Peddling The ‘Craigslist Killer’

He uses a Blackberry?! Well, those corporate Blackberry types do tend to be more methodical and calculating… 

It is not an earth shattering realisation that our negotiation with the world around us is increasingly mediated through brand identity and recognition. It is excused as a common trait  of human nature. Before Gucci we pledged fierce allegiance to the nation state, before that religion, communes etc.

What is disturbing is to what extent brand identity is exploited to euphemise reality.  The exploitation of brand identity has moved beyond increasing (destroying?) the profile of given symbiotic components eg Brangelina, LiLo, Britney+Pepsi. Our engagement with ‘news’ events seemingly must now filter through a commercialisation process as well. Brand association is something we are trained to do since Sesame St and are very familiar with, it is how we navigate society and access the value of entities. A media event that employs such brand associations will desensitise our reaction to it because we immediately are on familiar ground.

Be careful out there: Craigslist Killer is a case in point. Our perception of the ‘Craigslist Killer’ is immediately desensitised because we are placed in the familiar forum of brand recognition. We immediately begin to place value on the event and the alleged perpetrator based on the tags of ‘Craigslist’ and ‘Blackberry’. His choice of mobile technology and search engine is given higher importance than the charges that have been placed against him.

One wonders if RIM (Blackberry developer) and Craigslist are rather enjoying the increased product exposure?