Why ISIS is a far more authentic brand than Coke?
I was sweating profusely before I pressed Publish
Last night as I was writing this, I read that some lady in US was zeroed by the FBI for updating her Facebook status with “I love ISIS”
That scared the sh*t out of me.
Yes, it is THE Isis we are talking about.
And I will sort of write good stuff about them today.
If I get locked remember that I always loved you. And you too.
I get these ones often:
People like you. Devastating.
I don’t get it.
I don’t get how can some writing of mine take away your ability to take the deepest breath ever, hear the sound of the birds, smell the flowers and express gratitude.
They don’t get it either.
They don’t get it how can someone says that ISIS is a more authentic brand than Coke.
I may sit in the last rows for watching the world burn
But I will definitely lit the pyre that would burn brands away.
Few days ago I’ve attended a DesignXDesign event where the theme was “Brands — a double edged sword.
(ISIS, swords… I don’t like where I am taking this..)
I asked one of the speakers:
Can you try and imagine a world with no brands? Can you describe that world to me?
She gave a deep thought.
Brands serve the purpose of making your choice easier. Without brands we would be overwhelmed by the sheer diversity of choice.
Another speaker added that brands were there hundreds of years ago, even before that. The famous kings. Genghis Khan. We’ve never known a world without brands.
I think I have. I think such world exist. I think it is a beautiful world.
Choice?
I am having a pretty easy time with my ability to choose.
That’s because I am having pretty easy time with my needs. I don’t need a house to buy or American Dream to live.
I do not require car in the era of Uber.
Smartphone? A scientifically proven but well covered information that iPhone generates the most amount of radiation of every goddamn smartphone that ever exists ensures that I will never choose an iPhone.
If you don’t believe me install Talk On app and then go ahead and find the story of how Steve Jobs banned this app.
McDonalds versus Burger King? Fruit salad and whole grain bread will do it in the morning.
Shoes? I haven’t worn a shoe brand in year, yet that didn’t diminish my enthusiasm in running or exercising or waking up to do yoga at 5 am without having a Rebook mat.
Point made?
Brands are curse made possible through the logic of capitalism and disseminated through media, especially television.
A famous leader of CNBC network once admitted –
My task is to fill the time between the ads with content.
Woooosh….
Today’s most popular brands have extended their reach through various other channels but for FMCG television remains a primary channel, that dreadful device that we sit in front of as if we are paid to do so, get obese and let our realities be reshaped.
Brands rely on information asymmetry.
The boatload of money they put to capture the bandwidth of every information channel we experience ensure that we know of no alternatives no better ways, no better products, nothing of perhaps the first car invented which doesn’t have the same dreadful horn since the first car was ever made.
Point to think of. Why no one changed that piercing sound that became the hallmark of the city life? Whether you are talking about $3000 or $300,000 car, the noise is the same.
Brands ensure that we live in information limbo.
By now you can see how I feel about brands about them making my life better and easing my ability to choose.
But why I would say that ISIS is a far more authentic brand than Coke?
First of all I dislike Coke profoundly.
I would love my grand mother more than Coke, may she RIP.
I’d love my dog’s poop if it was a brand more than Coke, even when I step on it accidentally.
I can hardly recall any other brands that deludes us into false universes more than Coke.
- Ultimate happiness — my ass
- Share a moment — my ass
- Send a sugary water to someone in Indonesia — My ass.
Is it that difficult to sit down and remind yourself that at the end you are doing nothing but drinking one of the unhealthiest sugar bombs ever invented?
Here we come to the capital problem of brand
The authenticity of their promises
Perhaps that’s what bothers me the most. Not the very existence of brands but how authentic their promises are.
As you all know Coke’s promises are just too far from what Coke really is.
But what about ISIS?
That pure form of evil?
The brain child of deluded religious radicals?
I won’t debate them beyond the point here. But you must agree that on the criteria of authenticity ISIS stands as far better, more trustworthy brand than Coke.
Mind the phrase — “Brand authenticity” before you pounce. That’s what we are talking about today.
ISIS wants an Islamic dominion and it intends to achieve that via terror. Day or night you can be sure that this is how ISIS is and this is the message it uses to attract armada of followers.
You can love ISIS, you can hate ISIS but at the minimum you can be sure of the promise and the consistency of the ISIS brand.
Something not the case with Coke. They say happiness. You get diabetes.
Shared moments? An unhappy diabetic wouldn’t have much to share apart from his plea for health. And so on..
ISIS? You can be damn sure of the evil they stand for and their mission. Their brand will never let you down on that one.
Pardon me if I went too far at any point but please try to ponder on the meaning of these words.
Then perhaps together we can work out something like Trip Advisor for brands where every single brand would be exposed for what they truly are, not what they promise (it wasn’t my idea).
For ISIS may not be the greatest evil around after all…
