Place, Space, and the Consumable Ideograph Part 2

Part 1 of this combined post was an inevestigation of the ideograph as a part of the consumer society in which we live.  It focused on the Human Right’s Campaign’s retail store, and the idea that the ideograph serves as a tool for brand recognition.  Obviously the Equality banner is recognizable, and works well as the defining brand for the H.R.C. (and even the LGBT movement).

In Part 1, I called into question the legitimacy of such a corporate approach to the social movement. However, in reality, the consumerist approach has been a part of many other movements, and has seen great success.  In fact, many humanitarian movements are centered on consumerism as the primary means of helping others.

Does TOMS ring a bell?

A Humanitarian Ideograph

 

The concept of buying shoes to give shoes away to those who need them is what can be called “conscientious consumerism” (a term coined in an academic piece I read last semester but no longer have Carmen access to) and is fairly popular. I’ll give you another example:

Product (RED)

 

(Or, you know, 21 more examples).

Now, I’m not saying that these humanitarian organizations don’t do good work — but to me, they’re just brands.

Think about it: Project (RED) — is rooted in corporate relationships and the good work that it does is based on the amount of sales that are made.  TOMS is able to give shoes away because the shoes it sells you are so overpriced that you’re probably paying for about 6 pairs to be made.

So, you’re probably thinking, “What does your corporate rant have to do with the ideograph in relationship to place in space?”

Everything.  These two organizations, and others including the H.R.C., are businesses. However, they happen to be in the business of helping people. What I find most interesting about each of these examples is that TOMS, or (RED) or the H.R.C. don’t have a brand logo — they have a brand ideograph.  Let me clarify: If you see the Starbucks Mermaid, you think of coffee (most likely Starbucks coffee.)  That’s what a logo does — it is a sign that directs your attention. However, when you see the equality banner, or the TOMS flag, or a (RED) product, you think of the movements they are attached to, not the individual company.  The companies have values and goals, and they share those with their consumers through their choice of branding.  Their brand ideograph represents their good deeds, and projects a positive ethos in a way that captures their respective movements.

Ideographs are logos. They are branding tools that capture the ethos of an organization, and project that ethos back out, wherever they are displayed. If a person wearing a Project(RED) shirt, and TOMS shoes, driving a car plastered with stickers from the H.R.C. pulled into a parking spot next to you — you would be able to make certain inferences (read: judgments) about their character, based on the ideographs they choose to display.

And in making those judgments — I have to tell you — you consumed the ideographs as much as they did.

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