"London Fog [a brand of rain mac] has been around for 40 years, but people think it has been here forever".
As usual Mad Men gets right to the heart of the creation and paradox of the consumer experience. Many products claim an almost mythical (i.e. timeless or a-historical) origination story which allows them to claim both uniqueness of identity and certainty of values which are such valuable commodities in the liquid modern age. The Limeys who have taken over the agency find the whole brand ‘ridiculous’ as ‘there was no such thing as "London Fog" it was just coal dust from the Dickensian era’ but they are the ‘strangers in the strange land’.
A number of ‘inventions’, especially those in the domestic arena are treated by consumers as if they are ‘traditional’ or even ‘natural’ when their origins are anything but – such as fabric conditioner. However, as ever with Mad Men, these ‘memories’, whose truth is placed beyond historical or archaeological enquiry, are contrasted with Don Drapers own ‘image’ and multiple identities. Reaping the rewards and freedoms of not so much anonymity but creativity in his own story before being hit in the throat by his own lack of ‘reality’ when his daughter asks him to remember himself at the location of something real (to her at least – her birth).
Brands maintain their ‘originality’ and glamour by having conveniently fluid memories – constantly re-writing their history to suit their audience and the cultural zeitgeist. And like Don there comes a point when you suddenly realize that you don’t know who you are anymore!
In reality, establishing the cultural and historical trajectory of a brand can be the first step towards establishing the sort of authenticity and perspective which are needed to survive in the world of the self conscious consumer. Don’s flash backs (themselves impossible for him to have experienced as memory, being his own fantasy about his own birth) do not offer any authentic resolution of his own angst – and all the clues would suggest that his complex web of identity and fantasy is about dramatically to unravel.
As I have quoted before, originality is creatively forgetting your sources. My bet on the future of brands is that they too will have their Draper style reckoning as their mythical identity is replaced by all too human ambiguity and uncertainty of expression.
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