Human Beings or Human Brands?

Recently I've begun to have this eerie realization that brands in the marketplace and individuals in society are actually not that different. Here are some reasons why I think technology is making this connection even more of a reality.


1. The proliferation of mass communication , global connectivity, coming together of large numbers of distinct communities now means that everyone has more contact with the broad and diverse spectrum of humanity- more so than ever before, in a more socially connected way than ever before.

2. This “market saturation” has created competition among individuals for uniqueness, specific roles.

3. Competition has forced people to specialize and seek social distinctiveness in any way possible. Now we need to occupy a niche to survive, be noticed, succeed in society.

4. So we position ourselves just like brands do in order to get noticed or be successful or be unique.

You can see this phenomenon in the area of careers. As more and more people earned a college education, more and more qualified individuals entered the job market. As a result, in order to get a job in today’s crowded marketplace, individuals have to be increasingly specialized and fulfill a specific niche role. This is the exact same phenomenon that occurs with brands.

I worry about the implications of individuals becoming, in essence, merely human brands. Will we become so focused on filling a certain niche that we fail to appreciate the full scope and wonder of the human experience? Will we focus ourselves into one area of life, surround ourselves with only certain types of people, reinforce within ourselves one personality type, to the extent that we miss out on the diversity and complexity of human life? Brands can’t be more than one thing. If they try to promise too much they will lose credibility or distinctiveness. If they try to advertise multiple benefits they will lose that one, unique position in the minds of audiences. The key to a brand’s survival is a simple consistent position. Brands can’t be complex. Otherwise they will confuse audiences. But humans? Humans are complex. We are one thing one day and another thing another day. We are multi-dimensional, not one-dimensional. We are a mixed bag of emotions, personalities, experiences. We don’t fit neatly into a packaged box. And we are always changing, evolving, reinventing.

I think there is a real danger in this increasing social pressure to establish your position as an individual. Perhaps it means we miss out on ever truly discovering who we are because we do not feel free to explore. Perhaps it means we miss out on interacting with diverse groups of people because we feel the need to align ourselves with a specific group or type of people. Perhaps we lose our sense of humanity, in all of its complexity, because we are too caught up in trying to occupy a distinct position.