bok wrote:brand loyalty/hatred is pretty pointless for the most part and it can become evangelism. and with evangelism there is usually no way to "prove" one thing over another.
This is a result of an advertising shift in the 80s. Some (really smart)guy came up with the idea to sell a brand name as a culture, rather than a product. The goal was to promote an irrational loyalty to the brand, irrespective of what it was.
It was pioneered by Apple in it's famous 1984 Super Bowl ad, where the woman runs out of a group of mindless clones and tosses a hammer at a giant screen with a Big Brother type character. It was a classic Us vs. Them ad. One of the interesting things about it that remains in these types of ads today, was that they never actually showed the product they were supposedly selling. It didn't really matter, because they were selling you an image, not a computer.
This type of advertising is quite prevalent today. Nike, Harley and others have made great use of this type of cultural conditioning. You can see the result of Harleys efforts on any motorcycle forum, and in people who buy Harley branded items, even though the don't even own a motorcycle. They've done remarkably well, and I applaud their marketing savy.
Two other biggies that have latched on to these methods are the two major political parties. It's no accident that people these days seem to be sharply divided along political lines. In the old days, most people identified themselves more as middle of the road, politically speaking. That has been changing perceptably over the last decade. What I find amusing is that there is very little functional difference between the two parties, yet people will come unglued defending their particular brand.
It's fun, it's silly, it's pointless, and rude at times.
