Branding

 

Branded (TV Theme Song)

Branded!
Marked with a coward's shame.
What do you do when you're branded,
Will you fight for your name?

So is branding a bad thing?

Branding is supposed to indicate the ability to trust.  A trademark is intended to ensure that you can trust the goods.  A trademark is meant to ensure that you can trust the seller, the provider of the products or service.  In the context of the theme song, branding is intended to indicate that you can NOT trust the individual. In this context a brand is similar to the Scarlet Letter A for Adultery or the Mark of Cain. Thus branding can be good or bad, depending on the purpose of the brand.  The brand itself is supposed to indicate truth, but the branding can itself be a lie.

Macy’s must be especially proud of its TV commercial from 2007, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHNCqPxe2WA which features the branding of convicted felon Martha Stewart, indicted Donald Trump, and, while Calvin Klein is played by Lost’s Josh Holloway, Brooke Shield has claimed to being sexually exploited while doing Calvin Klein ads.  These are instances were maybe the branding was not being truthful.  Branding is a good thing when it is truthful, but it can be a bad thing when the branding is used instead to tell a lie.  Just because someone tells you that you can trust them, it does not mean that you can always trust them.  Branding is telling you the nature of that product and person.  It is up to you to determine whether the branding is telling you the truth.