Revisiting a Life without Any Logos

Nike
Columbia
REI
Roxy
Calvin Klein
Coach
Baby Phat
Wal-mart
Disney
Victoria Secret
Guess
L.E.I
Quicksilver
O'Neil

Maui & Sons

Today, and the past few days I have been trying to composite my own list of logos that have been an influence in my own life. And today like any other I wanted to see if I could live without these brands for a day and I could say that I probably could for the most part but in reality I can not. From  the moment I wake up I see brand names in my own room staring at me like Roxy and Nike. Why? I would ask myself and I said, well as mentioned in the previous blog many of us buy brands not really for the quality but for the image it presents. Do we really think the quality is the main factor to purchase these items, perhaps so, but again is it really. Some of these brands I buy because it seems to fit and others I buy like Guess and Baby Phat for their name. As for Coach, I purchase handbags to have something of quality that is often because I am trying  to fit a certain image and create an image away from my class and economic status.   As for Roxy,  slippers or flip flops range from $25-$34 and majority of them are made in China. Then later on, I tried to look up where Roxy is manufactured and instead I would find websites that mention their history and that this is a "lead brand for active girls" since 1993(A Brief History of Roxy). Other websites mentioned that a real reason why they chose the name "Roxy" is for the mere fact this word sounded like a punk brand or club.  I am no active girl at all. These type of images as in their ad campaigns try to reflect an empowered woman/girl both physically and  emotionally.  These ad campaigns try to convey this message to fit an idea for every girl either a punk rock girl, surfer girl, an active girl, or just a girl with freewill. Also, they try to project  this perfect lifestyle, perfect wave, and perfect day without any complications or any problems.

For most part, I buy Roxy for its comfort  and for habit now; however, the real reason why I bought this when I was younger is because the image of being free spirited person and trying to fit into this kind of surfer girl lifestyle in which I never fit in nor did I ever surfed until later on in my life.  As a result,  I find that Roxy and many other brands mentioned here can correlate with Naomi Klein's argument of how we fall into this idea image of lifestyle that these ad campaigns creates. In a sense, this is a form of escapism from our own reality that perhaps might be glimmer. In fact, today social injustices are occurring everyday especially how racism is still being perpetuated in many public institutions such as in our public schools and in the workforce in which people of lower economic standing attend school with little resources and the hierarchy of the payment distribution of salaries and treatment at work for many individuals are different depending on their class, race, and gender . The bombing of ads in our own life and elsewhere create an image that potentially harms and undermines the reality of are own individuality because one is following an image often at times that are geared toward white middle class America. For Roxy, this to me seems like a key example not only to who it tries to gear their ads to but also to influence young girls to follow this perfect  body image and person.  If we think  about the bigger picture, this is creating a form of normalizing a certain perspective of how people should be perceived and generating more social and class differences among individuals here and elsewhere.
   In sum, I find myself being disgusted with myself as I look in the mirror and figure out why I buy the things I buy. Then I found myself thinking,  could I live without brands perhaps yes one day but then I realize would the brands allow us to live without them, no.

Work Cited:

" A Brief History of Roxy." Wahine Surfing. 22 May 2004. 16 September 2011.
< http://www.wahinesurfing.com/article.asp?id_article=65>.

"Quicksilver" Wikipedia 2 September 2011. 16 September 2011. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiksilver >.

No Logo Brands, Globalization and Resistance.  Dir Naomi Klein, 2003