FashBlog.com

The author of the blog, "What Name Will You Wear" bemoans the fact that we are all walking billboards. I liked the phrase so much that I considered using it as the title for my article on this subject but I refrained from stealing a fellow blogger's excellent wording. The realization that Rowan came to in her blog is one that was forced on me several years ago. I fought being a walking advertisement for awhile, but once I realized I was an interactive billboard, not just a static piece of wood, I have come to enjoy the whole advertisement process.

I too remember my first pair of status jeans. I struggled to lose weight so I could finally have the honor of spending fifty dollars on a pair of Guess Jeans. This was the 1980s and everyone who was anyone had a pair of Guess Jeans. The price was steep for me in those days but trust me, I got enough use from those jeans that on a per wear basis, they were almost free. I loved having the Guess name on my behind and I wore those jeans until they fell apart.

I also had a fetish for sweatshirts. I bought sweatshirts with the location of my travels broadly printed on my chest. I had several college sweatshirts, (I was in school in those days) and a variety of location sweatshirts, such as Hilton Head Island or Tempe, Arizona. I did not have many, but those that I did have, had something embellished on the front.

In one of my first encounters with a man who would become my future brother-in-law, he expressed, in a disgusted tone, that I was always advertising something. He perceived me as a walking advertisement for the colleges or locations on my sweatshirts. This was a new concept for me and left me vaguely disturbed. I never viewed my sweatshirts or my actions in wearing them, as an advertisement for the locations I had visited. I just liked collecting and wearing sweatshirts. While I wondered why he did not have the same disgust for himself and his never ending parade of golf shirts, his comments sunk into my brain. I no longer wore, in public, clothing that identified certain destinations or colleges unless I endorsed those locales. I became aware I was a walking advertisement and I only wore brands I wanted to advertise.

As I became more and more aware of the effect of visible branding on myself and others, I became aware of certain societal behaviors that occur when we see someone in clothing that we can relate to. Labels on the outside of clothing or accessories are the easiest; If you are wearing Guess Jeans, you notice others with the same tag on their behind. Subconsciously you think, " there is another person like me". When you are meeting new people, you often look for similarities to find others you will be compatible with, jeans or a handbag can be that first indicator that someone else likes the same things you do.

The clique scenario, where everyone has to wear the same clothes to be accepted, is the stuff of endless teenage movies. Adults denounce this type of behavior, but we still do it , whether we realize it or not. If your life style calls for suits, in a crowd are you going to look for someone else
in a suit or the guy in the pink hair and a kilt? If you are honest, if you are part of the suit world, you will look for others in suits. Is this so different, than wanting everyone in your group to wear the same type of jeans?

The absence of a label on your behind does not completely shield you from brand identification. If you wear a certain line of clothing or shop extensively at certain stores, you can identify product lines even without a visible tag. I used to love Ellen Tracy clothing. I could identify others who were wearing the Ellen Tracy line even if there were no visible brand markers on the clothing. Individuals who shop at The Limited can identify others in Limited clothing. While I am no longer a Limited shopper, I could pick out Limited shoppers for years. I knew their product line and I did not need a Limited tag to tell me where an outfit came from.

Retailers are aware of the impact clothing has on human behavior. This is why retailers spend huge amounts of money developing an image for their products. They have a target market and they want that target market to want to wear their brand. For some products, exclusivity is the key. Upscale stores want moneyed buyers who will feel comfortable when shopping in their store. Have you ever wondered why you are uncomfortable walking into Saks, it is because their marketing campaign is calculated to exclude some buyers for the benefit of others. Very few retailers can afford to disenfranchise large portions of society but they still focus on their target market when selling their product. Target is one of the most successful retailers in appealing to the widest possible market. You will find millionaires and regular Joes buying and wearing Target clothing. Everyone shops at Target just like everyone goes to McDonald's. These retailers want all the buyers and they make an effort to appeal to everyone.

An example of brilliant marketing is Abercrombie which markets itself as a lifestyle brand. They are not just selling clothes; they are selling an image, a lifestyle, a sense of identity. Their message is present in their magazine, their sizes, their staff and the music they play in their stores. Every now and then Abercrombie goes a little too far and you will see claims that they discriminate when hiring staff for their stores. A requirement of their store staff is to wear the clothing at work; as long as you are thin and beautiful, they do not discriminate. If you are not thin and beautiful, you may have a different opinion. This is why I get a kick out of wearing an old men's Abercrombie Hockey shirt I found at a thrift store. On the days I wear this shirt I tell the world I am part of the Abercrombie lifestyle. Since this admittedly super comfortable long sleeve shirt is a gardening shirt for me, I am normally dirty and disheveled when I wear it. I sometimes wonder if I do not strike fear into the hearts of serious Abercrombie groupies when they see an overweight, dusty, 40-something, woman advertising their brand. At least no one has asked me not to wear it yet. This is not as far fetched as it may seem since Abercrombie is headquartered in my hometown. I figure they get their revenge when I have to buy Christmas presents for my teenage daughters. Guess what is on their Christmas list?


The assumptions retail marketing place in the public's brain can be difficult to overcome. Branding taps into how a person views themselves. The subconscious question in any ad campaign is; do you want to be or are you the type of person who buys this product? If you think about it, how do you know Wal-Mart clothing is not for you, if you have never walked into a Wal-Mart? We all have a lifetime of assumptions placed in our brains by the advertising industry. Only by challenging these assumptions do you break the hold that a lifetime of marketing has on you.


We are all walking advertisements no matter how hard we fight this fact. The important information to realize is that we are not merely billboards but interactive human beings. Brand identity is an important element to the retail world. Choosing to not buy clothing with visible labels is one step in reducing the free advertisement you provide retailers when you walk out the door. Not worrying about the whole issue is another step you can take. The key is to be aware that your desire to have a retailers name on your behind is the result of the work of a very good marketing firm. Once you become aware of the influences behind your desire, you can break the hold the retail branding process has on you. It took me years to break the hold certain stores and certain concepts had on me. Now I buy because I want the product, not because I feel a shirt or pair of jeans will make me a certain type of person. Now if I can just teach that lesson to my teenagers .