Bonfire NIght
i came across this guy (www.bonfireofthebrands.blogspot.com) over the weekend. he is planning to burn every branded item he owns and set out on a life without brands. his blog documents his journey into a brandless lifestyle, which sounds harder than one might think. how for instance do you wash without branded soap?
living without brands really appeals to me. if we open our eyes in our cities we will see practically every building, every window advertising something. our culture seems to have gone mad, trying to convince people that we need stuff. and the thing is if we think rationally, we know that clark's trainers aren't really any worse than the latest offering from nike's technicians in oregon. we are just buying an image. an image which relates to another image which relates to another image. it is my belief that if we followed the advertisers, we would eventually all become victoria beckham, who herself is just the creation of the media. no wonder celebrities go crazy. take chantelle and preston from this year's big brother, a parable of our times. she was a model, paris hilton look a like who went on tv pretending to be famous. he was in a pretty much unknown band called the 'ordinary boys'who went on tv to get exposure. she fakes being a celbrity and in the process actually becomes a celebrity by virtue of being watched every day and then being beamed into our living rooms every evening. they come out and immediately do the ok, hello scene and she 'lives the dream', while he goes back to being ordinary in his band. she still looks like paris hilton but now has her own makeover show, encouraging girls to change how they look to impress the base male. if i were them i would have absolutely no idea what reality was. tv and the media have created this hyper reality which we all get sucked into and somewhere along the line the gap between the image and the original get completely lost. we are all like bruce lee, another legend who lives through the small screen, in in the hall of mirrors scene from enter the dragon.
so well done the bonfire man! i have a feeling that this is exactly the type of thing people like jeremiah, ezekiel and jesus would be if they were around in our culture today. (although this might all be an advertising trick to establish a brand so we will buy his book?...)
having said all that i don't know if i could live without an apple ibook or kikkoman soy sauce...
living without brands really appeals to me. if we open our eyes in our cities we will see practically every building, every window advertising something. our culture seems to have gone mad, trying to convince people that we need stuff. and the thing is if we think rationally, we know that clark's trainers aren't really any worse than the latest offering from nike's technicians in oregon. we are just buying an image. an image which relates to another image which relates to another image. it is my belief that if we followed the advertisers, we would eventually all become victoria beckham, who herself is just the creation of the media. no wonder celebrities go crazy. take chantelle and preston from this year's big brother, a parable of our times. she was a model, paris hilton look a like who went on tv pretending to be famous. he was in a pretty much unknown band called the 'ordinary boys'who went on tv to get exposure. she fakes being a celbrity and in the process actually becomes a celebrity by virtue of being watched every day and then being beamed into our living rooms every evening. they come out and immediately do the ok, hello scene and she 'lives the dream', while he goes back to being ordinary in his band. she still looks like paris hilton but now has her own makeover show, encouraging girls to change how they look to impress the base male. if i were them i would have absolutely no idea what reality was. tv and the media have created this hyper reality which we all get sucked into and somewhere along the line the gap between the image and the original get completely lost. we are all like bruce lee, another legend who lives through the small screen, in in the hall of mirrors scene from enter the dragon.
so well done the bonfire man! i have a feeling that this is exactly the type of thing people like jeremiah, ezekiel and jesus would be if they were around in our culture today. (although this might all be an advertising trick to establish a brand so we will buy his book?...)
having said all that i don't know if i could live without an apple ibook or kikkoman soy sauce...
posted by chris at 10:21 AM
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