Walking away from our class discussion on Tuesday, I found myself suddenly analyzing the trademarks around me. Specifically in the form of products, I kept thinking of what I call products in terms of what they actually are. I know we discussed band-aids and Kleenex when in reality they are bandages and tissues respectively, but there just had to be more examples. Fortunately, a skype session later that evening would provide me with a personal example. Watching as the camera focused in on Savannah, an eight-year-old girl I babysit from back home, I could tell that she was in her usual chipper mood. She was smiling and laughing and it took me a second to realize that we were not alone this evening, as sitting by her side was no other than a new doll.
Now, I played with dolls growing up, but I do not know the difference between Bratz and Barbie or whatever trend is going through the elementary schools right now. Asking about her new friend, I accidentally used the word Barbie to describe the doll as it only comes natural that most girls’ dolls are in fact Barbies, but this could not have been more inaccurate. For the next half hour I listened to the story about how in fact it wasn’t a Barbie, but rather a happily ever after collection doll (still not sure what that actually means). Just as Adorno and Horkheimer were saying, “countless people use words and expressions which they either have ceased to understand at all or use only…as trademarks” In my mind, all dolls are Barbies, but to Savannah, I could not have been more wrong.
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