This gets us closer to the source of the problem, which is a monocultural system that has thrived on the commodification of resources — human, natural, intellectual, etc. — to essentially perpetuate itself. Brands, of course, reflect this, but more so at a subconscious level because they typically don’t see how they contribute to corrosive economics. Perhaps part of this is the exceptionalism and associated memes that American society has advanced through various capitalistic mechanisms. We call this the ‘plantation economic framework’.
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean, nothing more nor less.” “The…medium.com
As for culture itself, we might have to move beyond reactive modalities and into more proactive types of roles. The more obvious distances between reality and illusion are found in our marketing, design and innovation practices. Less obvious are the ways in which we can make existential commitments to shift realities and create new ones.
This isn’t a ‘brand’ problem per se, but threats to the ways we actually live and work, consumption and consumerism being primary culprits. Brands can only really continue to exist to solve major socioeconomic problems, create resources they may not actually own, and therefore provide alternative forms of sustained value. Still provocative is an idea that a valuable brand creates things for people even when it is not selling a product or a service.
These notions are of course not taught in our institutions, yet more and more people and organizations are considering polymathic, emergent approaches to design, to creativity, and a whole host of disciplines. Why? Because they’re coming around to the acknowledgement that we can no longer operate in illusion. So, we can have the courage to face reality, or, we can continue to pretend that brands matter by virtue of what they say rather than what they do.
The latter is no longer really an option, as you point out in this piece.
Cheers, Grant.
P.S. This is what we’re doing to create new economic realities. We are partnering with a few select groups across the brand, policy and design worlds as we take new ventures & commissioned projects into market.
