The New Age of Company Branding

       In the Frontline Documentary "Generation Like," the film discusses a new type of way for companies to "brand" their products. As said by Mara Einstein, branding is an attempt by companies to "create loyalty among its customers."(p.71) The ultimate goal of branding products is so the brand "becomes part of popular culture." (p.71) In the past, the branding of products had to be done by the companies through commercials, billboards, and other means of trying of show their product to the masses. The rise of "generation like" has shifted more of the responsibility of spreading the brand to the consumer. In today's Internet, the consumer spreads the brand's message through the use of "likes" and "sharing." In the documentary, a film called "The Hunger Games" used unpaid social media users to spread the message about the upcoming movie. This new way of advertising brands works because people trust other people more than companies and having your friends endorse a product makes you more likely to buy that product (as well as tell your other friends about it).

       Another central goal of branding is to creating a specific identity. People choose specific brands to create their own identity. These brands define us in society (and we want them to define us). The brands a person wears tells us about their wealth, family, religion, and many other things. Today, it is one of the central ways we define people. Social media has allowed us to expand how we identify ourselves. We create an online identity by "liking" and "sharing" brands online. One's "likes" are identified for all to see, and is a prime way companies target specific customers. "Liking" an Oreo with gay pride colors as the center combines the use of social media and brands to define us. Branding and the use of social media compliment each other, as both try to put people inside a community of like-minded people, hopefully creating a long-lasting following for both the brand and for the person. 

Branding and our Identity

           

As a capitalist society, the importance of companies and brands in America cannot be understated. The power of marketing can be seen everywhere around us, whether it be a simple commercial on television or a more subtle sign in the Hamilton diner encouraging you to drink Coke. This has an important effect on our individual and collective identities. According to Mara Einstein, “Brands are not just perceptions about a product or service, they are also bits and pieces of our identity” (Einstein, 73). In many cases, people will actually pay more to make a brand a piece of their identity. A plain white shirt is a common and cheap item, yet when Kanye West designs and brands one, it sells for $120. People believe that by purchasing and wearing the "Hip Hop T-Shirt", it incorporates Kanye's brand, and even his persona, into their own identity. This is what APC, the company that manufactures the Kanye clothing line, aims to accomplish. This is a very common phenomenon throughout marketing and branding. Gatorade’s marketing campaign that simply states “Be Like Mike, Drink Gatorade” is a particularly blatant example of this.

            This phenomenon of forming an identity through branding has helped replace religious identity in an increasingly secularized society. As Douglas Atkin explains, “People today pay for meaning more than they pray for it” (Einstein, 73). With the rise of mass media, the prevalence of branding has changed how we inherently define ourselves. In the past it was family, friends, or religion. Today, our identities can be formed by a patchwork of logos, slogans, and brands. This morning I saw a student wearing a Nike Hoops sweatshirt, along with Jordan sweatpants and shorts, probably indicating that they play basketball and identify with the overall branding message of Nike. On the other hand, that same student would never dream of wearing a Hello Kitty shirt, as it would distort the carefully constructed identity that he, and everyone else, creates for themselves. This common societal understanding of what companies represent shapes the brands we choose to incorporate into our identity, and is replacing traditional sources of identity.

Brands, Religion, and Social Media

In Brands of Faith, Mara Einstein states “branding is about making meaning- taking the individual aspects of a product and turning them into more than the sum of their parts.” This connects to social media, because as demonstrated in the movie “Generation Likes,” kids are creating their own brands through social media forums, like Facebook, YouTube, and instagram. There are the less intense examples, like the kids sitting around trying to carefully construct their facebook pages. This brings up the question, do these social media forums allow people to demonstrate their true self? The answer, in my opinion, is no, because they are controlling what aspects of their personality the public can see. This careful construction avoids showing flaws, which is a key aspect of someone’s true self. However, then you have the more extreme examples, like Tyler Oakley, or the eight-year-old skateboarding YouTube star, who takes his identity as a skate boarder and turns it into a somewhat crude and pornographic image. He creates this image because he know it is what will get him the most views because its what the public wants to see. That is the key to branding and marketing. Companies are constructing products in a way that will help them gain profits and customer loyalty. In the sense of kids and social media, “likes” are forms of profits. Those who gain so many likes are the ones who are wealthiest in the social media world because people are receptive to the things they post. That’s why the face presented on social media is not a true self, because kids are putting up the things they think people will be receptive to, not what they actually like. That shows how similar social media and branding really are.

This “reliance on brands for identity stems from a sense of rootlessness.” This is where religion comes in. Religion was created, originally as a simple cult, in order to bring people together and provide them with a community. That, as Eisntein states in the book, is the same reason for the creation of brands. Brands give people something to share and to form a community over. Brands, like mythologies, work together to create a sense of wholeness from society.

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.

Religious Branding: From The Super Bowl to Mormonism

Religions and brands create myths for understanding the world. Products and faiths are both sources for identity creation. From the marketing side, there have come brand cults; now, religions are faith brands” (Einstein 92).

As Mara Einstein explains in her piece, “Branding Faith,” in the same way religions have offered myths to help followers understand their world, brands have done the same for consumers. Companies advertise by placing their products within a lifestyle or story, which connect with the viewer, associating the product with the viewers’ feelings of connection and familiarity.

This 2014 Budweiser ad which, aired during the Super Bowl, shows the myth of a connection between a dog, horse and owner that transcends time and space and compels animals to act in ways we objectively know would never happen. In just sixty seconds, this story tugs at the heartstrings of the viewers, takes them on a ride of emotions, and finishes with a happy. The advertisement leaves the viewer feeling warm hearted and often times, desiring Budweiser beer.

As Einstein suggests, religious faiths have become brands. The Mormon Church has taken out ads in the program for The Book of Mormon advertising their faith. In the process, an entire system of religious beliefs, practices, and rituals becomes a product to be advertised and branded. In this case, the Mormon Church must combat impressions that viewers of the show might have after watching a musical that highlights many of the outlandish parts of the religion.  Therefore, they fill the ads with very normal looking people, hoping to give Mormonism a very welcoming and appealing brand.

Religion and advertising often intersect in the realm of media and popular culture, borrowing from each other and practicing the art of branding.

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.