Brands as Identities

I started using deodorant a few years ago because my office didn’t have a shower, and I got tired of worrying that one of my colleagues was going to pass out if they got within a two meter radius of my desk. I’ve experimented with a few different brands, but I recently stumbled upon one that I really like! It is a perfumed deodorant, but I think the smell is quite subtle and mixes well with my natural odor. I don’t really like that I have to dip my finger into a goop to apply it (deodorant inevitably gets under my fingernail!), but overall its a lot nicer than the cheap stuff I would anxiously buy at Rossmann after sweatily biking to work on a 30 degree day.

One thing I find interesting about my deodorant, and perhaps a little unsettling, is the branding. Written in elegant, unassuming san-serif font on the lid is the slogan “Change the world with beauty”¹.

Why does this slogan give me pause? Perhaps its the ambiguous nature of the call to action. I’m not being asked to improve the world with beauty, but to change it. Change can take all sorts of forms, and it isn’t necessarily good. What if I weaponize my delicious smelling armpits to help rile up a posse of disgruntled youths for some nefarious end? If we extend the benefit of the doubt to the company, and read the tagline as “improve the world with beauty”, what would that look like? Will it be my moist, perfectly hydrated skin that will help me rise up through the ranks of some evil tech company, eventually getting to a position where I can change things from the inside? Or perhaps I’ll become a social media influencer, where I’ll mobilize a generation to stand up to the injustices of the world, all because of my glowing skin? How will beauty change anything for the positive? I’d actually argue that obsessing over menial bullshit like how we look or how we smell distract us from substantive problems. Moreover, spending lots of time thinking about our own beauty often puts us in the position of comparing our beauty to someone else’s. If I’ve learned anything since starting therapy its that comparing myself to others is a surefire way to feel completely miserable.

The very fact of the slogan is a little off-putting for me. Why is a jar of deodorant goop asking me to change the world in the first place? Perhaps by using this deodorant I’m signaling to myself and others that I care, and that I want to change the world. This isn’t just deodorant, but rather a part of a way of living. This makes sense to me – if I identify with the brand, I’m probably more likely to buy their products. This deodorant transcends mere brand preference by becoming part of who I am. It’s almost as if the qualities of the physical goop aren’t super relevant so long as the company making the goop is able to tell a story about themselves and the product that align with my values. This seems okay, right? I want to support companies that treat their workers well, and care about the environment. I guess I start to get worried when it starts to feel like my identity and values are being dictated by brands.