Branding & the Baby

By steve on December 29th, 2005

[this entry by Steve]
 
Kate and I are fairly anti-brand-name. Whenever we buy a new bag, we take scissors or a felt pen to the logo to make it disappear. I did the same with the stickers on my laptop. I believe the value of something is intrinsic in the object itself, not in the name someone attached to it.
 
We’re going to apply the same ideals to Zippy’s life as well. We don’t want to set Zippy up for a lifetime of marketing by creating early fondness for Mickey Mouse or Elmo or any of that associated crap. Kate and I have good imaginations, and we want Zippy to have a good imagination, and so we’re hoping to create our own stories and our own mythology to replace the overpriced shortcuts one can buy from Toys R Us.
 
Like any ideal, this one will probably find all kinds of exceptions once it meets reality. But I still think it’s good to know what our standards are even when we feel the need to violate them.
 
Kate pointed out that if we’re going to stick with this no-branding ideal for Zippy, we should really start with ourselves. I’ve got a small collection of Spongebob Squarepants paraphernelia that really has no value except that it is Spongebob-esque. Kate has a similar Powerpuff Girls collection. I guess, in keeping with our ideals for Zippy, it’s time to pare our collections down. But there’s no way I’m getting rid of my Patrick the Starfish Christmas ornament.


Filed under: consumerism, parenting, pregnancy
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One Response to “Branding & the Baby”

  1. Hello, My Name Is Kate » It’s possible, and not even that hard Says:
    March 7th, 2008 at 4:20 pm

    […] some strong ideas about what we would and wouldn’t do, especially as it relates to gender and consumerism. However, I always kept an open mind since I didn’t really know what it was like to be a […]

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