001303511
Scott DeLoach
English 102.3
Fall 2014
Everything is an Argument
Each and every day, we as humans make arguments whether they are conscious or not. Every action we take can be considered an argument, from debating with someone about abortion to sitting at home on your couch watching your favorite television show. Little do we realize that all of these actions signify some sort of argument we are making to those around us. Now one might ask how watching television would be an argument, but not all arguments have to be purposed towards trying to win or prove oneself. Arguments can even be found in the clothes we choose to wear, what we place in our bedrooms, or even the items we choose to stuff our pockets. Especially on a college campus, where pop culture is extremely prevalent, students will often be found wearing name brand clothes and keeping their pockets stuffed with the latest technology.
If you were to take a pen and paper with a list of big name brands, such as iPhone, Levi-Strauss, Victoria’s Secret, Vans, or Nike, and observe students at a university campus, how quickly would you be able to reach ten tallies for each of those brands? Based off my assumption, you would not have to be sitting out for very long. Almost every student feels the need to purchase clothing from big name brands so as to fit in with society. Almost every male and a solid majority of the females will be found wearing jeans representing the Levi-Strauss brand. And if you go over and take a walk to any gym on campus, I can almost guarantee that most of the athletes in there will be wearing some article of clothing made by Nike, if not everything. It is assumed that brands such as these are meant to be high-quality and are more reliable than some brand no one has heard of. But in reality, is that what consumers consider when they purchase the product? Or maybe that all of the brands listed prior are the product of sweatshops? I can almost guarantee the answer was no. Oh so often people are simply loyal to the product because of the name that backs it, and consumers are willing to spend hundreds on a single item backed by the name/logo that can be found on said product.
So with all of these products being purchased by consumers, we would think maybe they have a special method of production which appeals to the consumer. For example, a company with a raging success that I personally think has a wonderful purpose goes by the name Toms. They claim that whenever a pair of shoes is bought from their company, they will donate a pair to an impoverished child, usually in a third world country. If everyone on a college campus was found wearing Toms, I would understand. However, there are few companies that serve a purpose as great as this, and that leads back to the question of how they get so popular. One must think that the materials put into making a shirt made by Nike must be top of the line, or the technology put into an iPhone be fresh out of the minds of inventors, but in reality this is not true. The technology is under par in comparison to other big name cellular devices, and clothing made by Nike is similar to that of clothing made by other companies. As consumers, we strive for the logo. We will pay an elevated price for our materialistic items to be burnished with the logo we see others around us representing. And in this day and age, the self-body image of most children and adolescents has decreased dramatically. By wearing logos that are worn by the “cool kids”, these insecure students will generally feel better about their body image. In comparison, students who have a high self-esteem and feel good about their body will more likely be seen in off-brand clothing.
One of the biggest examples of this brand loyalty is the amazing empire that goes by the name of Apple. Consumers will go out of their way, spending hundreds of dollars to upgrade their phone or computer that has been proven to lack certain technological advances than