L..L...L...Love? ❤️

Love.We associate this word with things and people we hold dear to us. Much of the time, we don’t even realize our love for someone or something, but it’s there. Why is that? I’ll tell you why. It’s because we place in those people/things loyalty without reason. No matter what, we trust in those people/things. You wanna know what else we love? Brands.

A brand that has created loyalty without reason is known as a love-mark. Love-marks are constantly creating ads in hopes of attracting consumers. Because love-marks hold some iconic place in our heart, we are more likely to be enticed to purchase products promoted by these ads.

Some common love-marks that many people know of -including myself- are Brandy Melville, Converse, Nike, Starbucks, Chic-fil-A, and McDonald’s. Yes...I included fast food restaurants. I know they aren’t exactly “brands,” but they do have a lot of loyal consumers just like any other brand, if not more than.

Personally, I’ve never shopped at Brandy, nor Starbucks -and I doubt that I ever will- but I do love a good pair of Converse. Also, I will most likely be a consumer of McDonald’s ‘til the day I die, so come at me if you want. As long as you don’t touch my fries, we’re all good here.

Besides that, I want to discuss how well love-marks convince people to “buy” what they are “selling.” Moreover I want to point out how advertising these love-marks affects our lives.

All throughout my life, I’ve noticed how people would buy clothing or other products that they’d see in media. I too wanted these things because I didn’t want to stand out from other people. Now, I just want them ‘cause I’m so used to buying them anyway. Somehow, I kinda dislike the idea that my preferences in brands has been influenced by the media. However, I still appreciate having a variety of things I can turn to when I wanna buy a new hoodie. Unfortunately I don’t have the money to buy anything at the moment, but once I do...hmm... ;)

I admire the fact that brands are able to create these forms of bonds with their consumers. Though manipulative and conniving it may seem, these brands have proven to be quite reliable -well, as far as I can tell. These relationships between brand and consumer are what continue to keep the brands afloat. Therefore, continuing to promote brands through ads is a great idea in terms of keeping consumers up-to-date on new products.

Although their methods of promoting their products are admirable, it’s safe to say that love-marks can have quite the negative impact on its consumers. Quite often, consumers may indulge themselves too much in supporting these brands that they neglect their personal responsibilities. A lot of the time people would put off paying their rent to buy a new hand-bag or pair of shoes. Honestly, I don’t think it’s worth living in the dark to have that new watch instead. I mean, you can always check the time on your phone -that is, if you didn’t sell your phone for the watch (but who the heck would do that?).

Also, love-marks also have a negative effect on the easily impressionable mind of a child. All the time kids ask their parents to buy them toys that they see on tv or any other media platform. A kid would literally annoy their parents to the point of ripping their hair out just for that new LEGOs play set. It’s quite problematic, if I do say so myself. And I do say so myself.

Being the older sister of three children -ages eight, three, and one- I too have been a victim of the troublesome tantrums over a Barbie doll or Transformers car. And let me tell you...it’s not fun. So thanks, love-marks. You’re not always so lovable as your name suggests.

To be fair, I do believe that love-marks are extremely successful in terms of advertisement. Love-marks are what make data-mining, Madison & Vine, and Guerrilla advertising so prevalent. Seeing these brand-names on your computer, in a movie, or any other random place is what makes us more likely to buy what they are selling.

So, yeah! Love-marks. Sometimes you love ‘em...and sometimes you hate ‘em.