Branding a product is about getting you to like it.
When Pepsi went up against the giant soft drink company Coca-Cola, they did something that was pretty new at the time.
In the early 1960s, the advertising company BBDO (Batten, Barton, Durstine, and Osborn) made the “Pepsi Generation” campaign. This well-known campaign was made to draw younger people by making a connection between Pepsi and a young, active, and laid-back way of life. The idea behind the “Pepsi Generation” was to set Pepsi apart from its main rival, Coca-Cola, and make Pepsi the drink of choice for a new group of forward-thinking people. The effort helped Pepsi grow its market share and improve its image as a brand.
Later, Apple would do something similar by relaunching their company with ads that encouraged people to be creative, express themselves, and be themselves. In both cases, they talked about who people were and who they wanted to be, suggesting that using their products would turn you into the person you’ve always wanted to be.
Brands want you to feel like you belong to them so that you’ll be loyal to them and spend your money with them not just today, but hopefully also tomorrow.
Politics for consumers
Politicians also want to know what you think, but mostly because they want your vote and money for their campaigns. In a consumerist society where the only thing that counts is buying things, they’ve learned from good marketing. This may be why we are living in the age of “identity politics.”
Identity politics is a political strategy or point of view in which people or groups form alliances and work for their own goals based on things like race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or social class. Or, to put it more simply, it’s about getting you to believe that the political person or group is on your side and that everyone else is wrong. It’s controversial because it might make people focus too much on the differences between groups instead of their shared goals and things they have in common. It also breaks up political groups and makes it harder for society as a whole to move forward.
Religion for consumers
It isn’t wholly different for religion, unfortunately. In the United States, a religious organization can rake in billions of dollars without paying a penny of taxes.
You don’t get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion.
L. Ron Hubbard, former science fiction author who started Scientology
In a world where everything is a business, capitalism has taken over religion as well. Even though I’m sure that millions of people who call themselves Christian, Muslim, Jew, pagan, Wiccan, etc. are true believers with good intentions, the truth is that we’ve made a world where nothing can live without enough money.
If you love your mind, set it free
If you love something, set it free; if it comes backs it’s yours, if it doesn’t, it never was.
– Richard Bach
Part of the founding purpose of this website is to free people’s heads. We don’t want your mind; we think if you see things as humans were meant to see them, we’ll all be on the same side regardless. That side is the side of life, as we know it.
The first and most repeated exhortation on this site is “know thyself.”
This site’s viewpoint is one of old wisdom combined with an unwavering embrace of science and technology. We believe that, in this age of fast technological growth, the knowledge of the ancients can help us navigate a world in which science fiction is becoming reality on a daily basis.
I’ve spent my entire life studying computing technology and ancient wisdom. I certainly do not have all of the answers. What I can tell you is how you can better prepare yourself to assist me – to assist humanity – in finding the answers.
I don’t want to control your thoughts, and I certainly don’t want mindless followers. I want to share what I’ve learnt with others so that we may all work together to preserve the world.
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