Take a look around your home or dormitory room and list all the branded products you’ve purchased, including food, electronics, clothes, shoes, toiletries, and cleaning products. ANALYSIS Now organize your branded items into categories. For example, how many items of clothing are branded with athletic, university, or designer logos? What patterns emerge, and what kind of psychographic profile do these brands suggest about you? (As a reference, use the VALS chart on page 339.) INTERPRETATION Why did you buy each particular product? Was it because you thought it was of superior quality? Because it was cheaper? Because your parents used this product (making it tried, trusted, and familiar)? Because it made you feel a certain way about yourself and you wanted to project that image to others? Have you ever purchased items without brands or removed logos once you bought the product? Why? EVALUATION As you become more conscious of our branded environment (and your participation in it), what is your assessment of U.S. consumer culture? Is there too much conspicuous branding? What is good and bad about the ubiquity of brand names in our culture? How does branding relate to the common American ethic of individualism?
