Be your own person

If I try to imagine a world without branding or influence or without any third party steering all I envision is prairie. Vast expanses of meadow with sunshine sprinkled by a light breeze willing the wild flowers to dance and fill the air with sparkling pollen, iced with the ambience of plump song birds.

However, in reality a world and a life without advertising would be very different indeed, in fact I think life would almost cease to exist – the way we know it anyway.

For nearly a century words for common objects have been replaced with brand names, products such as Coca-Cola, Hoover, escalator, Xerox, Google, Photoshop, pogo-stick, yo-yo, aspirin and many, many more. These words would not exist any further, can you image saying “can you please input this into an internet search engine”, instead of “Google it”. Madness.

Advertisement also provides a topic of conversation between acquaintances and provides the essential outreach for companies to make their money. If the consumer does not know about a product they are of course less likely to buy it.

Though, If I look at the other end of the spectrum it seems to make sense concidering the wider state of things.

Imagining a crowded street free of grubby posters, scrunched up hand-outs and blinding billboards seems soothing and cleansing. Like finding the key to a Secret Garden. A red London bus would become an object of interest within itself and not for the reduced price Botox injection ad plastered on its triumphant left side.

I feel like we humans are all puppets on the strings of these money grabbing brands, we see an ad, we buy the advertised, they make their money. Forever steering us away from things we see every day which have wonder and enjoyment within themselves.

Maybe it is time to step away from the mainstream and create our own worlds for ourselves, focusing on the things that we overlook.