Branding and Self Ethics

8/4/2019 Branding and Self Ethics

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About branding and self ethics

PhD. Oana BARBU

Political Science, Philosophy and Communication Science Faculty

West University, Timioara

Along with the arrival of postmodernism, the speech on ethics as a practical rationality

customises itself. Of course, if we should talk about the postmodernist revolution in ethics its

impossible to not notice the thicket in which we are putting ourselves along with the lack of referential

delimitations. Because of these reasons, a postmodernist perspective on ethics was associated in most of

the cases with the end of ethics or with the replacement of it with the supremacy of the aesthetics that has

a lack of rules with an universal availability (the estethisized world, shape prevalence, the civilization of

the image, the show society etc.). Gilles Lipovetsky1 suggests in this manner, along with this

Postmodernity, that mankind has finally entered the post debt era, a post-deontic era, in which the

individual saw itself free from the tyranny of must, from the oppressive normativity of the infernal debts

of moral norms.

Our era is described by an undeserved individualism which illegitimated the sacrifice itself. The

individual manifests a fierce preference for a better life, fighting for an ethic of limited wellbeing, limited

only by the value of tolerance, but even this is when it is associated with self glorifying individualism

and without compunctions, can be expressed only as indifference2. This situation of a prevailing

morality, minimal, is one that is completely new, Lipovesky pushing us to applaud, and be joyful about the

freedom that it is offered to us.

This paper will try to analyse the role played by the brand communication and the branding

campaigns that started to interfere in the education of the masses on moral norms and social

responsibility.

The communicational world brings in a front light values, that are on the other hand always

currently in ethics normativity: the respect for our own person and for the others around us, tolerance,

serving the wellbeing of the public good, the ecological ethics, etc. Relevant for this involvement of

philosophers used at a global level is the example of the deontological codes included in the

1 Gilles Lipovetsky (1996),Amurgul datoriei, ed. Babel, Bucureti.2 Zygmund Bauman (2001), Etica Postmodern, ed. Amarcord, Timioara. p. 7


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Of course, when we talk about the postmodern revolution in ethics we cannot overlook

the thicket in which we are putting ourselves along with the lack of referential delimitations.

Because of this reasons, a postmodern perspective on ethics is associated much too often with the

end of ethics or with its replacement with the supremacy of the aesthetics that has a lack of

rules with universal availability. Gilles Lipovetsky4 suggests in this manner, that along with

Postmodernity, mankind has finally entered the post-debt era, a post-deontological era, in

which the individual saw itself free from the tyranny of must, from the oppressive normativity

of the infernal debts of moral norms.

Our era is described by an undissolved individualism which illegitimated the sacrifice of

the self. The individual manifests a fierce preference for a better life, fighting for an ethics of

wellbeing, limited only by the value of tolerance, but this when associated with the self

glorifying individualism and without compunctions, can be expressed only as indifference5. This

situation of a prevailing minimal morality is one that is completely new, Lipovesky suggesting us

to applaud and be joyful about the freedom that it offers us.

We would add here what Z. Bauman calls the innovation of the postmodern perspective

on ethics that is, the fact that she doesnt argues the moral preoccupations of modernism, he

rejects its typical approach on moral problems. We refer, for example, to the repeated proposals

of some coercive norms as a response to the moral problems of our daily practices or at the

unchanging need of theoretical consolidation and universalization of moral normativity. This

way, far from being a critic of modernism, the postmodern perspective of Bauman targets against

the trust of modern man in the possibility of an ethical non-bivalent, un-aporetic code and that

which should benefit of practical applicability:

What is postmodern is just the lack of trust in this possibility, postmodern

not in chronological way [...] but in the way of suggesting (under the shape of a

conclusion or a premonition) of the fact that long and sustained efforts ofmodernism where directed wrong, undertaken through mystification [] that

modernism will show (if it didnt do it already) without the possibility of denial

the impossibility, the futility of hope and the harmness of the papers. The simple

4 Gilles Lipovetsky (1996),Amurgul datoriei, ed. Babel, Bucureti.5 Zygmund Bauman (2001), Etica Postmodern, ed. Amarcord, Timioara. p. 7


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In the search of an answer, Bauman delimits the characteristics of a postmodern moral

consequence under the shape of some premises that we will interpret ourselves like they are:

a) Firstly we assist at a fundamental bivalence of moral condition through the recognition

of the human nature coexistence of the classical polarity good-bad. A non-bivalent morality is aexistential impossibility8, that makes an ethic code to be coherent from a logical point of view

and cannot include an certain bivalent essence of morality

b) Even more than this, morality is in a natural way irrational, it doesnt result from the

social arrangements or the rational judgements that proceeds, but it is seen by Bauman as being a

natural reservoir of moral impulses, unpredictable and bivalent, only later standardized into

ethical and juridical codes. But, the variety of ethical codes, located historical and/or culturally,

stand proof that morality doesnt result from Law and it doesnt resume to it (even if it doesnt

manifest a constant will of monopolisation), the boundary between them resuming to partial and

local verbalisations...in deontology, we would add here.

c) The above mentioned arguments have as result the presence of an ambiguity of moral

consciousness and of practical rationality in general. Rightly, if morality is bivalent and irrational

(proof standing the numerous value antinomies enunciated by Lipovetsky in theLe Crpuscule

du devoir, appearing to moral ego as being ambiguous, even aporethical.

Only few options are unambiguous good. Most of the moral options are

being made between contradictory impulses. The most important one is, still, the

fact that almost moral impulse, if it is acted fully on his basis, has moral

consequences (the most characteristic, the impulse of taking care of the others,

when it is put to the extreme, causes annihilation of the others freedom,

domination and oppression9.

Regarding the matter in we fall into an agreement that it is a utopia to consider that there

are moral situations with lack of ambiguity, the moral individual will stand always in the

presence of uncertainty, which will make the responsibilitys presence to always be one step

ahead in what has been done and what can be done.

8 Zygmund Bauman, op. cit. p. 159 Ibid p.16


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d) Maybe the most important conclusion that can be reached by the author is the fact that

morality cannot be universalized. This doesnt mean that it involves a moral relativism, but

especially an empowerment of the moral ego, the individual fully assuming his moral decisions.

Bauman aims at this point his attention over the substitution of autonomous responsibility of the

moral ego through ethical rules, imposed from outside10. But, ethical codes of modernism had as

an effect the coercive standardisation of individuals and their lack of responsability, their role

resuming to the convention of heteronomous law (in the virtue that the institution that

administrates and through which it identifies was built). Putting into discussion that any instance

(institution, like the author calls it) can be expressed as a juridical responsibility, but never a

moral one, the social control of morality is a complex and delicate operation that stirs more

bivalence than it succeeds in eliminating.11.

e) In his own way, Bauman associates rationality with social control over moral ego.

From here results are even more interesting fact about contemporary society, through which

maybe we will manage to get closer to the meaning and understanding of our paper. On rational

arguments, Bauman notes that morality is and must remain irrational, a moral of chose.

f) Of course, in a universe dominated by pictures, the individual appears naked in front of

social interactivity. From the above notes we could deduct a moral ontology of the postmodern

ego through postulation (on one hand by Bauman and on the other by Lipovesky) of a openness

to the Other that precedes the relation with him. It must be implied that moral response to be

forThe Other before having the possibility of being with The Other. is the first reality of ego, a

starting point rather than a product of society.12Although it is associated with a crisis of

uncertainty and excesses, the postmodern moral consciousness has in hand the responsible

freedom that assists it. Along with disposal of meta-narrative modernism, we assist at the

possibility of the appearance of an individual with his destiny towards communication, because

its morality is a given by nature, the giving up, if it would take place, appears on the path that

leads from moral ego, to social ego, from being for, to being justwith13.

10 Ibid p. 1711 ibidem12 Ibid p. 1813 ibidem


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To understand better the perspective that is opened by post moralist ethics, it is ought to

pay more attention to Baumans theory according to which the postmodern perspective over

moral phenomenon doesnt reveal moral relativity. Of course, postmodernism itself raises

numerous of methodological problems, and regarding ethics there are a series of authors, that

even Bauman recognizes, to have embraced the theory relativism faster. In this way, the author

tries to overcome the problem fighting for a liberal morality in absence of an universal ethical

code. From his perspective, we have got into a new state of consciousness: we know now what

we didnt know then [] that a non-aporetic, non-ambivalent morality, a universal ethics and

objectively funded one is a practical impossibility14. This doesnt mean that the fundamentals

of ethics lost their genuineness, but they just have to be approached from another perspective. If

modernity separated ethics from religion, postmodernism proposes a morality without an ethical

code, a distinction between ethics and morality by creating a moral space beyond the social

space in which individuals activate. We can understand the distinction between morality and

ethics if we define moral relation as the relation me-others, in which the availability of the ego to

sacrifice itself for the last one doesnt need any answers from the preset norms.

Specialization of ethics. New ethics

A post moralist society designates the age in which moral duty is

sweetened and enfeebled, in which the idea of ego sacrifice lost identification. In

which morality does not pretend to dedicate to a higher purpose than you, in which

the subjective rights dominate imperative prescriptions, in which moral lessons are

accompanied by advertising which excites the comfortable life, the holiday sun

and the media entertainment. In a post duty society, the evil is transformed into a

show and the ideal is too less praised. The values that we recognise are much more

negative (dont do) than positive (you must ): beyond ethical revitalization,

triumphs a painless moral, an ultimate state of individualistic culture relieved from

now on, in its deep logic, by morality as well as by anti-morality15.

14 ibidem15 Gilles Lipovetsky (1996), op. cit. p. 59


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Going on the path of moral without ethics, we could say that the first observation that

brings us in front the theory of Gilles Lipovetsky, is the fierce interest for ethics in more and

more domains, most of them being apparently only tangent the moral problematic: architecture,

economy, mass-media etc. Even more interesting is the fact that we dont assist at an intrusion of

ethics in this domains, but rather to a need of ethical reflections from inside. And so, the

contemporary world does not stop to surprise us: in a world in which universalism (including the

ethical one) was so strongly argued, we assist at a visible need of ethical reflection, along with an

openness generalized by surprising the ethical implements in more and more domains.

This position actually led to the appearance of deontology in specific domains and

professions, and also to justifying new ethics, among which are: the ethics of the environment,

biomedical sciences, ethics of mass-media, of business etc. But in a postmodern spirit, this new

directions cannot be surprised in an assembles way, in an unification perspective; even more than

this, rather than uniting them under the name of applied ethics, they can be treated as being

chapters of a unitary discipline. On the other hand, these so called ethics cannot even be

defined as disciplines in a real way, although it is revealed their tendencies of specialization or of

institutionalization (to be seen in this way the making of evaluation committees of audio-visual,

or the journalistic deontology). The end of the 20th century brings face to face with a wide

process of building professional deontology, established by experts from particular domains,

among which, even if they are still present, theorists, philosophers or cultural personalities dont

have the main voice.

The apparition of more and more activity domains like the immaterial labourprevalence

(consultancy, services etc.) have led practical philosophies (such as ethics) to a higher

specialization in which are discussed problems about moral implications that interfere in some

very specialized activities. Often the offered response of this type of specializations cannot be a

certain one; it is constructed progressively on deontological codes, through approximation and

elimination of errors. Even more than this, investigating the aspects with ethic relevance requires

a detailed knowladge of a certain domain (even we are to talk about the construction of a

commercial campaign, directing a TV show, selecting the leading staff or institutional

communication etc)


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As a major consequence of higher specialization of these domains, we can signal the

appearance of a specialized language, specific for that field, even if sometimes its effects can be

baffling for communication and information rendering. We notice these mutations especially in

the sphere of individual morality, where Man has passed from a language of moral duty, to the

articulation of the self(passed around in the first and second phase of postmodernism, until de

80s) and further to a more private approach in which the accent falls on performative gestures

of the own person16, the interest for our own individuality and individual comfort surpassing the

universal law.

The consequences of moral intrusion in the individual sphere unleashes constantly in a

fragmented public sphere, in the professional sphere of individuals. A whole new stream, known

as business ethics, puts the problem of a triple moral report at a social level: between employee

and employer, between company and its public, between company and partner institutions. This

kind of axiological transparency between public and private make us notice at the level of activity

domains considerations about values marketing, brand communication and ethical identification

in promotional campaigns. A greater accent is being put on the evaluation of the immaterial

benefits of some products and services, on the success of ethical investment at the community

level or in social responsibility campaigns (CSR).

As a recent consequence of ethics specialisation, we must notice the appearance of new

domains of activity, the one of experts in ethics, ethicians, the so called experts in

consultancy on deontological problems. These characters are more and more present in

enterprises in the search of maximising efficiency by harmonising staffs interests with businesss

development strategies. Lipovetsky proposes the example of enterprises that edit intern

publications, following through this the organisation of ethical reflections for enterprises

personnel17. This way, even if the role of the philosopher preoccupied with ethics has a lack of

meaning, failing to harmonize theory with daily practicality in the contemporary society, the

interest for social and economic sciences for moral problems led to professional training of

experts capable to form recommendations for ethical issues in business, underlining one more

time the social function of practical philosophy expressed in applied ethics.

16 Ibid p. 8617 Gilles Lipovetsky (1996), op. cit. pp. 274-275


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We must not look with superficiality at this light ethic proposed by Lipovetsky or

Bauman. Even if in the case of business ethic we are dealing with a moral of interest awareness

aiming to streamline the action, the new ethics, born from the newly created contexts, doesnt

abbot from the universal topics of practical philosophy regarding the condition of man in the

world, his relationships with others or self-comparing.

Along with the wide process of this ethical decision democracy, we can recognise the

advantages of deontology. Because moral duty appears powerless when new situations appear

that end in value antinomy (the mechanism through which new duties are created, not being

clear), the specialization of ethics led to the call of making a difference between good and bad

regarding the jurisdiction of experts in certain domains (doctors, sociologists, philosophers,

journalists etc.)

A big question mark is raised right from the interior of the problem: as long as the

settlement of what is right and wrong, of good and bad regards from now on, in a certain

quantity, the professionals of ethics18, what are the chances that the sources of moral decision

to be understood by each and every individual? By what means and until when the interference of

an expert in ethics extends at the level of private life?

According to Lipovetsky, the ascension of the professionalization and expertise in moral

problems, through which a new division of work appeared, and even ethics entered the path of

institutionalization, of bureaucracy, of functional specialization19, can be interpreted as an effect

of the wide process of rationalization of western modernity. On one hand, from science to ethics

it can be noticed the intention of rationalizing purposes and moral action, that led gradually to a

ethics seen as a tool, and on the other hand, if we look through the angle of implication of ethics

in the variety of new activity domains, we notice an increased necessity of scientific research

value control and the valence of new technologies. This way it becomes easier to understand the

openness of more and more domains towards the applicability of ethical reflection. Thetransformation of the ethical speech into a one that is strongly specialized and deontological,

comes in anticipation of the post-moralist ethics adjustment to social pragmatics. It is not only the

pressure of a postmodern confusion in the favour of a bigger pragmatic realism; the

18 Ibid p. 25519 ibidem


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Once contemporary society expresses more and more the preference for concepts like

tolerance, dialogue, communication, consensus, and morality moral space become a

negotiated practice between individuals capable of personal choices, of life leading rules and of

moral guides in order to sustain the society in which they belong to and not vice versa.

At a moral level individuals are not evaluated from their quality of members of some

category that would guaranty their status of objects of moral interest. The social space is

created according to the moral space for the simple reason that the objects of creating moral

space are the others that we live for22. Moral postmodern man is a homo ludens that can be

constrained by the rules of the game (depending on the models of moral guides that they adhere

to), but can never be obliged to participate at the game.

The fractal development of applied ethics and their continuous oscillation between the

public and the private sphere, allows them to be at the same time unsteady, but also unitary. It is

about a unity of the type of web network, often polycentric, that produces different functionalities

for the social actors, based on a unemployed solidarity, that transforms otherness into

correlative. The impact of this network belongs to a new humanism23. Due to a lack of authority,

we assist at a comeback in close-up of the principle of happiness, included in a context of

pulverised values, of organizational cultures, of deontologists that conciliate the individual

regarding his self and the relationship with the others.

More than ever, the moral concern is aimed at the correction of interpersonal relationship

deficiencies, ethical reflection implying first of all the concrete actions of individual and

society. From this world, imperatives are not missing, but they are promoted operationally, being

accompanied in most of the cases by measures of applicability, compared to which the public can

build an opinion. It prefigures this way an ethic less moral in a wider context in which the need

of implication of different spheres of society is felt: commercial companies, mass-media, public

opinion, caught in a dialogue of deontology and brand image.

*

22 Ibid p. 18123 Antonio Sandu (2009),Dimensions of ethics in postmodernity, ed. Lumen, Iai, p. 141.


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Where do these brands interfere in this setup? Branding and especially the development of

a brand are often associated with the creating of stability and coherence in a great change. At the

level of perceiving an organizational identity, brands are seen as guidance points in an uncertain

world. But on the other hand, the instability of the nowadays communicational society shows us

that any identity is just as unstable as the world itself. The rate of change and innovation is so big,

and the number of opposing messages about what could be so good for us so overwhelming, that

we need association values with an object or a person communicated at the level of a society, that

would become a sort of abbreviation for ordering our options.

Immaterial attributes of a company are distinguished in economical sciences under the

name of brand. The brand is the one that makes the difference, through a set of qualities, the

organization and the community around it, proposing a meaning that has a lack of the imperative

must. In this way, we can state that branding represents the communication of an assumed

identity. Beyond the fierce mercantile message, the brands help us do that. They are acting as

markers and meaning builders in an overfilled context of communication, grouping the values

and characteristics of the objects in packs that can be recognised at different levels of trust or

approval. This is the way through which brand philosophies are born. For the contemporary

society, immaterial products, such as brands, are support for something and like we all know,

what they represent often goes beyond the superficiality of mercantile product attributes.

Applied Ethics and Brand Philosophies.

In his work, Global Markets as an Ethical System24, John McMurtry puts in a new

light upon consume praxis. The author states that there is no buying decision that doesnt also

imply a certain moral choice and that there isnt an acquisition that isnt moral in its nature. Any

buying or investment decision usually implies moral and ethical choices, states him, and a market

system, by definition, must reflect society morality that establishes commerce through this

system. At the level of economical philosophy there is already for some time the concept ofethic consumerism that make the express purchasing made with prejudices or minimal exploits

of other persons, people or the environment. If we remember what we discussed about the ethics

of care, ethic consumerism is the one practiced by a so called positive shopping. This means

24 John McMurtry (1998), Unequal Fredoms.Global Markets as an Ethical System, ed.Garamond Press, Toronto.


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that, lately, at the level of any commercial act, even if its for promotional purposes like

advertising, the presence of moral value is default, regarding both the brand and the consumer. Of

course it is much too early to sum this type of behaviour at social level but, like recent studies

show:

According to the halo associated to the lately green consumption, people

seem to act more responsibly at the same time with exposure only

after buying conventional products. Even so, people buy less eager and is more

probably to cheat after buying eco products, compared with conventional

products. Taking this into consideration, studies show that there is a tighter bond

of consumption with our social and ethical behaviour in other directions than it

was believed in the first time25.

According to the authors, the consumption choices do not reflect only preferences

regarding not only price and quality, but also, social and moral values, witnesses at a remarkable

increase of global market for organic and ecological products. Based on recent research regarding

the importance of social behaviour and repairing moral values, it was discovered that the simple

exposure to ecological products and their acquisition would have consequences involving

behaviour not only at consumption level, but at the level of its decision.

25 Nina Mazar, Chen-Bo Zhong (2007), Green Products and Ethical Behavior. Do GreenProducts Make Us Better People?, studiu online realizat de Universitatea din Toronto.http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/newthinking/greenproducts.pdf 03.05.2010, ora 17:26
http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/newthinking/greenproducts.pdf%20%20http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/newthinking/greenproducts.pdf%20%20


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Campanie si eveniment eco Element Campanie CSR i eco - Samsung

In the same line of research, Gilles Lipovetsky reserves a significant part from his

work (The Paradoxical Happiness andL'cran global.) to discuss about hyper consumption and

the contemporary ethics, and also about how the new individual can relate with them.

Considering that, for the XXI th century ethics is just another top field of the world

consumption, the author speaks about the ethical products market (eco products,

biodegradable products which sustains social responsability or wihch are not tested on animals

etc.) in terms of their market growth.

Campanie eco V.Co-Logical - Volcom Campanie CSR i eco Power to the planet

Element

Even if in 2005 this market held between 1% and 5% (by country), since 2001 trade of

such products was booming. More and more consumers claim to be aware of products made by

fair trade; a significant proportion of European consumers say they are willing to pay more if the

product complies with environmental or ethical standards.


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Even though is increasingly concerned about his own existence, an affiliate of small

communities, the modern individuals are increasingly joining social and ethical causes such as:

child protection, animal protection, environmental protection, protection of the marginalised, of

people from the third world countries or victims of natural disasters. From the point of view of

his identity, the new hyper consumer discovers a new social dimension to this ethical

commitment. So, brand communication makes an appeal to emotional consumption, to labels

with a strong ethical message, to products that respect strict norms of environmental protection

and engage in campaigns of social responsibility. Most of all branding refers especially to the

values proposed by major corporations which are shifted to humanitarian causes, closer to the

consumer, making him more responsible towards society and his self.

On the other hand, consumption of the ethical products interferes with the growing

emphasis on charitable activities and the rise of the NGOs geared towards the benefit of society

and which serve the same responsible orientation of the new consumer. Charity balls,

fundraising, programs that support marginal and disadvantaged people, celebrities involved in

humanitarian activities, etc. support the perspective of more and more authors who claim that

terminal stage of consumption is accomplished by the consecration of brand ethical values, an

instrument of identity assertion for the neo consumer, an instrument that generates emotions per

minute for charity marathons spectators.

Between hedonism and disinterest, individualism and altruism, idealism and spectacle,

consumerism and generosity there is no longer any antagonism, our era showing nothing but

confusion regarding old borders, towards the great happiness of the sentimentalist and media

hyper consume.

On the other hand, in a world full of various brands, antagonism is always present.

Beyond a generalized culture of welfare and comfort in which the consumer goes, and beyond the

empathy that he feelsepisodic and from distance to his fellow man, you can read his constantneed to criticize. The contemporary space, dominated by a strong tendency to value scepticism

-reminiscent of postmodernism - doesnt find any field "away from consumer complaints and

protests?"


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According to Lipovesky's vision, todays individuals are against advertising

colonisation, of persuasion and operated standardization at any level, they are anxious about the

novice waves of the mobiles phones and microwaves, transgenic food and polluting products that

are causing riots (hence the development of organic food market), people are talking against the

proliferation of suburban telephone messages, the hordes of tourists, the ugliness of

supermarkets, the television is accused of transforming us into some half-witted, and

advertising, transforming us in the sheep of Panurge

The portrait of a new man in a branded world

As already stated in the first part, the hyper-consumer is an individual who has learned to

refuse, an individual who takes a stand against everything that displeases him, looking for

authenticity at any levels of its existence. In this context, a brand philosophy has a duty and in the

same times the advantage to seize public discontent by proposing viable alternatives. With a

polished speech of advertising communication and social responsibility as a controlling value, the

regulations, the principles and the rules of conduct proposed are transforming a brand into an

educatorof the masses and a guide in finding the answer to the question how to best live your

life? The answer to this question has become, in fact, a matter of choice for each responsible

individual that seeks to find his/her comfort in the contemporary world. Here for example, we

have a mission statement of the "Make it count!" part of the brand philosophy brand Element:

The Make it count collection celebrates constancy, determination and the deep roots of

the brand Element. It represents the importance of the fact to be grateful and to the approach of

your actions with depth. Leave your mark deep enough that the world will be a better place!

Make your actions count!26

Motivational prescriptions and guiding rules of conduct mould our decisions under the

shape of campaign slogans: You are Volcom, do your job, recycle!, Green works -

Panasonic, Live. Learn. Grow Element, Connecting people Nokia, Sharp MindsSharp, Come alive! Youre in the Pepsi generation Pepsi, Think different! Apple, The

Power to Be Your Best Apple, Together we can do more Orange, Impossible is nothing

Adidas, Nothing is too small to know, and nothing too big to attempt Element.

26 Sursa online www.elementskateboards.com 10.05.2010, ora 17:23
http://www.elementskateboards.com/http://www.elementskateboards.com/


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In a consumer culture people dont buy for functional satisfaction anymore, but the

consumption becomes a meaning carrier, and brands are in most of the cases used as symbolic

resources for identity construction and maintenance.27.

The increasing involvement of brand philosophies at the level of a community is

noticeable even at the level of new reports that are established between a hyper-consumer and the

others. At first sight it can be reproached to the contemporary individual that he pulled back into

a selfish individualism, preoccupied only by his own person, his security and health, paying

tribute through some abilities through which they escape from the daily and, so, from civic spirit.

Even more than this, he is constantly accused of frivolity with which he treats his close ones,

interpersonal relationships being nothing more than conjectural partnerships.

But if we take a closer look, contemporary society, presents a strong altruistic character,

and even a humanistic one, proof standing the increasing preoccupations for human rights, the

ideal of tolerance, philanthropy, charity events and donations. The new individual rejects

violence and cruelty and has an increasing predilection for online interactivity websites and social

media (Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn etc.). Through this path, the individual is no longer alone,

more and more sections of his social life joining the same desiderate: human interaction while

content exposure.

Although more preoccupied by his own person, transposed in the undeniably search for

his wellbeing through the products he selects to consume, the hyper-consumer feels a strong

empathy for the other. He interacts more vividly in the social sphere and the world of the online

has become for him the new agora. Although many theorists still see the new individual as being

an occasionally philanthropist, ethic values such as tolerance (preached by social advertising,

online social media and CSR campaigns) are more and more present in the contemporary world

as voices of a new type of public.

Today we see that certain problems that could have been considerate of secondary interest

for a brand suddenly become primary headlines. People dont choose anymore what is better,

fashionable or cheaper. They choose brands that have a reprehensive relevance for them. For

example, several years ago Nike brought on to the market skate shoes models that could easily

27 n a consumer culture people no longer consume for merely functional satisfaction,but consumption becomes meaning-based, and brands are often used as symbolicresources for the construction and maintenance of identity. Elliott & Davies, sursaonline: http://www.idbranding.com/ l07.05.2010ora 20:20, traducere personal
http://www.idbranding.com/http://www.idbranding.com/


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compete against skateboarding equipments such as Etnies. Still, a skater wouldnt have worn

Nike. Why? Because, in the skaters community Nike wasnt seen as a brand that could represent

their values or that could take the shape of their (brand) cultures beliefs. Nike had a different

target, and a pair of Nike in the feet of a skater would have sent an ambiguous message to both

communities.

Identity is conceived therefore not as a product of a certain social system, neither as a

fixed entity that the individual can purely adopt, but as something that the person can create

actively, partially, through consumption28.

If the promoting campaigns focused around creating an external image of the brand, in an

age in which transparency is the leading word, consumers will not buy external brand images,

but will look more and more to personalize the speech communicated by them, trying to find

what the brand really reprezents for their beliefs. The hiperconsumers openness is not limited to

the objects or their utility, but, despite the spacial and temporal dispersion (as an intimate space)

and sometimes by social class, it aims very powerfull (and visible) to the one next to us, looking

for a generalized comfort of the community. The contribution of advertising in this way refferes

to the openness of the communication forms of non-profit organizations by mass-media channels,

but especially through the individuals sensibilization through calls and messages that are open

for tolerance and acceptance. Even more than this, contemporany advertising is aimed towards an

open and empathic communication regarding any cause (it can be said that it is the new

battlefield of social ideology)

28 Richard Elliot, Kritsadarat Wattanasuwan (1998), Brands as Symbolic Resources forthe Construction of Identity. n International Journal of Advertising (II, no. 2).

Documents

Branding and Self Ethics