Dillon Yost

Comm 1500

Prompt 11: To what extent are you influenced by brands?

1. Description:
Supreme Shirt, Acer monitor, FTP hoodie, KITH hoodie and long sleeve new balance
shirt, Supreme Tan duffel bag, NMD shoes, Adidas bape neighborhood Pod-1(shoes), PS4, Nike
Blazers 1977(shoes), Salomon hiking shoes, Beats by Dr. Dre, Hydroflask, Kraft mac & cheese,
Corsair keyboard & mouse, FICE hoodie,Trader Joe's Mini Tacos,Dominator RGB Ram,
Mclovin sweater & shirt and TGIF cheese sticks.
2. Analysis:
Clothing That is the name brand: Supreme Shirt, FTP Hoodie, KITH hoodie & shirt,
NMD shoes, Adidas Bape shoes, Nike Blazers, Salomon Hiking shoes, Supreme duffle bag.
Brand name food: Kraft mac, TGIF mozzarella, Campbell soups, Trader Joe's Mini
Tacos
Local Company clothing: Mclovin sweater & (2) shirts, Fice Hoodie
Branded Computer parts: Corsair keyboard & mouse, Dominator Ram, Beats by Dr.
Dre, and GTX 1090 Graphics card
MISC: HydroFlask,
Some of these items like the computer parts I buy name brand because electronics I don't
like to go cheap on because if one part is faulty the computer won’t run as it is supposed to. That
is contrary to my clothing preferences, which is centered around well made clothing from
established streetwear brands. You can also notice that I don't have any or many name brand
cleaning products and food items. This is a direct correlation of my lavish taste in clothing
affecting what is important to me by cutting down on expenses on food and cleaning products.I
am able to acquire clothing that to me has more value than eating a name brand food or getting
better cleaning products.
3. Interpretation:
The reason I purchase name brand computer parts and the reason I purchase Kith or
Supreme are completely different. Being a sneakerhead, logos and brands are a huge influence
on me. In addition to me being a reseller I try to stay ahead of the hype so I can make money and
keep some of the items. The reason I purchase more established brands for my computer parts is
simply because I want this machine to run smoothly because without it I wouldn’t be able to
trade stocks, sell sneakers and most importantly online schooling. The reason I started to buy
supreme was at first I saw that you could make money and good money at that for waking up
early and attempting to buy some clothing to resell at a significant price increase. Over time
because I was heavily connected to the community of “hypebeasts” I started to adopt certain
wants and desires such as nicer clothing and sneakers. It started out with just a shirt, but when I
felt the quality and the comfort in addition to people complimenting me on these items in public
quickly grew my desire to acquire more pieces that would make me feel even more confident.
This then led me to wanting unique clothing that most people didn’t have or didn’t know existed.
This path led me to two amazing local brands FICE which is based in downtown Salt Lake City
and is a very established clothing brand that is doing great expansion. The second and my

1
Dillon Yost
Comm 1500

favorite would be a senior in highschool whose clothing brand is called McLovin, he embroiders
his own designs and has blown up over the quarantine having his website sell out of clothing in
under a minute! I have purchased clothing with no branding but items like undershirts, pants and
things that aren’t very noticeable. Consequently because of my taste in fashion I have become
very frugal in my eating and cooking habits trying to stay away from brand named food that
costs more but the taste and quality is almost identical. This has allowed me to continue living
the lifestyle I find comforting.
4. Evaluation:
Overall I am very brand conscious about what I buy and what people around me wear. I
don't let this affect my judgment of that person but rather use it as a talking point to get to know
more people who I have more incommon with. Now from a strictly critical perspective the entire
flex culture or hype culture is killing a lot of people's disposable income. Instead of investing and
protecting your future I have seen too many people -living paycheck to paycheck but their closet
is full of designer clothing. In addition to that I have regretted almost every clothing item I have
kept at some point. The reason why is I put that money into perspective, like if I didn't own any
name brand clothing I would be able to pay for my next semester of college and still have money
left over. Unfortunately this isn’t the only problem I see with people putting a focus on brands
and logos. One of the more pressing issues is that kids are getting bullied or feel as if they need
these items in school to be popular or get bullied for not having money to spend on these luxury
items. This is a byproduct of conspicuous branding that people are able to judge you because
they don't see a tree on your boots, or your sneakers don't have stripes(Adidas) or
swooshes(Nike). It seems to always be changing what is in and what isn’t. A great example of
this is the new collaboration between Yeezy(kanye west's sister brand of Adidas) and
Gap(Maheshwari). This isn’t the first time a brand that was considered cheap or was in discount
stores like Walmart and JCpenney is now seen as a hype brand. Champion did this a few years
ago where it went from making gear for youth soccer teams to making clothing for A-list
celebrities nearly 100 years after its founding(Holman).
5. Engagement
In the required reading from Adbuster they go on to talk about how holidays especially
have been so commercialized and controlled by big corporations that we have adopted a toxic
relationship with these holidays. Warping what should be for getting close to family. We lie to
ourselves and say it is the reason why the holidays are so special, when in reality the reason is
because we feel good getting praise for gifting others and we feel great when we are given a
present(Adbuster). If holidays were meant for family time and becoming closer Adbuster
subjects partaking in #BuyNothingXmas(Adbuster). Unfortunately holidays aren't where the
commercialism stops. In an article by PublicCitizen it goes on to talk about how some schools
are facing tight money restrictions that they have resorted to allowing advertising in
schools(Citizen). While I agree that shoving advertisements in front of children who are very
easy to manipulate through advertisements is a problem. You have to also understand that while
the companies will be benefiting so will the school, and in return the children. Now which

2
Dillon Yost
Comm 1500

companies should be allowed to have advertisements and making these ads comply with
guidelines near children is in debate. I think only ads that promote a healthy lifestyle not ones
that promote gluttonous or a stationary lifestyle. My reason is kids are super impressionable and
if we want to ensure that they are having the most positive externalities we should limit what
effect negative advertisements have on them.

3
Dillon Yost
Comm 1500

Work Cited

Adbuster. Adbusters Media Foundation: Journal of the Mental Environment. Media

Foundation | Journal of the Mental Environment. https://www.adbusters.org/.

Citizen, P. (2019). Commercialism in Schools. Commercial Alert.

https://commercialalert.org/commercialism-in-schools/.

Holman, J., & Bhasin, K. (2019, April 16). Champion's Logo Becomes Fashion Statement.
Can It Last? Time/Bloomberg. https://time.com/5571574/champion-logo-clothes-fashion/.

Maheshwari, S. (2020, June 26). Kanye West and Gap Strike 10-Year Deal for 'Yeezy Gap'
Apparel Line. The New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/business/kanye-west-yeezy-gap.html.