This is a Generic Blog Post

I am not an expert in marketing or in publicity. I am just a user, a TV watcher… one of the bunch. I have no idea what technique is better to use in order to get an idea across, or how to sell something to an unknown person. But there is something I do see when I watch TV commercials: generalisms (or, better put: generic-isms).

I wish not to criticise nor discuss the marketing campaigns that we see on television nowadays. I wish only to turn your eyes towards something that you may or may have not noticed: there is such a preconception about *anything *(about everything) that we connect images with **ideas **without even analysing them. We believe that if something is white, it is pure; if there is a poor boy, it is about solidarity; because there is someone smiling, life is beautiful and easy…

Do images have anything to do with the product or service that we are being sold? I mean, besides the inherent image of the product itself, everything else that goes with it: is it really there for a reason? Are we trusting the seller because it has decided to show us generic****images of people or objects without meaning, but carefully selected to unchain a visual association?

And more importantly: are we basing our purchasing decisions in such generic images?

If it is white, I should buy it because it is clean.

This doctor seems happy, he is certainly trustworthy.

The baby seems to have slept well. Why don’t we trust this brand?

I would like to invite you to watch this very short video (less than 3 minutes) about generic branding.

What are your thoughts about it?