Loggage (SUNDAY/02/09/09)

Please keep in mind that I made it a point to record on a day where I knew I didn't have to leave my house, resulting in less exposure to media, and also that while I did listen to music all throughout the day (and therefore didn't record every single song I heard), I made it a point to not watch T.V. I did this because my days at school are hard enough and I know that if I had to take time out of my day to reference every logo I see, every song, commercial, etc., well I just wouldn't have enough time in the day. So please keep in mind that I really "took it easy" this day and limited my exposure on purpose, but still got the point of the assignment and don't always cut corners :)

Awake! at 10:00. Just in the room I wake up in, I see from posters and stickers and whatnot:
-Metallica
-Yonder Mtn String Band
-Jack Daniels
-Guinness
-Telluride
-Burton
-Clif Bar
-LG
-Bic (lighters and pencils)
-Verizon
-Camel No. 9
-Tool
-Jolly Rancher
--Music from Pavement, Dave Matthews Band, Buckethead and Gorillaz

Come downstairs to make breakfast/lunch 'til 12:00:
-Steaming Bean Coffee
-Raw Sugar
-City Market brand/Kroger
-Jimmy Dean
-Lenders
-Kraft
-Kohler
-Fridgidaire
-Sony
-POM glasses
-Simply Orange
--Music from Tracy Chapman, instrumental music by the String Quartet, and Metallica

Loungin' from 12:00 to 5:00/shower-time:
-Cadillac
-Pantene Pro-V
-Suave
-Dial
-Bath & Body Works
-Arm & Hammer
-Colgate, Crest
-Swix
-Windows 98
-Campbell's
-Kroger (again)
-Scotchbrite
-Descente
-Bic (razor)
--Music from Jason Mraz, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Atmosphere

Trip to the grocery store, WAYYY too many labels and logos to record, but let it be known that shit is EVERYWHERE.

7:00-11:00/bedtime:
-Hidden Valley
-Timex
-Marlboro
-ConAIR
-Oil of Olay
-Listerine
-American Eagle
-Hurley
-Nivea
--Music from Led Zeppelin, Bela Fleck, Earl Scruggs, Zion I, and Tool

So while I didn't leave my house much and by entering the same rooms over and over again, I was exposed to the same materials rather than say, being at school where I would see something new with each building and each room I entered. That said, I am still overwhelmed by the almost subconscious and subliminal advertising around me. It's on my phone, my cigarettes, my milk, and my underwear. The importance of labels in relation to one's ability to recognize them--even with a millisecond of exposure--is pretty underrated.

My parents own and operate their own medical clinic. Recently, a representative from the local Yellow Pages came to them, offering their form of advertisement, but this year, unlike the other years, urged my parents to make a logo for their business (McGuinn Chiropractic). The man tells my mother, "it's all about being recognizable, marketable ." Now, I explained to my mother that this guy is full of it and for a small-scale, family-run business like theirs, being recognizable is not a priority. Keeping a low clientele base ensures that they come back because they know you, and not your logo.

We know the man is right though, and logos serve as shortcuts for our brain--immediately connecting the image of the logo with a phrase, an image, sound, idea, value, etc. has become an entirely thoughtless act. The advertising business as a whole raves, fists pumping, jumping and high-fiving, every time we make one of these immediate associations: they've got us right where they want us. How scary is that...

This is why I have been waking up in the same room for 3 months and never have I been critical of the font associated with Metallica on a tapestry or the popularity of a couple not-so artistic posters which are nothing more than advertisements for Jack Daniels whiskey and Guinness beer. Also oblivious to me was the insistence of logos on my everyday stuff, because it's definitely not enough just to have your name on your product that people use everyday and can probably remember, but we must have a recognizable picture or image to accompany it. LG, Bic, Camel, Marlboro, Arm & Hammer (my toothpaste), Windows 98--all things I use everyday and don't pay much attention to...though if you asked me to draw the logos for any of the following, I bet you I could do them all. My Jolly Rancher chapstick was a great and funny example of a new trend of brands merging with other brands to promote each other. In no way is the Smackers brand of chapstick related to Jolly Rancher candy, but for this particular product (and for thousands of little girls begging their parents for it) it works.

The place I spend most of my time outside of the bedroom is the kitchen, the place in the house that we see many, if not the most logos and product brands. Kraft cheese, Lenders bagels and Campbell's soup are all particularly well known in their respective areas and while I saw a few main brands like these, I noticed that many of my products are "generic" and either boast the City Market or Kroger brand. At City Market, there is usually an option, whether it is for pasta, milk, soup, cookies, soda, oats, salt, whatever, to either get the pretty packaging with the recognizable, brand-name logo (and this way we have some sort of idea of what the food is supposed to be like; we hold name brands more accountable) or a generic brand which is, on average, probably 25-50% cheaper. Being the low-income student that I am, I find that I buy more generic products than I do brand-name. Rarely does this affect me in the store unless the generic product really looks to be under par. Saving money is key in my lifestyle and it is evident when you see the things around my house.

While, like I said, this experiment could have had a bigger spectrum of results, a little more exposure, I definitely am basking in what I have found in all this. What I have realized is that to get away from almost any type of media, be it the noise of a siren, a billboard on the roadway telling you to swing by McDonald's, the recognizable logos on the computer screen as I write this (Blogger, Internet Explorer, Windows) the logo on the tag of your underwear, one would basically have to live as a social outcast, embracing life in a tree-top or something. IT IS EVERYWHERE. All the time. All over the world. Everyday. And while you may not think it, the marketability of the music you buy, the pills you swallow, the condoms you wear, or the air freshener hanging from your rearview can teach us all about what is important to the general public and what is important to the people in charge of the media we're exposed to, and maybe waht we can do to bridge the gap between these two ideals (especially with the economy falling and new "cheap!" advertising schemes). Be conscious. Make choices. Be an active citizen, supplier, buyer, listener and thinker when you're out in the world. Don't let others take advantage of the consciousness you have created. Own your thoughts. Go forth and prosper! (But whatever you do, don't eat McDonald's...)