What is the symbol…? It sounds like something a little too formal for us. I think that the brand names could be an example of a symbol. Don’t you feel like buying something that is familiar with its name among the other products? We tend to believe that something familiar equals something we can trust…….I think that most consumers think in this way.
So the company tries to do their best to promote their brand name (value). They think how they can get everyone to know their brand name and come to like it…..For some reason, we are susceptible to this type of symbol (brand name).
Do you ever think why this is so?
Because…………
Imagine that one day, you were on a train. As it was so comfortable you fell asleep. The station you had to get off was getting close and you suddenly woke up. What do you will be the kind of reaction you will have? Most of them are concerned about what time it is and where they are now. So we are concerned about time and place.
Our brain has a habit in which we tend to be always concerned about the time and place. For example, we are worried if there is no clock around….or if we are taken somewhere while blindfolded….we feel anxious.
The relation between time and place is shown in the figure below. As it becomes clearer, we feel more secure. When you tell someone about a meeting place, you’d better say “At exactly 10 o’clock in front of Hachiko in Shibuya” rather than saying “Around 10 o’clock at Shibuya” It may not be a concern these days because we all have a cell-phone though……
Those brand names are deeply related to the time (history) and place (space). Also status and honor are involved in the brand name. Many people work hard to enter a famous university or major company. Because they can only enter into such a company when they succeed through competition. The job they get comes to have a brand power. Because our brain tends to have something like a habit that is always concerned about the time and space, so such orientations for famous universities and major companies is something that we must not be able to avoid, I think.
Also have you heard of people who are addicted to brand names? Because it’s an addiction, it must be something serious. But we aren’t aware of it. We may think of it as a kind of habit. Our brain is made to be obsessed by such a symbol (time space / sign). So the society takes advantage of it.
However, one day people will get tired of continuing to pursue the brand symbol. They will start feeling a sense of discomfort with something that was created artificial.
What is opposed to this symbol = brand name (which is created artificially) is “nature”. Nature isn’t created artificially and has no brand name (symbol). When we get tired of the entire story about brand names (illusion that our brain has created), we tend to feel like going back to the nature. It’s because our body itself is something natural as well, so then it starts sending a signal to make up for the weakness of our brain. Some people are actually aware of that signal.
So your brain thinks - I need a rest…..or I want to get away from the urban area for a while and so on.
This is just an aside, there is something which is a symbol but at the same time it’s nature in Japan. It’s ……Mt. Fuji. We all get attracted to the mountain.
