Mnuchin's wife isn't the only one defining herself through the brands she promotes
Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin’s wife, Louise Linton, did herself no favors when she took to Instagram this week to brag about the luxury brands she was wearing and then belittled a commenter who called her out for her let-them-eat-cake behavior.
“It’s as stupid as stupid gets,” said Leslie Goldgehn, a professor of marketing at UC San Francisco.
But I’m not here to join the chorus of critics who have made Linton the poster girl for crass, tone-deaf displays of wealth and thoughtlessness. I have another question in mind.
Why do people do this?
I don’t mean why people behave so atrociously. I mean: Why do consumers — even those in the pampered One Percent Club — so eagerly embrace corporate brands and make them their own?
It’s not a new phenomenon, of course. Consumers have been associating themselves with favorite brands for decades — logos on T-shirts or sneakers, designer goods that all but scream the designer's name.
What’s changed is the way social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook have taken things to a higher level, making brand identification more powerful, more tempting and potentially more dangerous.
http://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-mnuchin-wife-luxury-brands-20170825-story.html
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