The relaxation tapes aren't working; my levels of anxiety are fluctuating between amber and red, and there's still three weeks to go. There's certainly no backing out now, since my inane grin was splashed all over the Sunday Times yesterday (fair play to the Times for running the story; other magazines have backed away, fearing it might upset their advertisers). Amongst dozens of texts and calls (mostly of the 'are you mad?' or 'you are mad, but good luck 'variety) an old distant friend phoned with serious concern for my wellbeing.
'You know, just because you've signed a book deal and got your face in the papers, it doesn't mean you can't back out even now. I don't want you to get yourself hurt'.
I was genuinely touched that someone was so worried about me. I've been living with this idea for over a year now, and I suppose I've been desensitised to the destructive aspects of this project, to the point that I'm actually looking forward to getting rid of the stuff… I'm anticipating a huge sense of relief. A huge loss too, but hopefully that'll be offset by the relief.
Another person called to say they've bought me insoles for my non-branded sneakers from their chiropodist! I have to say that the general reaction from friends and strangers is really heart warming.
So, for the next few weeks I am panic buying non-branded clothes, mixing up home made shampoo, cancelling my mobile phone contract (good bye dreaded Blackberry), and waiting for my de-branded Mac to arrive from the states. All the while battling with the local council to allow me to stage a bonfire in their backyard. Its looking like some items will have to be disposed of by means other than fire due to environmental restrictions. What do I do, smash them up or give them away?
Anyone interested in coming to the bonfire is most welcome to attend, and I'd be really grateful of the support, even if you're coming to heckle me, it all counts as support in my book. I'll announce the venue soon.
Does anyone out there own a large piece of wasteland in London that I could use for a venue? Mr NCP, Duke Of Westminster, HRH? Its only for an hour or so. You can have a Technics turntable and some Calvin Kliens (one careful lady owner) in return.
94 Comments:
read the article in the times, im sure you've heard this many times but my gosh you are brave. its true though, wearing prada, marc jacobs et al is the way i feel comfortable in really snobby surroundings so more power to you.i just hope your friends are decent enough to see past your lack of branding. and sainsburys value hummous really does take like crap compared to taste the difference range. best wishes, s.
Neil the best tasting Hummous you will find is the one you make yourself and it's dead easy, chickpeas, lemon juice, garlic salt/pepper, olive oil, tahini, (bung in some tabasco or coriandor leaves for kickiness..)experiment to see how you like it et voila plus it keeps for several days in fridge as has no easily perishable ingredients. Same goes for ceasar dressing by the way.....
Hi Neil,
I read your article in the Sunday Times Magazine yesterday with great interest.
The first question that came to mind after reading about your proposal to obliterate your brands was: why?
Instead of burning said items, why on earth don't you give them to charity? Instead of consigning tens of thousands of pounds worth of consumer durables to your very own bonfire of the vanities, why not donate these things to people who have a real and desperate need for clothes and other goods (be they branded or otherwise)? What would a Technics turntable mean to an aspiring and talented DJ who otherwise lives below the breadline?
Surely this is more important than your own (and, perhaps, your publisher's) need to make a grand statement about your soon-to-be brand-free life?
Neil, you have the luxury of being able to heap your goods upon the sacrificial pyre in order to feel exhilirated, cleansed, and transformed in your passage to a new brand-free life. Wouldn't it be better to mark that passage by making a gift of your goods to charity?
Such a gesture would, of course, be more prosaic than the fiery sacrifice you are planning. However, I think that you could live with the idea if it meant a more humble and selfless beginning to your new and simplified life- don't you?
where can I buy an unbranded mac?
Oh looks like this is becoming trendy already, the new hip Mac in demand is the unbranded one!!! :D
I am interested in your project and I find your writings about it really interesting and thought provoking.
I can kind of see the point in doing away with big name brands but will you really refuse to buy anything with a brand name on? Even say, bleach or flour --- would you say it still matters to people what brands some things are or is it just a way of the manufacturer identifying themselves (I know technically speaking that's what a brand is but without the emotional/style connotations that the word brand carries).
So I admire you because when I think about probably close to 100% of everything has a brand of some kind even if it's something as mundane as buying Domestos rather than No Name Bleach.
aly your right! we all know waitrose make the best tasting hummous as well ;)
Quite Annoyed
I’ have just read the article in the Sunday Times and although you may think this is some type of Branding Revolution I fear that you’ll just be a flash in the pan or on the shelf!
Why burn them all?
To purify your soul of paying over excessive prices for labels that’s not doesn’t justify your character?
So in the article it says you’re getting rid of over one thousand items, why don’t you sell them and give the money to charity. Not to remind you but everywhere you look people are in trouble, turn on the TV and try and tell me that people don’t need helping.
Unfortunately I don’t feel that you are sorting your self out, getting out of the rat race that is our branding nation or world.
Your book will join a list of other autobiographies on such matters and people telling how they have changed there ways. We don’t know if they have.
Your not someone to look up to because you have shown us how you can live without these things, neither you never said that you want to be this person. But you’d love to be on Richard and Judy’s booklist!
Don’t burn the items; think logically about how you benefit from this experience as well as helping someone else!
Check out Yahoo Group FreeCycle or your CHARITY SHOP!
For the record am not a nagging old man who has nothing better to do with my day, am a 21 year old student, am not the type who gets involved loads with activist type thingy’s, I’m not the type to throw money at charity groups or homeless people. When I get a chance and when I can, I do.! You don’t understand what position you actually are in, you can help so many without knowing it, but instead your actually advertising all the brands that your burning.
Make a Difference
Ronan
I've been reading this blog for a while and I keep getting confused. I love the idea of the experiment, but you're becoming more branded just by doing what you're doing.
So The Times like what you're doing? The Times would seem to be one big fat brand, to me at least. The book is being published by Canongate. Very hip publisher. They're a brand too. Debranded Mac. Why not just call it an unbranded computer?
I know that you admit yourself that the whole point of this exercise is that you are a brand whore, so it'll be all the more testing for you. But by banging on about it in Sunday newspapers with wide circulation and writing a book about it, you're just branding yourself and the event.
If you truly, really want to live without brands, bugger off to the Highlands of Scotland, burn your stuff by yourself, come home when you've come to terms with life without an Alessi arse-flosser and carry on with your new unmarked life. Quietly.
That would be the most unbranded thing to do.
Absolutely love the commitment you are takin with the reforming of your lifestyle.
I myself have been thinking about how i've been living my life recently, (with regards to materialistic possessions & the prospect of a long term job etc) as i enter my last year at university.
Quite frankly i've found that i'm not bothered about the high paying job anymore or expensive lifestyle that says hey everybody look at me-look at what fantastic clothes i have, or the fantastic car/ home etc.
When i look at why i am so bothered by materialisitc possessions, it's simply to add to another way of trying to attract the oppostie sex (sad!) whilst sending out subconcious male macho vibes that 'i've got a bigger one that you' because i can afford these clothes.
STUPID Me i've only just realised!
Instead im going to quietly settle for just doing something that i enjoy even if it doesn't pay a handsome wage salary. & as of this year no more stupid spending on designer clothes with my loan money.
I do however agree with Ronan-why not sell your items and give the money away to charity? wouldnt that be better or are you saying you don't want to inflict your branded products on to another person?
Nevertheless i wish you the best of luck and look forward to the event taking place. might even nip down myself!
Take Care
Kiwi
This deconsumerising binge will only help your own self. I work in a middle class area in Lima, Peru where people would kill or kidnap for these kinds of goods, so I support your demystifiying of brand culture.
However, jesus! What a waste, you selfish twat. Those are still useful items. While their value for you lies in the brand, for others they could be just shoes. Shoes that barefoot people need. It's infuriating that you can vainly burn things that others need to live.
Anyway, you're a great writer. Maybe pick a less obnoxious mission next time.
Cheers!
Here here to anonymous above. There is perhaps no more consumerist move than to declare a commitment to live brand-free via book deal, blog, and bonfire. You are not actually a critique of consumerism; You are merely exorcising a restatement of the critique. So, if for whatever reason you find nobility in this cause, please do it without an audience, because with an audience, you are simply creating consumers of a different kind. If, on the other hand, this is all a gimmick, I can't wait to the be the first to buy an "i burned my Nikes" ironic t-shirt.
have any of you seen this website? www.thelifering.com
If more so called brands actually gave something back to society, instead of instilling greed in people, they would be justifed. The only other brand I can think of that does something like this is Bono's RED. I think this idea is really cool, you get to wear something beautiful AND give to charity...bring it on!
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from
chinese(hong kong)
Sorry for slow response.. bit snowed under as you might expect.
crazy diamond: you are right, sainsburys value hummous does taste like sawdust.. i'll admit defeat on that one.
aly: my homemade hummous never seems to have the right consistency. where am i going wrong?
joanna kerr: i've answered this many times on the blog, but one more time: this is a political protest not a charity event. my personal posessions, nice though they are, would not change the world over night if I were to give them to charity. i'd rather reach as many people as possible with this project and work towards consuming less en masse, which would make a difference. One can dream.
anonymous: if you want to get your existing mac de-branded go here... applefritter.com
anonymous: yes i'm going to try and do away with 99% of brands, luxury or household. still can't find a replacement for my visa debit card though.
ronan: please see above response to joanna. i do accept your points, but i'm sorry, but this isn't a charity project.
anonymous: buggering of to the highlands isn't going to change a great deal is it? the project is partly a personal journey, but it is also a statement about modern consumerism, which I would like as many people as possible to hear. so doing press features etc is part of that process. from the very first post on this blog, I have accepted that for all the brand burning, one new brand is potentially created, which is the brand-free me.
kiwi: thats an amazing decision to make, and not an easy one at that. have you checked out the idler magazine? a link to their site is on the blog homepage.. their entire manifesto is built around your thoughts... why endure a life of toil and misery simply to afford things that ultimately do not make us any happier? I'm right behind you.
anonymous: i agree, brands like red are a step in the right direction. i personally think that unfortunately, csr is to most companies, a handy means by which to deflect attention from their wider issues, e.g. BP's 'Beyond Petroleum'. Its too big an issue to go into here though, so i'll shut up.
Anon...Just for the record you may think Bono is a wonderful philanthropist and uses his celebrity to draw attention to world crises. He does to an extent but the man talks a lot of ill informed rubbish, has a warped unrealistic view of the world (the usual overprivileged angst).I know this will anger avid U2 fans but Bono is a massive hypocrite. In the past few weeks in Ireland a new tax law (€250,000 cap on tax-free income, still rather generous no?)for "artists" has been passed re: the music industry. What has Bonos label done? Gone and moved to the Netherlands rather than pay their taxes. Ironic for someone against global poverty! Last year U2 were the world's biggest earners in the music industry bringing in €217 million! Surely he can contribute to society by doing the democratic thing and paying his taxes! I know this is irrelevant to Neils case but just wanted to point this out as a tidbit of FYI..
Oh Neil key to getting Hummous spot on is the type of tahini you use and if it's too liquidy(word?) add more chickpeas. Also add oil very slowly so you form a kind of emulsion. Experiment to get it just right :)
I'm kind of intrigued actually Neil. As you've clearly been inundated with so many opinions each interesting in their own right, how do you feel about things? Have opposing views made you more determined to do this or have you had any sense of revising your plans/compromising the bonfire in lieu of altruism? What kind of emissions will that LCD tv omit if you're burning it? Won't go down at all well with the green parade. I wonder what colour flames there'll be!!
Well at least if all your friends desert you, as you now cramp their prada heeled style in your Walmart duds, you'll have made many new acquaintances via your blogspot&bonfire gathering!!!
Oh perhaps this is too intrusive but how does your therapist view this? Isn't it all really one extreme to the other? Surely you can find a middle ground in life. Shouldn't therapy help you find a balance?
Hello Alyn
thats interesting about Bono. There's a book recently published on this very subject called 'Do As I Say Not Do As I Do' (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Do-as-I-Say-Not-as-I-Do-Profiles-in-Liberal-Hypocrisy/dp/0385513496/sr=8-38/qid=1156846287/ref=sr_1_38/026-5842796-8102040?ie=UTF8&s=gateway), which profiles hypocrisy within the left of politics.
I agree, that is rather hypocritical of someone like Bono to dodge tax in this way, but you know, anyone who raises their head above the parapet for a good cause inevitably gets caught out doing some less than angelic; I think it’s a way for us mere mortals to feel better about ourselves… we're not perfect and neither are the preachy stars like Bono. Having said that, there's no excusing tax avoidance like that. Perhaps if he donated the money he's saving to Red… now I'm sounding like half the people posting in this blog… the answer to anything is to give to charity.
Re the surge in interest; it is kind of crazy. The negative comments do spur me on to follow through, so keep 'em comin' people. Its looking likely that the highly toxic items like the TV will be disposed of more ethically on the day. I'm eying up a nice sledgehammer as we speak.
My therapist has been nothing but supportive. I sometimes wonder if she thinks I'm crazy. Perhaps she'll let me know after the event. Working with her during this project has been crucial… it has help me come to terms with the reasons behind my dependence on brands, consumerism and status. I can't go into these reasons here, but I'll talk them through in the book. Unfortunately, as with many aspects of my life (alcohol for one), moderation isn't something I do very well.
Now where's the tahini?
Just out of interest, where do you buy anything unbranded?
Sainsbury's own humus... Sainsbury's is a brand!?
Keep the brands, but buy the politically correct ones.
I may be missing the point a bit here, but I don't quite see HOW can you live an unbranded life? Will you be buying Tesco unbranded bleach or Sainsbury's? Will that plain white t-shirt be from M&S or BHS? Or Primark or Gucci come to that.
I agree that brands are a convenient shorthand for us to categorise people - that's why product placement in films and tv is such a big deal in the advertising industry. But if that shorthand is automatically bad, I'm not sure. Is the ultimate in de-branding living in a truly communist society where everyone is the same and wears the same and drives the same etc etc?
I just read your article on BBC.
I will be posting on my blog, and linking back re this, and hope to keep track of you and your lifestyle as it progresses..
However, if I may add a suggestion, instead of burning the entire lot, why not have a charity auction on ebay? (Yes it IS feeding other people's brand addictions..) but you'd feel alot less anxious when you realise just how much even the cost of a pair of sneakers helps a charity..
Just a thought, and keep up the good work :)
Dana
Pathetic self promotion in itself rather than giving the items to charity says all we need to know about you really.
If your so anti label, then why sign a book deal? Or did you find a crap publisher to go ahead with the book.
I wish you all the worst, this is really shows us just how shallow the world is when something like this is branded as newsworthy. Then again, we can't all be middleclass journo's masquerading as social revolutionaries.
Anyone with two brain cells would have sold them or given them away, given the money to a charity of their choice and simply been fulfilled themselves without feeling the need to publish any of this.
But hey, that doesn't make a good book does it.
Is it possible to pre-order your book anywhere?
Im quite looking forward to it already!
kiwi
Dont bloody burn it!
Please dont burn it! there are plenty of charities that will come and take it off your hands!!
http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/
I've always been fascinated by the other side of branding - ie making a statement by buying the brands that I'm not 'meant' to wear - like being told by someone not to tell people that the great new earrings were £1 at Dorothy Perkins and let them think they came from some flash little branded boutique...
you should check out anti-apathy's project on sustainable clothing - where it was seen as key to show the brand as a way of raising awareness of the availability of fashionable sustainable and ethical clothing...
http://www.antiapathy.org/socialexperiments/index.php?i=28
The issue that you are dealing with is an issue that has worried me for a long time. I would like to tell you how I got to grips with it.
I am going to start with an example. A chair a is a chair because we give it that name. We could say that a name is an agreement between a lot of people. When you close your eyes and picture your self a chair you will see a different chair than the one I had in mind. But still when you ask for a chair I know what you mean and I will be able to give you something that will meet your expectations. We could do the same thing with people. Different people will think of you in different ways. Some people might think that what you are doing is brave and some people might think that what you are doing is is not so smart but when they refer to you ass "Neil Boorman" they will know that they are talking about the same guy. Probably this will be the start of an interesting discussion.
There is also an other reason that people and company's have names. It is required by law. The reason that this is required has nothing to do with marketing or advertising. It has to do with organization, taxes, consumer rights and of course the legal system. Names and brands are something we just cannot avoid.
Having said this, doesn't mean that I am an advocate for mega corporations. Companys, just as people can do good and they can do bad but in reality big corporations can cause an amount of harm that no individual could get away with. This has to do with the huge amounts of power and greed that steer big corporations. It is a very serious issue and with the way you are approaching it you are kind of missing the point. I know this sounds a bit blunt but let me explain. Imagine that your campaign is succesfull and you sell a lot of books, your readers will follow you and there spending is going to change. The demand for brand clothes will drop and the demand for nice clothes without a brand will increase. The big corporations would just have to take the labels of there clothes, start a few new production line's and adjust there marketing strategy. It is going to be a good reason for layoffs, lower salaries and an other reason to cut down on measures to protect the environment. They will say it is the only way, that they can stay open and deal with this change. It is not going to change the world into a better place. Not at all! If you want to deal with the real issue you have to change your strategy.
Now there are lots of ways you can do this and since I get more pleasure in stimulating good initiatives in stead of hunting down big corporations. Here we go. Not all companys are bad! Some actually try to make a difference. Sometimes they even use it as there "unique" selling point. They advertise with it! Adbusters for example is placing advertisements for Blackspot Shoes. I see you thinking, Adbusters, advertising, Yes and these shoes are nice and comfortable and are made in an eco friendly way. To make it even better, the people that made these shoes got paid. Could you say the same for the uncomfortable sneakers that you are wearing right now. Then of course there are companys like American Aperal that offer as there unique selling point that there clothes are as generic as possible and don't have a logo. An other interesting brand is NO-AD. They are famous for there sunscreen and for not advertising. It is there unique selling position and by doing that, they can put a lot more money in research and into the product. This way they manage to be way more affordable and at least as good as the competition. They are even a strong competition for the top brands, it is just that good. 3 different type's of brands, non of them is all good but in this world who is. Of course there are a lot more initiatives out there. When you find a company that is doing better, you can always change team. The idea is that you should have the whole name giving thing work for you and not against you. The way that you can this is by doing research and by voting with your pound. You will see that this is a lot more constructive and a lot more fun. Actually maybe not as much fun as the whole bonfire thing but you have to do something when all you're old stuff is burned.
It seems to me that this is an exercise in branding.
There is no such thing as unbranded, everything is branded so that you can buy more of the same. Your purchace of a "de-branded" MAC takes the biscuit, surely brand is more than the name, its the anciptaced functionality, taste, and the knowlage that you'll get what you pay for. Is this just an exercise in self branding designed to take us all in?
I think people are having a hard time actually understanding what this event stands for.
There are too many cries about giving all of this stuff to charity, sorry, but the value of this stuff won't be much at all, if you're all that concerned, how about you all give just £1 or $1 or whatever currency you use to charity every week, or month, or year, it will be way more than this man's possessions will total.
Some of the items are kind of pointless, and although unbranded, actually cost more than the standard product on offer (such as the unbranded mac).
All in all, I am for this, brands made so many kids lives a misery at school, even in my adult life I hear comments bounced around about people's clothes, car, phone, and so on.
But at the end of the day, everything you buy, unless it's locally produced, is marketed, and sold by a company, and that is a brand in itself.
People just need to be sensible about things.
Neil I agree thoroughly. I believe in the whole, let he who is without sin cast the first rocks in some heavy public stoning. I'm no angel. However it's when the preachy holier than though types aka Bono slip up it perhaps makes one cynical. I know celebrities aren't divine immortals quite the contrary in fact. It's more the hypocrisy and Bono thinking he's worthy of recognition among the ambrosia drinkers. You know he's a little disillusioned but amusing all the same! If he decided to evade taxes but perhaps preached less on other people's faults and was less critical of governments then it would be a sweeter pill to pop...It's all so trite though as stands.
It's funny reading the various comments and several people's outrage at the "crime" of burning all your branded goods ( a creative idea perhaps would be to stick a hot iron amongst the flames and brand yourself and then stick to only your own brands of Neil eg. Neils' baking sode and mint leaf toothpaste, or Neils not quite right Hummous!....just a crazy passing thought, my job is unchallenging today and clearly I've too much time on my hands!)
However for all these people telling you you're missing the point and a twat, I beg to turn the case around. Aren't they missing the point? This is not a case of you playing Robinhood to the world nor is it an act of altruism. This is a purely self indulgent bout of soul searching. Which I personally think is absolutely fine, we live in a democracy and each to their own. Also this will annoy some but I'm a firm believer in nature's way and survival of the fittest. I don't see charity as the cure of all evils at all. Hand outs can be a disincentive to motivate people to improve their own status.
In some African cultures it is difficult to move beyond the poverty line as if one person becomes successful the onus lies upon them not just to support their own family but their extended family and that of their spouse(s)
Interesting since the 80s (my figures/dates here are not spot on I'd have to recheck) but aid has allocated about $1500 per capita to those reached. In Germany since WWII the aid allocation per capita was something absolutely tiny maybe $45...Look at Germany today it's phenomenal what has been achieved however conditions in many African countries have actually digressed of late rather than improved.
Also there's always the case that being charitable itself is not entirely selfless as it makes people feel better about themselves. Rightly so why are people so miserable they find it repulsive that you want to be happy and feel better about yourself? Have you read Alain De Bottons books on Meritocracy and Status Anxiety? He could be more helpful to you than the windpipe strains you're currently cranking up!
Oh and forgot as the saying goes Neil, "Everything in moderation, including moderation!" ;D
Hi,
Just wanted to say i think what youre doing is really good. I agree a fire isn't probably the best way to go, charity makes tons more sense, but you gotta do what you gotta do! Far far better than doing nothing.
I think there's 2 types of people - those who hide behind labels and those who just be themselves, and the second group are so much more attractive. When I read your times article I didn't think you'd be so hot! You so don't need all the labels. I really think people who care about labels for the sake of labels are losers, cos it means they have no confidence in themselves. Don't get me wrong, I wear Tsubi jeans and everything but NOT for the label, for the cut. I scrubbed the little XX on the back off. Anyway better do some work, good luck, hope you start some kind of revolution!
Surely you are exploiting 'brands' to get try to get your point across - the BBC is a brand, blogger.com is a brand, your plimsolls are a brand, how are you going to light your fire - with a brand name match? Your publishing company Canongate is also a brand - in a vain attempt to sell a few books you are going to burn a few non-essential items, what's the big deal? You would be better off trying to live as a blind and deaf person then you wouldn't have to see or hear any advertising and the brands would be insignificant.
What happens if this thing becomes so succesfull that you turn into a brand yourself....
I read about your project on the BBC News website and wanted to wish you good luck. It surprised me, though, because this kind of ground has been covered before, albeit from different angles - Naomi Klein and NoLogo is more political, the artist who destroyed all his posessions
Michael Landy, and so on.
What you seem to be doing is reaching the stage where you no longer feel the need to respond to peer pressure, a realisation that tends to come with age. But I wonder if it isn't in fact now becoming fashionable to reject brands? That happened in the 80s with Oxfam-chic, and in the 90s when shops like Muji appeared.
Whatever you do, enjoy yourself. Sounds like you will get a good book out of it whatever happens. When it's all over you will be able to buy lots more stuff!
Just please, please don't burn your things - give them away. If not to charity shops take a look at Freecycle.
PS You look very cute in the photo :-)
just a thought, isn't visiting a therapist another 21st century western materialistic indulgent exercise? it seems people who can afford to see a therapist have a far higher rate of depression and other mental illnesses than people in the third world where western problems such as body dismorphia or indeed depression just do not exist. there seems to be another type of branding at work here, its not just labels of material possessions that we want,but also we want labels to define ourselves as special and unique - even though this means we are "ill" and in need of expensive therapy in a cushy room with comfy sofas. thanks for your blog, it makes me think more than i do normally in my superficial life.
Blind and deaf it is Neil whilst branding yourself with the hot iron maybe u should stick it in yours eyes and ears too. Yes because that would make so much sense!! It's funny how people judge you doing something for yourself in a hypercritical way and then write something so blatantly pointless. But if you are going to do away with sights and sound...give your things to charities for the deaf and blind....it'll have a knock on effect in your favour :D
Also saying that people with no confidence are losers is rather ironic. (Perhaps these peolple lack confidence from childhood bullies calling them fat, losers or excluding them due to the clothes they were wearing?)People with no confidence possibly feel like losers which is why they over compensate with logo'd facades(to try to appear anything but one)! Why not say something nice and encouraging rather than name call? It may even give people a better sense of self worth and thus self confidence...now we're back to social meritocracy!
Remember the Dot-Com Guy a couple of years ago? You're exactly an antithesis of him.
neil - even your blogger site is covered with BRANDED links. this isn't some exercise in self purification, more a self branding publicity stunt!
Please please please please please, read the comments on the bbc site, relating to your venture. It is a great idea, and while the bonfire idea is very symbolic and impressive, could you not sell the items and give the proceeds to charity? and save the ozone in the meantime.. if what you are doing is really to improve your life, and make you a better person, why not sacrifce the one afternoon of glorious incineration, and help the lives of a few others in a more sustained way, by donating proceeds from an auction. it is still a great idea, i hope you can add this idea too, endorsed by so many who have heard about your adventure ;-)
Couldnt resist a quick comment - hope you get a chance to read them all!
Good luck with your project - brand has become an icon for 'values' not value any more, and it is the rise of the 'marketing department' that has developed and pushed this onto consumers only too willing to be lead!
There are manufacturers that deliver products with their name on that mean quality components/ingredients/assembly, unfortunatly they are in the main lost in the morass of style over content merchants that do so well in our sound bite world.
Having been a 'quality' sucker for ages and having discovered Aldi/Matalan/Primark etc I can quite understand why!
If you want to burn it all - then why the hell not (is Sterling a brand?)
Julian
i am sure you are aware of the ironies and paradox of your 'chosen'(?) dilemna.
i read the article about you in the weekend ST, like the rest of us, lead here by the little URl in the bottom corner of those pages.
i am willing to enter into the paradox for the sake of this next question (be it somewhat rhetorical):
are you not, somehow, creating your own brand/USP/ethos by taking part in this 'experiment'?
i do not expect an answer, seeing as i could both; give myself the answer and also choose not to explain to myself the reason for asking it.
perhaps that is the existential reason for all this. i will be interested to find out the origins of my queries when i read your book.
or will i(?)
is the article, this site, the 'user comments' and other forms of exposure only adding to your newly developing 'non' brand. thus creating yourself a nice little niche along side the grave of your 'forgotten' consumptions....
Please do not burn your items, this is incredibly wasteful - and I would imagine this will seriously harm the sales of your book as you will no doubt be lambasted for it in the media upon its eventual release.
Also, I don't know if I agree with all the stuff you're saying. Yes, brands are everywhere - but most people are not as driven by them as you. E.g. most normal people over the age of about 14 couldn't give a tinker's cuss what plastic bag they use to carry stuff about in (re your post on the subject).
Perhaps if you did not think that the world starts and ends with the kind of media obsessed shoreditch types you no doubt surround yourself with, then you might see the bigger picture and notice that there are far more important issues to worry about.
It’s good to see so many comments on this interesting blog after the article. Still, I’m a little surprised at some of the hostility and righteous indignation of the comments here. What’s wrong with a pop-culture book about a brand-addicted bloke that tries to purge brand influence from his life with fire? Sure the bonfire may be the guerrilla marketing gimmick to capture a publisher’s imagination,but cleansing by fire has a long history across cultures. So yeah, why not burn ‘em.
Brands are clearly extremely addictive as evidenced by the current debt bubble and record personal bankruptcies (and all the social fall-out that goes along with it) - as a society we are spending our way to oblivion and, as an earlier blog entry suggested, brand-desire plays a part in this. Maybe Neil buys all his brands cash, but even if he does he clearly sees that his tendancy to live through his brands and the image or status they claim to offer as having a negative impact on his life.
Why should Neil’s bonfire have much to do with Bono’s ‘work’ for the world’s poor or charitable giving? Some might think the concept is too fluffy to be afforded a whole book (wannabe writer’s envy?) but, hey, it seems these comments have come from people reading the Sunday Times, which contains a large amount of trivial slop every week. So why the beef?
I for one am hoping the book will be much in the same vein as the thought-provoking blog (scroll back a few pages and see how it’s developed) and not be merely a dense thicket of earnest sociology. I just want to know what it’s like for a brand addict to come off his drug of choice.
Donate, don't burn and pollute.
why have you become a brand? if you wernt a brand you wouldnt have this site or a book coming out so what does it mean no brand ?
I think you haven't thought it through properly: I think that by making your statement of burning your branded possessions, you're branding your desire to be non-branded. Just doesn't make sense. I know it's less emotive, or not quite 'KLF', or whatever, but what about either donating your possessions to charity, recycling them or even auctioning them on e-bay and donating the value to a socially responsible cause - to make up for your mindless brand-loyalty since you've been born! I would have more respect for your 'project' if you went down a less media-savvy avenue to make your statement.
Can we expect the brands to the right of your blog to also be removed?
It's a kind of interesting conceit, although the 'burning' bit is only logical from a self-promotional perspective. Symbolic, maybe; pretentious, definately. Having read your posts, you do sound like a bit of a tosser - I look forward to seeing you crap on about 'important things' on 'Newsnight' in about 6 months and shouting at you through the screen...
pathetic. please throw your conceited self onto the fire along with your posessions.
Of course you can do without a Visa debit card. It might be inconvenient but I know several people who just have bank accounts/building society accounts.
Don't be a muppet & burn thse things! As so many others have said, donate them to charity. You've got the publicity by saying you're gonna burn it all...just don't go through with it. You'll get much more respect for that.
BTW, will your book be coming out from an unbranded publisher? ;-)
Neil,
I support what you're doing and I understand why you need to burn your possessions as opposed to just giving them away to charity (which would be a nice gesture but isn't the aim of your exercise).
However, I think it would be a lovely idea if everyone who has posted on your blog about giving your belongings to charity gives some of their items away instead. Then at least they can pat themselves on the back for setting a good example instead of just talking about it.
Keep the faith - you have a potentially rough ride ahead of you!
Burn It All!!! What better way to get publicity...after your book is published, will you be able to buy it all back again & more? ;-)
I think you're right that there is no such thing as an unbranded product these days. Everything is a brand or becomes a brand, simply by the fact people buy it and talk about it. e.g. Madonna is a brand, the royal family are a brand, muji (which by the way means 'no brand') is a brand.
It isn't the question of not buying a branded product anymore but of simply chosing to buy things that are more ethically correct. The age of the conscience consumer has arrived and we all have the power to choose what we buy instead of herding together like sheep and purchasing for instance, the latest D&G sunglasses because so and so wears them. We should be able to buy what makes us feel good ethically instead of commercially.
Yes you're right that someone like Bono, who preaches charity, good will etc. should pay his dues and not try to dodge tax...or at least give it instead to charity. I had a look on that Life Ring website and I really like the idea of buying something I know will give a large amount of the profit to charity. Why don't the big brands do more like this?
don't burn it just give it all away
We have no loyalty to any brand. This has been done before by people who live out in the sticks like we do, buying cheaply, living simply, home-educating our children ourselves.
Do this if it makes you happier, but nothing will change unless you want it to. This has got to be a spiritual transformation. But, spiritual transformations rarely take place under spotlights...
Blessings, Su
What are you going to buy with the book profits?
What a dreadfully superficial and jejune stunt this is.
And yes indeed, the bonfire is an act of immature idiocy; not donating/freecycling good clothes or property runs directly counter to the positive aspects of withdrawing from consumerism. It's an act of look-at-me selfish individualism, which is the challenge you actually need to work on both for yourself and society. That's what matters, not whether there is a label on your shoes or not.
john
Hey Neil -
Blogger is a big big brand - why didn't build your own website!
Canongate is a big brand - why didn't you self-publish!
Your concept is flawed - BUT what would be really cool would be if your final gesture was to break off your book publishing deal with canongate and worked out a way to independantly distribute the book.
Something to chew on...
man, just give it to homeless in your hometown, like single fathers and shit. this is just a masturbatory nothing that you are planning.
hay you can hang about with Michael Landy and talk about all the stuff you no longer own but paid for without thinking it through
I earn a lot less than you, I barely scrape by every month. I'd love to be able to afford to 'discern' between brands as you have the luxury of doing.
Congrats therefore on the luxury of burning all your stuff. You could actually give it to charity and benefit someone other than yourself.
But that would make for a crap blog wouldn't it..you wouldn't get into the Times and onto the BBC just quietly making a stand.
This is a selfish egocentric waste of space..this exercise is as indulgent as brand use was in the first place. You are not making a change you are being sucked into another 'brand' - 'rejecting consumerism' a self interested hobby for the self interested rich.
Brand name to branded person..quite a lot of progress there? Not really. But take comfort as you burn your stuff that lots of people would love to have it and can't. Rejoice in your utter selfishness.
Ralph Wiggum had a Leprechaun friend it told him to burn things....Drink Guinness avoid leprechauns!!!
Don't listen to the voices in your head Neil, "Burn them Laddy... Burn them all!!
Does anyone here know where I can buy non-brand marshmallows?!?!?!
Hope you have your bullet proof armor on... or enough money for some more therapy as these people are harsh....
Good luck, appreciate your stand and motives..
If you seeking inspiration go to http://www.sevenstages.net/ you may need to find your authentic self 'fore you go down in the hail of criticism.
Cheers, Michelle
You know, it's funny: whenever one does something like this there's a certain type of person who will have a go on the basis that you're somehow being hypocritical.
I once bought some organic, fair trade chocolate when I was a student. No harm in that, you might think.
I got comments ike the following: "What about the petrol fumes in the vans that transported it, eh?!?!" and "it's pointless you buying fair trade chocolate - your coffee's not fair trade or organic! Neither are your cornflakes, and I saw you smoking a Marlboro last night!" and so on.
I won't go into the illogical claptrap I had to put up with when I turned vegetarian.
You appear to be getting similar ankle-bites: "what about household fluids, eh?!? They've all got brand names on them!" and "Hypocrite! You've got a book deal! Therefore you can't be living a brand-free life!"
Just go ahead and ignore these guys: for all their belief in the moral high ground, you'll be an easier target to them than irresponsible global corporations, corrupt governments and oppressive regimes etc.
The fact of the matter is that you stand to make a lot of people feel a little bit silly, or at least (shock, horror) question their own choices, even if only for a moment. A lot of folks don't like this, and will kick anything that provokes a bit of self-examination by wheedling out silly arguments rather than offering constructive alternatives to your actions.
The one thing I will say is that the idea of burning everything does seem a bit incongruous with the public perception of the 'No Logo' generation as being Green and into wealth-redistribution. Whereas that's a different couple of issues to what you appear to be campaigning on, it maybe worthwhile bearing in mind that the pyro-technic side of things is going to cause a bit of 'cognitive dissonance' amongst would-be supporters.
Good luck anyway! I'll link to your blog from mine if you don't mind (no need to reciprocate or anything, mine's just full of odd stuff), and look forward to seeing how you get on.
Hell, I may even pop along to the Sacrificial Pyre itself.
:o)
Actually, scrub my comments about burning the stuff... It actually makes a hell of a lot more (symbolic) sense that way.
In fact, how about a sort of funeral procession? Trusted cohorts could carry the branded items down to a raft on the Thames, and your burning Prada and Technics gear could be given a real send off...
Contribution to the farce coming up:
Dogsolitude_uk.....
It can't do any harm to consider your opinions any more relevant than the other 60+ on this little corner of the interweb. Adding to the arguement with such pilfered contributions is nothing far from brilliant on your part. I mean, assuming you actually came up with these thoughts on your own, thats great isn't it?
The impression is also felt that the 'message' you so sagely adapt into your prose should come to represent something greater than your own philosophy.
"Hear me. For all that falls around thee is deaf"
Sir Barton Seep (1876)
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drjt:I was just dropping in my tuppenceworth.
They were actually my opinions, and happened to be similar to those of a few others. OK, my comments and opinions may not add a huge amount to any debate that's going on, but I like to think it's OK to express them!
It is pretty common on internet forums for people to post comments and opinions similar to those already aired by others elsewhere on the forum. I daresay I won't be the last person to comment in the way I have.
I don't believe we've ever met, so the assumption that all my ideas have been 'pilfered' (and the implication that I'm therefore a bit dense, perhaps uneducated and with ideas above my station) is rather insulting.
I'm not in the habit of feeding trolls on forums, but I will be interested to see if you make an similar remarks to anyone else here.
Hey,
I read your blog today. I'm from Central Europe and I remember when we could only choose among 3 kinds of trainers. There were cheap ones, less cheap ones and expensive ones. Maybe that's why I don't have a credit card?
I buy clothes which I like. I like brands which make clothes I like. Is your problem (obsession) that you bought clothes because of their brand not because you liked them?
I would say that as long as you stick to buying what you like you don't have to choose not to wear any brands.
I was positively amazed that you don't know where to get insoles, now that would bother me as an adult person just as much as a brand addiction.
You're in therapy so you surely know that if brandmania is caused by low self esteem going no brand will land you with more anxiety not less unless the self esteem stuff is sorted out. Then again once that is sorted out you won't be brand obsessed.
These things take years tho and are resolved by the creation of meaningful relationships in your life and help you more than wearing the ugliest trainers incidentally the same ones I had to wear twice a week when I was a kid, for PE class. That's what these trainers are for, not for walking about in them, no wonder your feet hurt.
Take care
Hettie
ps: Best hummus is an Israeli make, can't remember the brad of it, but I can recognise the container. I've spotted it in tescos the other day, it's super delicious.
I know this is maybe a little off topic but the other day we were talking about the Budweiser production company and branded entertainment - Universal have just decided to start letting people download music for free with something called Spiral Frog (awful name) - you can check the rather brief article here here
Anyway the bit that caught my eye was
'The new Napster allows consumers to listen to up to five tracks for free while they view advertising.'
Now I haven't experienced this yet and initially it seems wrong for them to say - sit here and watch this and we'll give you a treat - then surely this isn't a great way to get people to see advertising as as soon as the ad comes on you go make a cup of tea and then come back and get your tunes.
Don't worry about all these people complaining about you burning all these brands (being wasteful). Its just advertising types desperate about the free publicity you'll generate while they pay millions to make their brands look good.
The pictures on this site of burnt nike or adidas are very powerful. Please please please keep it up.
I congratulate you for taking the first step into anti-consumerism, but I do worry that you are replacing your branded clothing with book deals and Sunday Times articles. Perhaps it is your sub-concious not wanting to let go of your ego, I am not sure.
Eitherway I wish you luck.
Please, please, PLEASE give your stuff away rather than burning it!!! I think what you're trying to do is an admirable gesture, but please let others benefit - charity shops would be a good place to dispose of your things - rather than burning it all, which not only wastes all those expensive things - it also pollutes the environment. Plus, clearly it entails a wrangle with the local council! I know burning it is a big statement, but PLEASE at least consider donating these things to charity. They're worth a lot of money and could do a huge amount of good!
The KLF burnt a million quid. It didn't change the world, really. It made a nice book though. Burning your clothes won't do anything much either. You will not make a difference. It will not trigger a nationwide rejection of brand-culture.
It might get you on the evening news. Which would be good for your book. Or you could donate what you have to those in need.
The former or the latter? Which will make more of an impact?
Do the former if you like. But for goodness sake, don't expect sympathy or praise. Just do it.
Always nice to turn the commercial messages against themselves.
You have been made Muppet of the Month on a Dublin blog. Well done, consider it a charm.
http://soundtracksforthem.blogspot.com/
A one time DJ ( 1 ) and music critic, Neil Boorman has raised the eye of the English press this week with his promise to burn all the brands in his possession in some bewildered act of randomness against the over-riding power of brand culture. For a man well into his thirties he's of that rather odd vintage that suffers from some sort of irony deficency in believing music should be 'difficult for adults to understand.' It is exactly this sort of pathological desire to offend in an attention grabbing 'fuck you I won't clean up my bed-room' act of childish spite that earns him our catty contempt and that grand aul Dublin title of muppet.
He likens himself to Cayce from William Gibson's Pattern Recognition ( 1 ). A 'cool-hunter' character who becomes violently ill to the sight of particular company emblems. If he does share a similarity to her, it is far from sharing a post-modern neurosis to the ever lingering logo imprints of hegemonic brands, and more in his own ability to hunt out underground cultures such as subvertising. Then strip them of their depth and ideological worth to pimp them out like sullied street walkers with a simple and crass message to earn a few fleeting moments of press to sell his up-coming book. Neill Boorman is a man no longer content with writing the art and culture features, now he wants to graduate into being the focus of the cultural supplements rather than writing them. He delivers a stunningly watered down social critique.
Naomi Klien used brands as a point of departure for developing a popular and well needed critique of post-Fordist capitalism. But the gap between his confused and obviously pampered view of how to shop our way out of a particular set of social relations and the No Logo exposition is never made clearer than on his blog. Full of guff about acclimatising to the process of wearing non-branded runners, in his world the options are between Dunne Store knock off high-tops and Converse originals, he admits to 'travelling to Hong Kong to get some items of clothing copied (non-branded naturally).'
He is the living incarnation of Nathan Barley, several collapsed efforts at independent publishing prove the point, as well as admitting to not having an interest in his current partner ' had she not been working for a very important contemporary art gallery'. You can be sure someone will give him a quirky column writing an 'anti-fashion' fashion column or even better designing summer wear for Pennies. At the rate vintage clothing is selling these days, he should have no problems dressing like the pretentious knob he is just in time for the latest Marc Jacob's grunge revival.
What you have here is a rather grandiose dose of liberal bourgeois. When history looks back it will not see a brave soul raising the deep ethical questions that haunt late capitalism. Instead it will see a pampered rich little bitch that has foregrounded his own individuality through yet more consumer choices rather than pushing for critiques of the system grounded in developing social solidarities. Bending the corporate semiotics to subversion you ain't mate, now hand over those Addidas Super Star before I set the dogs on you.
Great, so, youre gonna re-evaluate your life with a "no logo" lifestyle, yet choose to burn your gear, pollute the environent, and not give a charity a chance to do some good?
shoreditch twat indeed.
I wonder what you will get out of your little experiment. If you are truly on a path to self-discovery, and not just a book deal, perhaps some volunteer work will help you find perspective in your priveledged and superficial life. I also agree wholeheartedly with the many who have suggested charity shops -- and there is no denying it would be big publicity. A huge Ebay drive with the proceeds going to a charity of your website readers choice would ignite the interest you crave. You can still burn some shit, if that's your bag, but really -- must you burn it all? Anyway, I ramble, and the rest of my comments can be found here. Some other ideas...the grey sweatshirt, Mother Earth News, and your local shops and markets. Also, had a friend once who took a bunch of plain white T-shirts and wrote "The Gap" on them in permanent marker. It was hilarious. Best wishes to you and your project.
Ha ha ha!!
Go ahead, take your already futile and feigned life and make it a little less satisfying.
Choose knitting you own clothes, choose dreadlocks, choose an eco-friendly washing up liquid, choose public sector work... Choose no-life.
Doesn't matter what you do, once you realise the meaning of life may as well be 42, you ought to just end it now. Right? Don't you think?
No?!?! Thought not.
Exactly what are you trying to prove and to who?
Stop trying to justify to yourself the pleasure you feel from knowing you 'have' and others 'have not'. How does your act of brand liberation re-dress the balance? Life is unfair. Deal with it.
You work hard enough to earn your money so spend it; otherwise, what's the point?
Why not enjoy the finer things in life if you can afford them? What is wrong with appreciating the feel, the cut, the exclusivity of a Verri suit. It may not be worth anywhere near the asking price you paid but how good do you feel walking down the street? Can you put a value on that? Should you put a value on that?
I should also point out to those of you currently screaming at your monitor "You shallow pathetic man" that I’m not saying that brands will make you feel good about yourself; just that if they do, enjoy them!
I take pleasure from watching football so, I watch it. I smile when I drink my Starbucks coffee so, I drink it. I scream out loud when I get to the peak of a mountain so, I walk it. If you are not harming or seriously offending someone (I say seriously because lets face it, there's always going to be some over sensitive pansy who cries when you even think about breaking wind) then do the things that make you happy.
If you really want to be 100% free from the marketing glare and social requirements then give everything away. Give up your job, your house, your possessions, your money, go live on the streets butt naked and see if you feel truly liberated.
For God's sake, don't HELP the bas*ards grind you down!
You prat! All your trying to do here is make a quick buck and f**k off abroad somewhere to start off fresh.
When you say you'll live a 99% unbranded life, I think you need to re-read what a brand is. On the radio last night you shyed away from questions like who your airtime provider will be (a brand?). How do you plan on keeping up this blog without an Internet Service Provider (ISP)? What coffee will you drink? How will you find out about the news without TV, Radio, Newspapers and the internet (and if any friends tell you, they are losers for supporting you)
Do not support this guy. It's all a load of bull! The fact you have a therapist, just goes to show you have problems, not with brands, but society itself!