Brands

It can be denied that brand marketing and advertising is all around. The media is run by multinational companies. A huge chunk of athletes and celebrities income come from sponsorships by brands. Personally I could never understand how a Shell decal on a Ferrari F1 car made people use Shell and not Caltex. But like my dad says its all about exposure. Yesterday when I attended Youth '10 Conferences, one of sessions by  pop-violinist Dennis Lau made understand a little better about how all this exposure thing comes about. Like he said you need to brand yourself. And in another by Niki Cheong he spoke on how twitter and social networks serve as effective marketing tools and how everything connects. No pun intended TM. So like how I just linked Niki's blog, if you saw his name on this post and clicked the link you may find his which you wouldn't had I not linked it.

Anyway, I personally feel that wearing branded item is a symbol of conformatism. But then again, if you really liked a particular brand like say Nike, then by wearing which would generally mean buying unless you stole it Nike you're helping to tell the world that I like Nike that's way I'm wearing it. I've never really been a sports person so I don't really need Nike. When talking about wearing brands, I generally prefer brands with cool funky designs that portray a message which I support. So normally I wear t-shirts by local brands and organiztions. Like the shirt I'm wearing now is made by local independent designer. I got it at Youth'10 by the way. I feel that youth look at fashion as an expression of themselves. And I don't think it is so much as the brand but more towards the message it carries. So personally I support many social conscious designers as well as local creative organizations.

Among my favourite brands is Mooks because of their graphic design t-shirts. I also like GrafitTee although I personally haven't bought any of their clothes but I still like their stuff nevertheless. Then you've got Bundaberg

 Bundaberg is an Australian beverage company based out of Queensland. When I was 10 we visited their factory during a holiday. Its very hard to find them hear and the only place I get them from is Jaya Grocer in Jaya 33. The taste of their Ginger Beer sure beats F&N.
Most of the time, we get attracted to things by ads. Be it television, theatre, or print media. Here are some of my favourite commercials.

















I've never really been embarassed about associating myself with a brand that I'd otherwise like. For example I wouldn't like to be seen carrying a pink Hello Kitty bag but I don't even like Hello Kitty so regardless of that I still wouldn't use it.

I know you often hear of stuff like don't drink Coke because of Palestine and whatnot. But I personally don't believe this stuff because well I think that if you say all these major brands support Israel against Palestine they'd probably have won by now which they haven't.

My main source of infomation about products I like as with all the information I get is from the internet. Be it blogs, websites, wikipedia, youtube, etc...