Overuse of Brands (in school)

Here's an old post I started weeks ago, but didn't finish until today. Enjoy!

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For the record, I enjoy attending the Adcenter. Oops...I mean Brandcenter. There is just a little area of annoyance I have when professors use certain brands to prove their points or bring a concept to life. The examples are almost always the SAME PRODUCTS / BRANDS!!

I probably shouldn't complain too much. The Brandcenter "professors" are active working advertising professionals and not college trained educators who strive to teach the entire breadth of the advertising industry from a book. (Then again there are books who use some of these same brands as examples as well.) I just wish it wasn't automatically ASSUMED that everyone at the school is interested in or actively use:

Apple, Starbucks, Netflix, Ukrops, GEICO, UPS, Nike

Is it me? Am I continuously shopping in the wrong places? Am I the anti-brand? Here is my take on the products listed above.

first time Apple owner. If it wasn't highly recommended by this school, I still wouldn't own one. Never saw what the big deal was and still don't.


not a coffee drinker. I have to gift cards given to me almost 2 years ago. I carry them around in anticipation I will actual use one.


never used personally. If motivated, I can definitely find movies that I wouldn't mind seeing. There just aren't enough of them out there that entice me from recall alone.


This is a regional (maybe VA only) based grocery store. Yup, me too. Never heard of it before. One day I'll check it out to see what all the hype is about.

Ah! A product I actually use! Gosh darnit, just remembered...my premium is due soon.

absolutely abhor this company. UPS rarely delivers a package on time. I've had to literally hunt down the delivery truck en route to pick up packages before. The shining point was when UPS was used to send a package less than 10 miles overnight. UPS lost the package! After 8 months, I'm still trying to get reimbursed for the lost items.

Haven't bought anything Nike since the 90's. Since I'm discovered a better running shoe (and now I don't run at all), Nike hasn't given me a reason to want an expensive gym shoe.

All of this makes me acknowledge that the industry is full of brands I do not personal use or buy, but will eventually work on. Once on the account, I will of course become intimately familiar with the product or brand. However, in the meantime, does it say something about the type of consumer I am when I have little to no interest in the most popular brands everyone else can't get enough of?