Balenciaga, Sad Dogs & Provocative Marketing

With information effortlessly transferable at zero marginal cost and social platforms that blast content to the top of everyone’s feed, it’s difficult to for an ethics based on scarcity to sustain itself.

Slightly controversial aesthetics cater to the leading edge of consumer culture, a large population willing to spend money in order to maintain its status. As this group consumes, the cultural Overton window shifts to accommodate more and more radical aesthetics, which lose their novel status as they become normalized. The cultural normalcy spectru... See more

The success of the next decade can't be only defined by the level of consumer spending, we will need common spaces of culture that can hold us together, and brands can play a role in making that happen.

Why does luxury brand Balenciaga sell a $2,000 purse modeled after a $1 blue Ikea shopping bag? What’s behind the craze for seemingly distressed and worn-out Gucci sneakers? What is Sarah Jessica Parker doing rummaging through the dusty clothes in Rome’s Via Sannio flea market? Why is Cracco, a Michelin star–winning Italian chef, using commercial p... See more

Brands and commodities therefore need to be considered and critiqued on the basis of the specific cultural and economic contributions they make to society. People co-create their identities with brands just as they do with religions, communities, and other other systems of meaning. This constructivist view is incompatible with popular forms of post... See more

We live in a time where brands are expected to not just reflect our values but act on them. Trust in business can no longer be based on visual signals of authenticity, only on proof of work.

In CAPS LOCK , Ruben Pater traces the evolution of branding from livestock to slavery to mass-produced goods. Today it has obviously gone lightyears further, grooming every part of an experience that may not even be associated with a product you can hold in your hands. He writes: “Even a well-designed brand for a museum still uses the same logic of... See more