Born To Buy

After reading the excerpt and the prompt, I realized that I have very few brand loyalties… but I do have specific preferences like Ford trucks or Dell computers with windows operating systems… and if I think about WHY I like these brands, I think about how they are durable and reliable. My family has owned a 1988 Ford Bronco for as long as I can remember, and up until recently, when its battery died, it has been a reliable vehicle to transport our family around the island. Yes, we do have a newer vehicle for going anywhere off the island, but our Ford truck has had a good long run. Or for example, my preference for Dell computers with a Windows operating system… when I compare PCs to Macs (which are the two common computers compared) I think of the most common arguments I have been given. My friend adamantly supports Macs, because, according to her, Macs never get viruses or break, but her argument against a PC is that they are always virus ridden. But when it comes down to it, the Mac computer seriously limits your software selection, usually just to what Apple offers for you to buy, and truthfully, PC don’t actually get as many viruses as she claims.
    Children in America are seriously influenced by what they see on television and on the internet. If you were to take a large urban area, like San Fransisco for example, where most of what you see when walking down the street are fancy stores and shops, and few parks for Children to play in.. so they stay home a lot, or go shopping. And when they stay home, they become bored, and sit down at the computer and/or flip the TV on. And they sit there for hours. There are many ads on TV that tell you your life isn’t complete with out this or that, and after seeing the ad many, many times, the children start to believe it. The author makes a very interesting point regarding parents who can’t or don’t want to, spend much time with their kids. She points out that most children who are often not supervised by their parents are given “guilt money” as a way to make up for their absence. Or in some cases to make their children go away, as they have no inclination to deal with them (which is sadly becoming more and more common). Take my sister for example. She is 8 years old and watches Cartoon Network, when she’s not outside playing. After about an hour of watching TV, and seeing an ad for some new toy about 5 times, she’ll start telling mom that she wants that toy, and she will persist until mom gets fed up and tells her no.
    I believe that brand loyalty isn’t so much what people tell you to like, more your environment. For example, Wood Middle School, Wood students have shown a definite preference for Abercrombie and Fitch, and this preference has grown over the last 3 years. From sweatshirts to hoodies, to hats and shirts, The abercromie logo shows up everywhere. Which brings me to the topic of logo recognition, young children have shown an aptitude for recognizing the most common logos that appear in their house. Be it the petco logo (if they have many pets) or the pokemon logo, they recognize these pictures and learn to associate them with specific products. Again, I’ll use my sister as an example. Of the students in her second grade class, most, if not all, are fans of a show/game called bakugan. Early in the year, it was only about half the class, but as the year progressed, I noticed more and more names being brought up when my sister talked about Bakugan.