I had seen a post yesterday that brought up some thoughts I had not had in a while. This lady was talking about name brand clothes for her infant. Ugh. Give me a break!! I know this is a sore topic for a lot of people but each of us is entitled to their own opinion and I sure have one!!
Ask our children. I bet to this day they know our feelings about name brand clothes!!! There were none in our house. Well, except for one pair of sneakers which our lovely daughter snuck in. We were on a day trip to Kings Island amusement park in Ohio. On the way home we stopped somewhere, but I have long forgotten where. But you know the kind of places...lots to sell and "good prices" yeah, right, for the tourists!!!
We were letting the kids each pick out a thing they wanted and our daughter, then in early junior high school, found these shoes...two pairs...that she liked. They both looked pretty nice so her father said pick one. It doesn't matter to me. How she kept a straight face I still do not know...but one was a generic type good looking tennis shoe and one was about the same look really. She said...OK. She made a choice. Well it wasn't till a day or so later till one of her brothers mentioned well you let Nancy get name brand why can't we??? Name brand. What name brand??? Those Rebok tennis shoes she bought. Reboks? What are Reboks??? We were informed that those were the hottest "in thing" around right then!!! *sigh* It was then we had to start paying attention to the fashion style of the young and not so famous!!! LOL We had been had...but it didn't happen again. And no...the boys were not given the opportunity to have a pair of Reboks. She played the odds...and won. I guess to the victor goes the spoils!!!
We tried to explain to the kids. First of all...most, although not all the time...the moderately priced no name products are as good, if not at times better made, than the so called name brand clothes.
Second of all, there is no way we were paying those kinds of prices to advertise some one's product for nothing. Do you realize how much free advertising these people get? And people are PAYING to get the honor of advertising for them? This is ridiculous to us!!!
Well, I know it made no sense to the kids at that time and it probably would not have to me either. I would rather have been like everyone else...even if it was at my parents' expense!!!
But my whole point is...we are being taken as fools. These companies are getting free advertising dollars...and I am talking lots of free dollars...by making the public feel that they just have to have their label displayed on their chest, on their feet or across their rears...or they just are of inferior quality (or are of superior quality) to the rest of the world!!! Hogwash!! I refuse to buy into such a deal! Not to mention the fact that with some of us, they are really getting their money's worth just because they get a bigger "spread" than with most people!!!
How sad it is to think that children, especially, are being made to feel inferior to their school mates because mom and dad can not (or perhaps choose not) buy these expensive digs for them. (Or even that they are superior to those who do not have them because their parents buy them for them). I find that heart wrenching...on both sides!!! School uniforms are a good thing...but that still doesn't change the street clothes at the movies and malls...there still is a stigma.
Oh I guess there are bigger things to be concerned about...but I can't help but wonder what effect this really does have on the inner workings of some children........
I hope not much.
My thought for today.
Enjoy
5 comments:
I have to agree with you Barb. Even when I do feel the quality of a name brand is superior, I won't buy items that have the name splashed across it. Kinda tacky in my opinion. Reverse snobbery, maybe? But I also feel if they want me to advertise, they'd better be paying me instead of vice/versa! Always felt that way, but then, my parents brought me up to celebrate my differences, creativity and originality so wearing what everyone else had just wasn't that appealing to me.
JMHO!
Courtney
Can't agree more. With one kid left at home---we sure hear a lot about the peer pressure. Thank goodness my son isn't into name brand.
Yes, I remember that! Luckily, with my three being homeschooled, they really don't know brand name from generic. Although, I will say that clothing at stores such as Walmart don't have the quality they should and buying from those types of stores is a huge waste of time. You will just end up replacing them after 5 washes. So I see both sides of the debate on this one and sit on the middle of the fence.
Cool, Barb. I even removed the dealer's license plate holder from my car!
In most cases I usually don't like the name brand stuff. It irritates me that they have their logos as part of the "look" of the things so avoid them.
I do buy things that have writing on them sometimes unlike a friend of mine who refuses to buy or wear anything with writing on it let alone logos!
The other issues (other than advertising) is that many of the companies use child labor to produce their products and add to their profit margins that stinks even more so.
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