And Who Are You? (Final Copy)

In what seems like an ode to Mr. John D. Ramage, a great deal of what we've been discussing has to do with identity and its connection to rhetoric.

The idea of identity is omnipresent in politics. Lakoff writes, “In Moral Politics, I suggested that voters vote their identity—they vote on the basis of who they are, what values they have, and who and what they admire” (Lakoff, 39). So basically what he’s saying is that a person could be pro-choice, against NCLB, and have many progressive traits, but he will almost always vote with the Republican candidate without considering his own self-interest. This can be for many reasons, but the Republican Party is like his family, his cult, a group of his equals. This familial feeling alone could persuade or pressure a person into voting for the candidate, to go against the Republican candidate would, after all, be traitorous to the identity type he is pursuing. Also, if the persona of the candidate is someone the voter can see himself aspiring to be, that creates an allegiance based purely on identity.

The idea of identity was covered from a different perspective in The Persuaders. A good example of this was the cult study in the film. Consumers used certain products based on the essence and the personality the items give off. Certain brands stand for certain personality traits, and by buying these products, the consumer makes a commitment to his chosen identity. That iPod he is holding asserts this is who I am, and here is the proof.

Identity is probably the reason that the Apple brand is so successful. Microsoft offers a similar product to the iPod that goes by the name Zune, though it pales in comparison to the sales. Why? Look at one of the ads.

While this is an interesting advertisement to say the least, it offers nothing for the consumer to align himself with. It offers no clear identity. I mean head-banging birds? What kind of message is that trying to convey? If someone buys a Zune, will his pet parrot rock out like that? Hardly. By sending mixed identity messages, Microsoft fails to accomplish everything that Apple has with it's upbeat, clear iPod commericals.

Sorry Zune, in the battle of advertising,
the iPod comes out on top.

The Apple brand is dominating ads in other areas of their business as well. In the past few years they’ve produced commercials that depict a Mac and a PC as two individuals. The Mac is a young, laid back, cool individual who is up to date with everything, while the PC is unreliable, uptight, behind the social trends, outdated, and unappealing.

These ads demonstrate with ease how a simple thirty second commercial can give a product a complete persona and character that "carries over" to its owner, and isn't that what the consumer ultimately wants?

On a side note, this does raise slightly disturbing questions. Why do individuals need branded materials to “prove” that they are a certain identity? Why does wearing a certain brand make you a certain type of person? How did our culture become so materialistic in terms of identity? Whatever happened to personality? Surely these products don’t give us the personality of our chosen identities, but just being able to align ourselves with a certain identity give us comfort, purpose. We aren't happy unless we can be somebody, unless we have a distinct role in society that we are able to play. We feel the need to be stereotyped. Ironically, we are always working to "rid" the world around us of stereotypes because we think we can defeat biases and such. But how can you rid the world of something, if you feel you need it to help create your chosen identity? Though the word "chosen" is used in a sarcastic tone. Our identities are not quite as free and open to change as we would like to imagine; they control us. We permit these stereotypes, these products shape us and our identities, and we can only define ourselves by the objects we purchase. By creating products that appeal to the need of consumers to fit in, companies are able to manipulate us into buying them if it means we have the chance to conform seamlessly with the rest of the world.