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Sign of the (economic) times

Toshiba has just released a set of vision products for the consumer that wants to 'upscale' to higher definition products, but who doesn't want (or cannot afford) the costly outlay of actual HD technologies and services. To promote these devices, Toshiba has just spent £3m on an ad campaign, that includes the 'timesculpture' ad below, made by the ad agency Grey London (the company the created the technique, and what was used extensively in the 'Matrix' films).

US elections

What now for 'brand America'? What it represents, the meanings people give to it, its culture, its society, its role in the world, how non-Americans view Americans, and how Americans view themselves. It isn't as though every American has the same view and goals (unlike some organisations, or rather how organisations should be). America is incredibly divided - just view some of its 'press releases' (e.g. on YouTube).

Brand loyalty

Newspapers are puzzled why a company that makes own branded products for supermarkets - McBride - is doing so badly. Rather, shouldn't it be doing rather well given the 'current economic climate'? The Telegraph (a rare read for a 'liberal' like me) argues that it's either due to brand loyalty or that the downturn has yet to hit. I would prefer to argue that much of this 'downturn' is due to us talking ourselves into it and that some consumers aren't re-organising themselves according to the dominant rhetoric. That is to say, they aren't 'performing' the economic climate 'correctly'.

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The Olympics aren't happening

Around sixteen years ago, the late Jean Baudrillard wrote a book entitled something like ' The Gulf War Never Happened'. It was received with widespread incredulity.

I do not have the gravitas to expect such a response, or rather, any response at all.

Neverthess, if the Olympics are defined by sport, fair competition and so on, the Olympics aren't happening. In their place we observe (and participate in) a spectacle of global capitalism, brands and a country promoting its place (for some, badly) in the world arena. What is particularly pernicious is that the West uses China in such a way that our attention focuses away from the West's record on material inequality, unhindered corporate power and some of the other effects of unchecked capitalism.

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Sites are like, so yesterday

Supermarkets set me thinking about the internet, which surprised me too. The internet seems to me to be slowly becoming less and less about sites (I'm blogging this from my phone) and more about applications, open source, linking, embedding, readers and so on, which are both indicative of and constitutive of a postmodern / late modern way of being identifiable by stitching things together, customisation, optimising, picking and choosing to one's own ends. This is double edged, for although it is undoubtedly an aid to individual agency and a kind of 'playfulness', it can lead to uncertainty, doubt and an absence of a 'knowable' object.

So what does this have to do with Supermarkets?

Brands. Increasingly brand owners set their brands up as providers of structure that both enable and make sense of 'do it yourself' identity, society and culture, viz Google and err, Google. So perhaps it isn't much of a leap to say that I'm not surprised at people becoming more likely to shop around at different supermarkets. Supermarkets are so successful partly because they (appear) to provide so much choice and so many possibilities for identity and ways to be. But, when one of the choices - in this case low prices for particular products - is not on offer at one supermarket but is at another, and when that choice is in demand, then people flit.

Supermarkets and the credit crunch

I was searching for a friend yesterday, who I managed to find over here. And in doing so, I felt compelled to resurrect this blog.

So, there was an article in the Times yesterday, reporting on how the economic downturn is coinciding with two behavioural phenomena. Firstly, people buying the kinds of exotic foods they would otherwise have eaten at restaurants. Secondly, people sourcing the cheapest basics e.g. pasta, flour and so on from the cheaper alternatives.

This suggests, that it isn't the supermarkets that will lose out, but restuarants. On the contrary, they will do quite nicely thank you very much, which is another blow for the independents.

It's also problematic in terms of brand loyalty. It's quite interesting that people are still shopping at Waitrose but then going onto Sainsbury's.

But I can't imagine them visiting Lidl.