When They Talk about Branding, Do You Feel like a Cow?
March 30th 2011 19:45
And other business inanities.
I can’t count the number of business seminars I’ve gone to where some networking guru would stand up there with an absolutely straight face and go on and on about how you have to “brand” yourself, or about how you have to be constantly on the lookout for opportunities for personal branding.
Right. Not a trace of a smile. Not a hint of irony. Not a clue that their words were absolutely hilarious and macabre.
Do they not get it? Are business-types that clueless and humorless? Are they totally oblivious?
Let’s not be so hard on them. There are many, many very intelligent folks out there in the business world. Really, there are. Are any of them conscious of this subliminal meaning? You bet they are. They just choose not to point it out because they’re hoping you won’t think of it.
They’re trying to appeal to the masses, you see. And they hear everybody else talking about branding, so they’re hoping you’ll accept the term and not think of the other meaning. They’re busy enough with trying to survive the crappy economy, after all—and so they’re not willing or able to put a lot of time into coming up with original phrases. They just try to put a new spin on the catch-phrases that seem to be working for others.
But in a way, it’s always been like this. Remember “think outside the box?” Remember “paradigm shift?” There was a time when you couldn’t turn around without having your box examined or your paradigm shifted—both of which sound intensely uncomfortable, if you stop and think about it. Businesses always steal popular words and phrases from others. That’s how it’s done. In advertising and public relations, people often keep what’s openly called a “swipe file,” which is exactly what it sounds like.
So, OK. Somebody took the noun “brand,” which came from the brand cowboys put on cattle (which, by the way, came from way back in Middle English. The term firebrand was actually a burning hunk of wood, and even then, people then used fire to mark things.) Companies and businesses of all sorts had to have a “brand.” It was rather natural that they turned it into a verb. Cowboys “branded” the cattle. No problem there (except for the cattle). The really obnoxious part happened when they started applying it to people. Branding was—and unfortunately, still is—a convenient way to torture people.
I really don’t want to think about personal branding, and I certainly don’t intend to consider branding myself.
I can’t count the number of business seminars I’ve gone to where some networking guru would stand up there with an absolutely straight face and go on and on about how you have to “brand” yourself, or about how you have to be constantly on the lookout for opportunities for personal branding.
Right. Not a trace of a smile. Not a hint of irony. Not a clue that their words were absolutely hilarious and macabre.
Do they not get it? Are business-types that clueless and humorless? Are they totally oblivious?
Let’s not be so hard on them. There are many, many very intelligent folks out there in the business world. Really, there are. Are any of them conscious of this subliminal meaning? You bet they are. They just choose not to point it out because they’re hoping you won’t think of it.
They’re trying to appeal to the masses, you see. And they hear everybody else talking about branding, so they’re hoping you’ll accept the term and not think of the other meaning. They’re busy enough with trying to survive the crappy economy, after all—and so they’re not willing or able to put a lot of time into coming up with original phrases. They just try to put a new spin on the catch-phrases that seem to be working for others.
But in a way, it’s always been like this. Remember “think outside the box?” Remember “paradigm shift?” There was a time when you couldn’t turn around without having your box examined or your paradigm shifted—both of which sound intensely uncomfortable, if you stop and think about it. Businesses always steal popular words and phrases from others. That’s how it’s done. In advertising and public relations, people often keep what’s openly called a “swipe file,” which is exactly what it sounds like.
So, OK. Somebody took the noun “brand,” which came from the brand cowboys put on cattle (which, by the way, came from way back in Middle English. The term firebrand was actually a burning hunk of wood, and even then, people then used fire to mark things.) Companies and businesses of all sorts had to have a “brand.” It was rather natural that they turned it into a verb. Cowboys “branded” the cattle. No problem there (except for the cattle). The really obnoxious part happened when they started applying it to people. Branding was—and unfortunately, still is—a convenient way to torture people.
I really don’t want to think about personal branding, and I certainly don’t intend to consider branding myself.
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Comment by Norm
Consumption Malfunction
Equal and Opposite
Arses and Elbows
Footy Power
Comment by Dan Cottone
Rootless
I thought you were having me on about cattle/capital, so I had to look it up: "cattle - chattel - capital." Amazing!