OUGD401: Study Task 08 - Practical Exploration (Initial Thoughts / Ideas)

What is the relationship between branding and the consumer self?

Given that my essay was about the relationship between brands and consumers, the underlying question that I chose to focus on was who holds the power within the relationship and to what extent.

After analysing several sources relevant to my question it soon became clear that the brands have the upper hand within the relationship. In most cases, brands can manipulate consumers to buy products they don't need or even want, through clever marketing and advertising campaigns that shed light on a new 'revolutionary product' that will in some way improve their lifestyle, their relationships etc. even though this obviously isn't the case for the most part.

So following on from this fact, my initial thoughts for my practical investigation to go along side my written essay was to look along the lines of branding a 'product' which is something that we already have as a given, that we don't need to physically buy.

The first thing that came to mind was human rights; these are something that every human being has and is entitled to, regardless of any other environmental factors.

A few examples were things such as:

- The right to life
- Freedom of expression
- Freedom of thought, belief and religion
- Right to participate in free elections
- Right to education

I thought that branding something like this in such a way that is done with most products these days would put emphasis on this idea that brands are infinitely powerful when it comes to controlling consumers on a physical, mental and emotional level.

Given that a big aspect of selling products to consumers is the aesthetics of packaging/product etc. this is one thing that reels people in to buy more products they don't know and spend more on certain brands they feel are more 'luxurious'.

Examples of Branding

Packaging

Even though these are only basic products that most people will buy on a regular basis, by branding them in such a way that makes them feel more high quality, even though the product may be the same as others, people are deceived into believing that this product is better out there than others simply because of the way it looks. 

This is something I want to harness within my idea, creating something that appears as though people would feel the need to buy it, even though ultimately it's something that doesn't need to be physically bought.