Well, I was randomly thinking about brands and how people become so obsessed with them, which triggered curiosity of a relationship between the two. As discussed in class this week, humans recognize brands at young ages and those brands tend to follow us through our lifecycle. We all have our favorites and least favorites. Normally, we don't purchase or use products from brands that we don't like, and vise versa. The name of the brand is one of the biggest factors in the decision process. Other features or price can be considered or sacrificed based on the brand at hand. Personally, I believe that when a consumer lowers their standards for a product or service because their desired brand doesn't facilitate those standards, then that consumer is "whipped". In this instance, this term just means that the costumer will buy from that brand regardless of the quality or features of the product. Only a consumer with a strong an loyal relationship with a company would be willing to do such a thing. If you translate this scenario from a company to a well-known person or celebrity of some status, that obsession creates a type of parasocial relationship. Do you see the resemblance? Can there be parasocial relationships with brands?
Again I was just thinking a little and decided to make it a blog. Hopefully someone else reading will dive into the discussion a little with further insight.
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