Bonfire of the Brands

[tweeds]

interesting little tip from CoolHunting.com

Neil Boorman is exactly the kind of bloke you would expect to see dressed from top-to-toe in labels. As founder of the Shoreditch Twat, DJ at London club 333 and a writer for The Guardian, brands that you or I might covet, from Apple to adidas, have decorated every part of his life. Until now. You see, he's decided to burn all of his branded gear on a big, cathartic bonfire on 17 September 2006. All the shoes, clothes, designer bags and even furniture will go on it, with only a de-badged laptop remaining.

Neil's blog is at http://bonfireofthebrands.blogspot.com/, and he has a pretty wicked sense of humour. I'm not sure what to make of his project (or lifesaver, whichever you call it), but i'm on the whole very amused. The idea of brand catharsis through burning is a bit dubious...it seems like a futile act of hopeful self-fulfilment? Or maybe i'm just brand addicted myself.

btw, he's keeping his "branded" girlfriend/fiance/wife too, she's an artist of some sort i hear and really you couldn't expect him to be throwing her onto the fire, could you

[mike lowrey]

seems dumb as hell to me..

[Cue]

i've been reading his blog for a few months now, and think it's really interesting.

sure he doesn't have a defined idea about how he will live a life with no brands. For example owning a car, buying basic food items and essentials, but the blog follows one man's thoughts through how he has been sucked into the marketing vortex, and, i think, that gives food for thought.

The actual burning is just a symbol to get people interested, it's the thinking behind the move that is interesting.

[tweeds]

yeah i get that, it's just...i dunno, a bit too much hype for me. like CoolHunting pointed out, his plimsolls are just about the most stylish non-branded thing around now anyway. there's still that need to dress and act a certain way that goes beyond just brands, it permeating all our perceptions of self and others and for me he hasn't gotten over that.

but then again it's like performance art, and performance art asks many questions doesn't it? i'll applaud his project from a distance but i'm not sure what i actually feel about it.

[minya]

Bleh. Yet another tired act of anti-consumerism that goes so far anti- it just swings around and becomes a different shade of pro-consumerism (also see Adbusters releasing their "Blackspot" sneakers... HAHAHAHAHA)

Anti-branding/anti-capitalism/anti-consumerism is so obnoxiously mid-90s. Eat my shit, Naomi Klein.

Yes, nearly all aspects of human society have become branded. Yes, marketers and companies lie to us, attempt to manipulate us, and try to influence us to buy their products. The way to deal with all of this isn't to burn everything you own and attempt to become "post-post-materialist," because you can't -- you'll just make a fool of yourself in the process. The only way you deal with it is by becoming educated, learning to distinguish between real facts and sales pitches, and being able to discern the motives of people trying to suggest things or goods to you.

[sneakerstar2]

Bleh. Yet another tired act of anti-consumerism that goes so far anti- it just swings around and becomes a different shade of pro-consumerism (also see Adbusters releasing their "Blackspot" sneakers... HAHAHAHAHA)

Anti-branding/anti-capitalism/anti-consumerism is so obnoxiously mid-90s. Eat my shit, Naomi Klein.

Yes, nearly all aspects of human society have become branded. Yes, marketers and companies lie to us, attempt to manipulate us, and try to influence us to buy their products. The way to deal with all of this isn't to burn everything you own and attempt to become "post-post-materialist," because you can't -- you'll just make a fool of yourself in the process. The only way you deal with it is by becoming educated, learning to distinguish between real facts and sales pitches, and being able to discern the motives of people trying to suggest things or goods to you.

Well spoken!

[sybaritical]

+ Side

Boorman wrote the Shoreditch Twat.

- Side

It's a tired gesture that's been done before with more grace and for better reasons.

He's definitely media hungry and is milking it for the personal column inches.

He's only doing it because he can afford to do it. When he stops

waffling it's a lo-tech high exposure personal marketing exercise.

And most importantly:

Despite his apparent dedication and earnest attitude He doesn't grasp the

concept of sustainability at all.

Believe me I could go on all night.

[tweeds]

it's only Boorman, sybaritical, don't waste the energy.

i propose chimps be made a symbol of anticonsumerism

ah yes, the word i was looking for - tired.

although i'll admit i cringed a bit seeing the hideous orange adidas sneakers go up in flames in the early blog posts...

[mike lowrey]

when I said that its dumb, it was short for what minya wrote

I agree with him on this

[andewhall]

New Zealand gets a mention with some reasonably fluffy questions? It wasn't me

"1.00: do a radio interview for a station in New Zealand. Again, the questions are reasonably fluffy, so not too many problems. Can't quite believe that this project has spread from my front room in London across the world to New Zealand."

EDIT: Should try and sell him some hand made, unbranded Jeans.......for $500?

[werdtoyourmoms]

read "the society of the spectacle" by guy debord

[watchman]

Bleh. Yet another tired act of anti-consumerism that goes so far anti- it just swings around and becomes a different shade of pro-consumerism (also see Adbusters releasing their "Blackspot" sneakers... HAHAHAHAHA)

Anti-branding/anti-capitalism/anti-consumerism is so obnoxiously mid-90s. Eat my shit, Naomi Klein.

Yes, nearly all aspects of human society have become branded. Yes, marketers and companies lie to us, attempt to manipulate us, and try to influence us to buy their products. The way to deal with all of this isn't to burn everything you own and attempt to become "post-post-materialist," because you can't -- you'll just make a fool of yourself in the process. The only way you deal with it is by becoming educated, learning to distinguish between real facts and sales pitches, and being able to discern the motives of people trying to suggest things or goods to you.

very well said. Although in many cases branding has become peoples motivation to buy products, and buying for the prestige or status that brand seemingly entails is rampant, the fact is that in many cases the brand serves as more than something to impress people, and is truly a badge of quality or craftsmanship.

[xcoldricex]

uh, is he even anti-consumerist? according to his post he spends "70% of my waking life sitting in my flat writing and reading, the other 30% looking for brand-free stuff in markets"

that's probably more than the avg. person shops.

[familyman]

He starts with an interesting idea but really looses some of his credibility when you read the part about his vacation to the US. He stays with people that are basically brand blind and fails to recognize that there is a middle ground between overt display of brands and completely searching out non-brands. I really think he just likes shopping and he derives as much joy from actively shopping for non-brands as he does being a brand whore. What would be a revolution for him would be to do something other that concentrate all his energy on shopping and just buy simple things that work when he needed them. He'll never do that, he's a shopper.

[viv1984viv]

god I hate that sort of stuff, well said minya.

I remember loads of kids in college thinking they were anti-capitalist cos they wore skate shoes intead of nike etc. Fools.

[fixoid]

i hope he reveals the whole thing to be a "viral" for nike.

[drgitlin]

Man, I miss 333. You can imagine that Lexington, KY doesn't have an equivalent...

[MilSpex]

Buy up motherfuckers, the bigger market we create, the more brands and choice are available to us and the highter the quality gets.

I hate the Guardian. Fucken commies.

[sybaritical]

i propose chimps be made a symbol of anticonsumerism

Hallelujah.

Addendum:

I've consulted my lawyers and it's green light, but I need image rights, a

decent logo and 75% over the first two years.

[prufrock]

even as a liberal, i hate the anti-consumerism movement. gives liberals a bad name. educate yourself bitches.

[tweeds]

Addendum:

I've consulted my lawyers and it's green light, but I need image rights, a

decent logo and 75% over the first two years.

yeah, and my lawyers say you're going to get apples, that's what you'll get.

now we must fight to the death

p.s. i couldn't find a chimp and anyway i'd have to pay you royalties to mock you.

[tweeds]

um, but seriously i did think he had a bit of a point, he just lacks any sense or moderation...i do agree that brands and advertising while indelibly and inextricably bound to our lives can become suffocating - and i guess anti-consumerism is a backlash to that. it doesn't do itself justice though, and neither does boorman. like i said, i'll do my bit by following the whole episode from a sufficiently safe distance.

[hotboyx2]

Yet another act for self promotion I say. And indeed the whole brand-whore thing is getting tiring.

[echoepidemic]

This destroys the hopes and dreams of those young Taiwanese workers. And it's also a mega waste of cash.

[KLAUS]

Hope he burns his computer soon

[sybaritical]

Nawh, man. Fucker got Apple to make him an unbranded one.

[hotboyx2]

Hahahaha! So true...he bought an Apple...