Could Someone Please Tell Me What This Means?
Peter Robinson ·
Jan 4, 2011 at 9:42pm
Just noticed two tubes of toothpaste on the bathroom counter, and, reaching into a drawer underneath, two different kinds of soap. And it struck me: although we've been married 20 years--count 'em--my wife still buys Colgate and Dove, and I still buy Crest and Dial.
Why? Because those are the brands our parents had around our houses when we were kids. The power of brands really is remarkable, no?
I can find no deep cultural meaning in this whatsoever. Political meaning? I could say that party identity, like
brand identity, is very slow to change, making the recent Republican rebound all the more remarkable--I could say that, but I'd be reaching.
Still, this must mean something. James Lileks? Dave Carter? Steve Manacek? Anyone?
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Nov '10
Re: Could Someone Please Tell Me What This Means?
I am convinced that a significant number of Americans vote for Democrats out of loyalty to the "FDR Brand." Their families became committed Democrats during Roosevelt's (endless) administration, and each generation continues to vote, in effect, for FDR. It is a mixture of habit, nostalgia and political inertia.
What is even more interesting is that the "FDR habit" sometimes persists in spite of the personal philosophy of the family itself. I knew a clan of committed FDR Democrats who were vicious racists, anti-Semites and homophobes — really unpleasant people. Their worldview was about as "unliberal" and unenlightened as it could be. I found this incongruous, and more than a little disturbing. Still, I would not want them in the Republican tent, either.
Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon?
Jun '10
Re: Could Someone Please Tell Me What This Means?
Lady Kurobara
I am convinced that a significant number of Americans vote for Democrats out of loyalty to the "FDR Brand."
Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon? · Jan 5 at 5:56am
My family has deep roots in the Democratic party, but FDR was only part of the picture. The Poles who came here a century ago found work in the factories at a time when unskilled laborers were needed in this country. The Dems became champions of the working class with help from the labor unions. When the second generation began to elbow its way into the middle class, they sent their more talented sons into politics. Naturally, that meant the Democratic party. So there's an element of ethnic solidarity to brand loyalty. Curiously, the terms "liberal" and "conservative" were never discussed at our dinner table. Neither of my parents could offer you a coherent definition of either term. The condition, unfortunately, still lingers in parts of my family. It's just a given that goes unquestioned.
Re: Could Someone Please Tell Me What This Means?
Speaking for myself, Peter, brand loyalty is a lot like comfort food, ...a familiar foundation. For me, it's Old Spice and Clubman. As the label on Old Spice original says, "If your grandfather hadn't used this, you wouldn't be here." Brand loyalty can be akin to loyalty on many levels which, I think, is a conservative perspective, no? And RJ, welcome!
Dec '10
Re: Could Someone Please Tell Me What This Means?
Your Grace - I believe you're clouding the issue by bringing cereal into the mix. Cereal is not food - it is what food eats!
My personal brand loyalty is fickle. I think many of my choices were made specifically to rile my father - you should have seen the look on that life-long Chrysler man's face when I bought my first Toyota! Grew up with Dial as the household soap, and I still can't stand the smell of it. But I mimic him in using a packet of Sweet N Low in every cup of coffee (as my son does as well).
Oh, and bar soap is mandatory. How does one even USE liquid soap? Are you supposed to rub the bottle on your body?
Jun '10
Re: Could Someone Please Tell Me What This Means?
I grew up in ethnic Catholic blue collar neighborhoods and can absolutely identify with the FDR brand. My family stood out like a sore thumb, as dad & mom had us watching Firing Line and expected us to defend our positions when challenged. Plenty of my friends were children of cops, firemen, machinists, and civil service union bosses. To this day, although most are wildly successful and highly educated, they can't shake the Democratic party loyalty that mocks the very initiative and hard work that brought about that success. Is it Catholic guilt? Was it Al Gore who used to talk about "winning life's lottery," as if successful people should be ashamed of their good fortune? Did their work ethic play no part?
I remind myself of my own good fortune by saying "There but for the grace of God go I" at least once a day. I also keep in mind that the Catholic church asks us to use our "time, talent, and treasure" to help the needy. At least they seem to be easing up on the guilt a bit with this campaign. Eureka! You can't share anything unless you have it to begin with.
Dec '10
Re: Could Someone Please Tell Me What This Means?
The practical meaning is: you can ignore advertisements. I also use the same brands as my parents, but when I lived in Germany I had to pick all new brands. It was a terrible dilemma which consumed far too much energy. Commercials had enormous sway over my decisions and I found myself buying the brand with the catchiest jingle or weirdest mascot.
Jun '10
Re: Could Someone Please Tell Me What This Means?
"If your grandfather hadn't used this, you wouldn't be here."
That's hysterical!
My husband adopted all my family brands because his mom used to buy those awful generics or store brands. There is a huge difference in quality between many of the products. Some -- not so much. Try washing dishes with cheap soap & you'll use five times as much to get the job done. Colgate tastes better than Crest. And nothing cleans clothes as well as Tide.
Lots of the attachment to household products is the familiar smell. It can bring you back to carefree days.
Jul '10
Re: Could Someone Please Tell Me What This Means?
I concur.
And I've never looked back.
Jun '10
Re: Could Someone Please Tell Me What This Means?
Peter Robinson
It's the holidays, Diane. With my wife busy looking after our houseguests, it fell to me a few days ago to stock up on supplies. I did so, all unthinking--until, this evening, I noticed what I'd bought.
Sorry, Peter, you can't convince us that a person as eminent as you doesn't have a butler (known only by a last name) or at the very least a personal buyer. I'll bet that you carry no cash or a credit card. Your people handle that kind of stuff for you.
Re: Could Someone Please Tell Me What This Means?
It will surprise no one that I use a moisturizing shower gel with eucalyptus and Tom's of Maine organic toothpaste.
Not kidding.
Aug '10
Re: Could Someone Please Tell Me What This Means?
I buy whatever is cheapest. I'm fanatical that way. I even take a calculator to the grocery store to calculate the per-unit price.
Re: Could Someone Please Tell Me What This Means?
Back when I worked as an oil burner mechanic, my hands spent their day in soot and grease.
When even Lava soap didn't cut it, there was only one thing that worked to get me clean: Washing my hands with Kerosene.
Liquid soap? Dove? Like earings, those are for girls.
Real men wash with petroleum products!
Sep '10
Re: Could Someone Please Tell Me What This Means?
Tommy De Seno: Back when I worked as an oil burner mechanic, my hands spent their day in soot and grease.
When even Lava soap didn't cut it, there was only one thing that worked to get me clean: Washing my hands with Kerosene.
Liquid soap? Dove? Like earings, those are for girls.
Real men wash with petroleum products! · Jan 5 at 11:03am
And don't forget their magical medicinal and laxative properties.
Dec '10
Re: Could Someone Please Tell Me What This Means?
Rob Long: It will surprise no one that I use a moisturizing shower gel with eucalyptus and Tom's of Maine organic toothpaste.
Not kidding. · Jan 5 at 9:49am
How has no one commented on this yet? Your sentence here Rob sounds like the lyrics from a song one would hear at the Lilith Fair.
I use Prell, the hard stuff. A hundred proof - takes your roots out.
Re: Could Someone Please Tell Me What This Means?
Rob Long: It will surprise no one that I use a moisturizing shower gel with eucalyptus and Tom's of Maine organic toothpaste.
Not kidding. · Jan 5 at 9:49am
Please tell me you don't get mani-pedis, Rob.
I'm not sure my post-holiday depression can take this. I think I preferred to be disillusioned.
Re: Could Someone Please Tell Me What This Means?
Hah! Ursula, I'd never get one of those -- or are those two separate things? But I do go in for a good shiatsu massage whenever I can get one. Once, in Georgia -- the country, not the state -- I sat for an hour in the same sulfurous steam bath that Peter the Great used, and was then ritually whacked with oak branches as he was. (It's a local thing....) And in Istanbul, I spent an afternoon in a local hammam being bathed and twisted into a pretzel shape by a squat and elderly Turkish man, which was weird for about a minute and then you just let the Ottoman tradition run its course.
And I defy any man alive to tell me he actually prefers to shave his own face, if given the choice to have a proper barber's shave, with hot towels and steamy lather and the slight delicious terror of seeing the straight razor glinting in the steam. The quiet work of the barber. And then the bracing sting of Bay Rum, the brush, the clatter of the cash register, and you're on your way.
Jul '10
Re: Could Someone Please Tell Me What This Means?
Rob, if you had wanted me to whack you with oak branches on the National Review cruise, all you had to do was ask....
Jul '10
Re: Could Someone Please Tell Me What This Means?
Rob Long: It will surprise no one that I use a moisturizing shower gel with eucalyptus and Tom's of Maine organic toothpaste.
Not kidding. · Jan 5 at 9:49am
We're here for you, Rob. We're here.
May '10
Re: Could Someone Please Tell Me What This Means?
Rob Long: It will surprise no one that I use a moisturizing shower gel with eucalyptus and Tom's of Maine organic toothpaste.
Not kidding. · Jan 5 at 9:49am
So... have you just once accidentally called it Uncle Tom's... of... Maine?
May '10
Re: Could Someone Please Tell Me What This Means?
Rob Long: It will surprise no one that I use a moisturizing shower gel with eucalyptus and Tom's of Maine organic toothpaste.
Not kidding. · Jan 5 at 9:49am
That explains the delightful RINO squish when poked.
Edited on Jan 5, 2011 at 7:28pm