Culture Wars, Branding, and the Spectacle

[Flats the Flounder]

In the Society of the Spectacle, Guy Debord wrote that “in societies where modern conditions of production prevail, life is presented as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has receded into a representation.” I can’t help but relate this quote to our current political climate and what it increasingly means to be of any given political persuasion in America.

Increasingly, it seems that people’s political views, real or perceived, are driven less by their actual views on material issues, and more on frivolous squabbles, especially concerning the brands they do or don’t consume.

In my opinion, this is more prevalent on the American right, not least because Republican politicians and media personalities have weaponized the culture/brand wars to keep their base angry and motivated to support them. Take the Bud Light debacle from early last year, when Budweiser had a trans woman promote their beer. Many angry conservatives responded in disbelief along the lines that Bud Light was supposed to be a Republican brand, and disavowed the beer altogether. 

Objectively, that statement is completely absurd. Unless the company behind the brand has very clearly stated political principles, which Anheuser-Busch does not, a brand can’t be partisan. And yet, in a subjective, vibey way, that statement makes sense. The Bud Light marketing team, for years, was trying to appeal to a very similar demographic to the Republican party, so it only makes sense that the consumers of both Bud Light and Republican politics would subconsciously connect the two. Of course, the response from these formerly Bud Light-drinking conservatives was even more telling. Now, if you consumed this brand, you were part of the woke mob, and not a true conservative like them, never mind what you actually believed.

Similar things happen on the left, too, although I would argue it isn’t as prevalent. This is largely because in the Trump era, Democrats adopted a more “serious” image for their party’s branding, and wading in the culture war waters to the extent the Republicans have would tarnish that image, but it is still there in some left-wing circles. A big example from last year that I can think of is the Barbie movie. For several weeks after the movie’s release, anything short of absolute praise for that film put you in danger of being tarred and feathered as a misogynist. In some leftist circles, I could imagine you might have an easier time explaining your love for trickle-down economics than why you didn’t care for the Barbie movie. And that’s exactly it. People no longer judge your politics based on your actual politics, they judge your politics based on the brands you do or don’t consume.

This is not to say, however, that political issues don’t matter entirely. In fact, it was the “brandification” of political issues that brought us to this point in the first place. The primary example of this is Trump. The true genius of his campaign was his turning it into a brand, as it now forced everyone in the country to have an opinion of Trump. Brands, by nature, are going to be subject to more polarized opinion than political issues. For the latter, you’re perfectly allowed to have a nuanced opinion on the subject. But for the former, you either buy it or you don’t. There were millions of people, people who never cared about politics in their life, or even crazier, people on the political left, who became Republicans because they bought the Trump brand. And on the other hand, millions of lifelong Republicans, including several members of my own family, became Democrats solely because of their disdain for Trump. This is why politics can feel so topsy-turvy these days. It’s because politics are not the bedrock of the two-party system. Branding is.

Another major “brandified” issue, in my opinion, is that of trans rights. The issue objectively does not affect most people’s lives, so it shouldn’t even be a major political issue. And yet, I see so many people, many of whom have likely never even met a trans person, completely consumed by the issues surrounding transgender people. There’s a whole generation of teenagers and young adults coming up who don’t know or care about politics at all, except for what they think about trans people. I bring this issue up to bring attention to the harm this brandification brings to the people who are actually affected by these issues. Imagine your entire life and identity being obsessively scrutinized by not only politicians, but the entire American public. What a brutal existence that must be.

When the line between the personal and political thinned and eventually dissolved, we first noticed the personal becoming political, but I don’t know if we truly anticipated the political becoming personal.