GroovyMojo.com All the groovy things, collected.

Do You Have Brand Loyalty Sickness?

Do you buy Coca-Cola and only Coca-Cola?  Do you, in fact, buy collectible plates, clocks, toy cars, or the like with the company's brand name on it?  Will you buy Coca-Cola even when it costs more than a competitor's cola that tastes just as good?

No?  Then how about products from Pepsi?  Or Harley Davidson, for that matter?  Or Google?  Or any specific brand?

Do you tend to stick with one company because you know and trust them, even to the point where you don't even look at a competing brand?

If so, you may have Brand Loyalty Sickness.

You must understand that companies pay an insane amount of money to infect you with this sickness.  You'll find it in their corporate goals anywhere you look.  "Build customer loyalty."  A brand with strong customer loyalty is like a rich silver mine, and it's great for them.

Not for you, however.  This you must also come to understand and accept.  Brand loyalty is bad for you and it's bad for our economy.

Our Capitalist society is a Darwinian dog-eat-dog arena where only the best and most innovative will survive.  The end result is that you should get the best products for the best price.

Should.

Not always, though, because instead of putting their emphasis on making their products better and more affordable, some companies focus on keeping their customers -- YOU -- brainwashed into opting out of the game altogether.  If they can only convince you that their brand is the best, and that you need not try any other brand because you already know theirs is better, then what motive will they ever have to improve?  They don't need to.  They've already turned you into their reliable old cash cow.  They've successfully infected you with the sickness.

I call it a sickness because that's what it is.  It cripples your ability to make informed choices.  It costs you money.  It dulls the senses by putting you into a predictable routine.  Large corporations take advantage of you.

I'm not saying that you, say, drink Pepsi even if you don't like it as much as Coke.  But if you won't even try Pepsi because it's not Coke, that's when you have a problem.  The best thing for you, me, and everyone else is to sample and choose regardless of brand.  This even helps the brand you feel loyalty toward, because it forces them to innovate and improve.

So don't be a mind-controlled brand-loyal herd animal!  Run with the wolves!  Cull the flock!  Improve the system, save yourself money, and end up with better products.