Marx me! Brand me!

Dream commission here in Eye magazine - Wally Olins's advertising bible On Brand, reviewed by crusty but eloquent old Marxist Terry Eagleton:

What branding exploits is not just people’s gullibility, but their poignant, entirely reasonable desire to belong to some form of corporate existence larger than themselves. Since a social order given to greed and self-interest cannot fulfil this role, Krug, Starbucks or Manchester United have to step in instead. In writing about branding, Olins has produced an impeccably Marxist study, quite against his intentions. More or less everything he has to say on the subject goes to confirm what the Marxist tradition has long argued about alienation, reification and the fetishism of commodities. In fact, the only rational explanation for the crassness and callowness of this book is that Olins is a left-wing infiltrator among corporate types, out to discredit them by exposing the logic of the logo with such cruel candour.

Fun stuff, but I can't quite go there these days. We at least have to add the insights of Grant McCracken and Virginia Postrel to the debate about branding - ie, as semiotic and simulatory creatures, we're not going to be able to make straight choices between 'spending on chocolates and spending on hospitals', as Terry puts it. For another angle, read Earl Shorris (ex-Madison Avenue man) on advertising: if you want to get rid of branding, banish the shamen too.