Days Eight/Nine/Ten

So, I only have a few things about brands. I'm pretty close to brand-blogged out.

First of all, people who brand their cars with Jesus-fish shouldn't drive like jerk. I got the finger yesterday from someone sporting a moving ad for the Lord. Not cool. (By the way, I had my blinker on to change lanes and was in process of moving over when the afore mentioned Jesus-loving-jerk pulled out of a parking lot and into the lane I was moving into thereby forcing me to cut them off, earning me five minutes of the lewd gesture in my rearview mirror.)

I'm realizing that I don't think about brand outside of shopping very much because for a lot of things in my life, I just don't care. I like taking Advil, but I'll buy generic ibuprofen of any random brand. I bought some iPod socks to keep my portable electronics from being scratched, but the iPod brand were $30 for six tiny cloth pouches. In stead, I bought the off-brand for $5 and got the same benefit.

I haven't been sleeping well. I've been an insomniac since college. So, occasionally, I take melatonin to help me get to sleep. When I buy melatonin, or any other vitamin for that matter, I don't care about brand at all.

I don't care about my brands of clothes. I don't care about my brands of beer (sorry Garrett!). I don't care about my brands of shoes, although there are brands I like, ultimately it's about comfort and fit, and I'm all over the board. I don't care about brands of tissue. I don't care about brands of toilet paper, as long as the ply count is appropriate. I don't care about brands of food, because I shop what's on sale. I don't care about brands of gasoline when I'm paying on my own. (Technically, my dad is footing my gas while I'm in school, and he gets a credit card kickback from Exxon, so I care now on his behalf.)

I'm finding myself troubled by the pervasiveness of brands in my mind. That I could be so aware of brands without even knowing I was being indoctrinated is terrifying.