Brandwashed

I know I’m in the minority in not wanting to serve as a walking billboard for clothing manufacturers, but Martin Lindstrom’s new book Brandwashed: Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us to Buy reminded me of how much of a minority I am.  On p. 122, he cites evidence that “just under half of all the teens said that if there was no visible branding, they wouldn’t buy an item of clothing at all.”  If one is not wearing the "right” clothing with a logo to prove it, well, there goes popularity.

His book, by the way, has a wealth of fascinating and unsettling information on how susceptible we are to the techniques of persuasion.

Boogie Boards & Brookstone Logos

The Boogie Board is something of an LED Magic Slate.  It looked entertaining, so I bought it despite the annoying logos.  Not only does one get "Boogie Board," but Brookstone added its logo as well.

To increase my frustration, it turns out amazon sells it for $10 less than Brookstone with a slightly less intrusive logo in place of Brookstone’s:

Smart Phone Logos

Although I am an Apple fan, I'm slightly annoyed that when I receive a message from someone, the default tag is "Sent from my iPhone." The Blackberry adds a similar tag. Why should I care what type of phone the sender is using?

Once again, an obnoxious logo.