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No. 37405
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>>37402
While I believe politics have replaced religion, I think brand loyalty may be to an extent a replacement for tribes and communities similar to sports for a long time now, but mainly it's about one's projected personal image.
In political obsession, I see people treat political figures like deities. I've seen some people even compare those who wont be named to Jesus. They hang on these people's every word, they think what the party/religion tells them to think, they buy what they're told to buy, they hate who the party tells them to hate, and they elevate the leaders to unrealistic levels while forgetting they're just people at the end of the day. I don't think it's a coincidence the word "cult" is being tossed around a lot in politics these days.
Hard core brand loyalty on the other hand, with the exception of perhaps apple or tesla, don't generally have a figure head for people to wordship. It's not about a belief set or life style principles as we're seeing with politics, it's about identity and belonging to a group or team. When someone buys "Supreme" products and ensures the name is plastered across everything they own, what they're really buying is an image, something that proudly boasts who they are and what group they're affiliated with. That brand might be something that says "I'm better than you because I know about this cool product only cool people like me know about". Or someone might subscribe to energy drink brands, falling for the advertising campaigns and trying to give off the wild cool rebellious energetic impression. They might cover themselves in Adidas to look like a rich athlete, or whatever the hell those Russians are going for when they do that.
That said, I think the more mild form of brand loyalty is simply a case of people sticking with what they know, or what has served them well in the past. I keep buying ThinkPads, because I've had little issue with them vs other brands which appear more unreliable in my limited experience. I'm also guilty of having a bias towards sony products in spite of disliking the direction the company has gone and having issues with their more recent products. In that case it's less objective decision making and more a nostalgia and a sticking with what used to work, even if it doesn't anymore. Humans do this a lot I think. If something works once, and it becomes proven, they'll assume it will continue that way and these people will stay with it even when it starts to do more harm than good. Hell, they even do this with other humans. Of course I may have also succumb to the 'image' appeal, maybe part of me felt that brand gave off a clean cut image, one of good reliable reputation.. Even when you know what industries do, it can be hard for someone who's only human to resist their manipulative tactics. Lord only knows how much money and research some of these companies have put into understanding the human mind and how best to take advantage of it. People who think they haven't been manipulated to even some degree, probably just don't realize how bad they have it.
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