underlies ritual practices, but as Laderman suggests, this need may not be inherently tied to religion. Perhaps, this desire is a fundamental component of human nature that is fluid enough to be transferred into other areas of life. So celebrity worship may be functioning religiously but both are actually a function of something far deeper.

       This need seems to operate on two levels. Firstly, it serves to connect the individual to his or her reality. Why is that people care so much about incidents like Robin Williams’ death? What is it about these celebrities that cause us to invest so heavily in their lives? On the day that Robin Williams died, I recall seeing numerous Facebook posts and articles about people’s favorite Robin Williams’s movie or how much a certain character meant to them. The popularity and widespread appreciation of celebrities make them an integral element of society. Since celebrity worship has become so pervasive, people use them as a means of establishing their cultural identity. Writing a Facebook post about your favorite Robin Williams movie may seem trivial but doing so sends a message – it says that you are a participating member of this society because you have felt and can recognize the importance of this man. You are aware of what makes this society what it is. Although it may be subconscious, it is a means of acting out identity. Just as going to church and participating in rituals is a way of performing identity. It is representative of the human need to feel connected to a community.

        The second function of this “deep human need” is orienting the individual to a divine or otherworldly realm. A connection to a world outside our own seems to be a basic human desire. People attempt to fulfill this need in a multitude of ways – religion, celebrity worship, fantasy football, and the list goes on and on. Nonetheless, the desire for a connection to a world that exists outside of our own seems to be common among many. Why do we crave this connection? What is it about reality that we feel we need an escape? Perhaps transcendence offers us the opportunity to discover aspects about ourselves that cannot emerge in reality. Elements of who we are that must be suppressed because of societal rules or expectations. It provides a sense of freedom that cannot be accessed in the mundane realities of the world. The most extreme cases of these attempts at transcendence are individuals who use plastic surgery to look like celebrities. As drastic as these measures are, they are merely reflective of the fundamental human desire to move closer to one’s perception of the divine.