Today it was announced that Microsoft is ‘king’ of the UK brands. They came top in a judged survey based on quality, reliability and distinction. The leading brands are deemed to offer “significant emotional and/or tangible advantages over other brands, which customers want and recognise”. I don’t know why Microsoft came top – they don’t score for me on any of the measures. My PC is always crashing becasue of them.
Brands are one of the ways we seek to belong to our chosen herd while differentiating ourselves within it through tiny signals of style and taste. We get the security of belonging and the feeling of freedom. Of course the brands just want us to buy and use our emotional needs to sell us whatever they can. The word brand comes from the mark placed on cattle to prove ownership. Is it better that someone brands us like slaves or that we work to buy to brand ourselves?
I’m sorry to say that you will just have to buy a Mac. You will find it as good as your iPod. Mine doesn’t crash. I don’t know why Microsoft comes top either, but their progammes are pretty amazing really. We just take them for granted. Get a Mac and use Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Sorted.
Companies are not evil. They are doing what comes naturally. It is the job of government to provide capitalism with a human face. You can’t blame a lion because it eats other animals. That is what they do. Demonisation is never going to be a path to the new society.