Paying for advertising

But how can you show them that you bought an overpriced shirt made by a child in Bangladesh?

Screenprint the notice right on the shirt: this shirt supports Bangladeshi child welfare
Kinda makes everyone else jerks if they’re buying clothes from makers who could afford their next meal regardless.

Trick yourself out until you look like a NASCAR

Wait... Is that 2020s really what it looks like now?! Or is the meme just 5 years old?
- I have several polo Ralph Lauren clothing items in my home, the logo hasn’t changed significantly in 30+ years in shape or size on the normal polos. They do have some items that have the polo logo or the teddy bear larger but those are in the main Ralph Lauren line for fashion, not the Polo line polo shirts that are a business casual intent
I want a divorce
Because you look like a horse.
I can dig the 2040's.
But of an un branded vibe to it too.
- lol yeah
Wow how has that guy been able to look the same during all those years

I always make car dealers take their own sticker or badge off of any vehicle I buy. I usually offer to keep the advertising in place, in exchange for a discount, but they never take me up on it.

I make removal of any dealership branding a condition of purchase.
- Hell yeah, brandalism is already too pervasive and just kind of accepted. Good on you.
Funny to see this, because I haven't bought a vehicle in a long time, but I had the EXACT same thought.
I grimace every time I see that hideous "CarMax - - -" decal stuck to the actual car body.
Same with license plate frames that are like "Huge 'Dicky' Richard's Auto Circus Emporium Honda Jeep Lexus - We rub you right!"
At least those just tell me "the driver is likely lazy or can't identify a screwdriver." But an actual decal? Yeah they better take it off, and discount me if they scratch it in the process. :p
Obnoxious, man.
- At least they aren't riveting badges onto cars anymore I've heard that used to be super common during the 60s and 70s Personally I hate how my 56 bel air has a AAA of Syracuse screwed into the bodywork of my trunk so even if I remove it there's still going to be a hole in my trunk so I'm personally pretty glad all this branding today are just decals and stickers that can easily be removed with a eraser wheel or plastic blades
Absolutely. I always shake my head when I get behind a sharp looking vehicle and it's ruined by a dealer sticker.

"The Century of the Self" in a nutshell. 😬

The irony is that this is often true. I have always preferred shirts that have minimal advertising on them (preferably none, but a dime sized insignia is generally the best you get) but they are notably harder to find and when you do, they are more expensive. The happy medium I have found is looking for used Polo type shirts that were expensive when new, which I can generally find cheaply because collars aren't a popular look these days.

You mean blank t-shirts? Because blank t-shirts are usually a lot cheaper than ones with a logo, and most other kinds of shirts I don't usually see logos on them but maybe we shop in different places. For t-shirts I used to get them from a screen printing vendor because I liked ha ING multiple different colored shirts and they were usually around like 2-3 dollars per shirt depending on the brand
- Not bad, but I was mostly referring to brand names, generally with better fabric than just blank t shirts. I have plenty of those shirts that have Pima or other expensive fabrics that I paid $5-20 for a piece used. They are a lot more comfortable, and generally last longer.

My thoughts exactly. I stopped wearing conspicuously branded products when I was in highschool for this very reason.

Yeah, that's why I won't wear stuff like that

Now, there's the adjacent, but not the same thing of band shirts or similar merchandise. The difference is that in theory, the band/artist is going to benefit from the purchase. It is still advertising that I'm paying for, but, because merchandise is often a big income stream for musicians in particular, I don't object to being their billboard if I like them enough to get anything of theirs in the first place.

When it's a clothing company? Hell no. If their label/logo is more than the size of a tag, I'm not doing it. I don't mind the idea of a trademark/label/tag being present, that's expected. It's when the branding becomes the design that it's a problem.

Yeah I'm fond of the "Tshirts that make a statement" thing.
It's personal expression to say "Hey I'm really into this band and I might've gone to this concert!" Could be a conversation starter too, and it supports the band or artist like you said!
But I really don't understand people walking around with some billboard from a clothing mega-brand. You're literally paying them to do marketing work for them lol.

I wish this was a thing... All the shirts I've gotten in the last few years have been $40-50 and have the brand's logo on the back near the neckline (they also came with stickers that are advertising the brand). I would usually only spend $5-10 for a shirt, but these are limited prints and most of them are on really good, comfortable shirts. Just look how cool my newest one is:

If I drop fifty bucks on a t-shirt it better come with a bag of weed.
- Initially that was the only way you could buy weed in Maine from a delivery service before they allowed recreational dispensaries. $50 T-shirt with a free bag of weed.
Sir, I think there is some t-shirt in your hair
- I have two dogs and one is very cuddly. Those are my black shirts within 30 seconds of putting them on. And most of my shirts are black.
They're Edible (kind of)
🤣
- Pure Sugar!
Lol 'limited' my ass
- They don't usually print more once they sell out of the initial stock. Hell, Hyena Agenda and Nomad Complex just stopped existing entirely. 😮‍💨
You paid money for that shirt?

Look if I'm gonna wear brand stuff its gonna be linux

Linus should be paying you for the advertising!
10% off your next Linux purchase.
- I think they paid me by letting me use their OS for free. Also, why not talk about something I love to use?
- Fuck yeah I love a discount

Every so often, I am willing to pay to advertise.

I just bought a shirt with a vintage PBS logo from the 1980s, which I did not buy from PBS since they aren't selling it, but I would have paid to advertise PBS from a PBS store if they sold it with the 1980s logo.

So yeah, I pay to advertise public television- and public radio, since I really need an NPR shirt as well. We also give them money every year. And we get back really excellent journalism, so it's worth it.

Now Nike? Fuck Nike. I'd never wear their fucking swoosh.

Yeah. I'm happy to wear shirts with logos from my favorite bands on them.
- Band tees blank shirts and spray painted shirts for me.

No no you should get paid to wear them

The bougie love advertising for free! You know how many yeti stickers I see on cars? It’s a fucking ice chest…

Those Apple stickers. This was in the Bay Area but not that many people work at Apple. Even if they did, who would advertise their employer on their car??
- The stickers come free with any of their tech
what is "leer" for that matter
- It's Spanish Big Book propaganda.
- Are you referring to seeing "Leer" on the backs of trucks? If so, Leer makes the tonneau covers.

Conspicuous consumption

In sociology and in economics, the term conspicuous consumption describes and explains the consumer practice of buying and using goods of a higher quality, price, or in greater quantity than practical. In 1899, the sociologist Thorstein Veblen coined the term conspicuous consumption to explain the spending of money on and the acquiring of luxury commodities (goods and services) specifically as a public display of economic power—the income and the accumulated wealth—of the buyer. To the conspicuous consumer, the public display of discretionary income is an economic means of either attaining or of maintaining a given social status.

This results in what may be known as Veblen goods, for which the demand increases as the price increases, in apparent contradiction of the law of demand, resulting in an upward-sloping demand curve.

The entire principle Apple is based on
- Yep that is why I paint my Androids white

I even take the badges off my car. Nobody needs to know what brand I have.

I do, so that when I see your car broken down on the highway I know what not to buy. /j

Adidas products are also produced really cheap due to child labour. So that's another reason to make those cheaper for customers.

https://www.presseportal.de/pm/58468/5504476 (German)

Spoiler alert, most stuff in the fashion industry is chocked full of human rights violations.
Climate Town on Shirts: https://youtu.be/8CkgCYPe68Q
But if I stop buying them, won't I be putting hundreds of children out of work?
- No. The shirts will continue to be made and sent to wholesalers, who then dispose of the finished garments in giant landfills.
- Yep. Probably the best thing you'll do all month.

I admit I buy T-shirts at micro-breweries. I do support those that I actually buy. Additionally, it helps me keep record of my journey of visiting many breweries.

I've even turned some of my collection into a king sized quilt and a lap quilt. So, my shirts are very useful in more ways than one.

I think it's different when you're talking about a small business or a nonprofit or a museum. Paying $20 to advertise things that actually make the world a better place that people wouldn't otherwise know about is, in my opinion, a net good.
- Roger that.
My biggest collection of branded t-shirts are from my favorite podcasts. But they tend to have some kind of comedic style or logo, rather than a simple bland "The Name Of The Show" printed in block letters across the front.

I used to say this a cynical teen lol I still believe it, just don’t care to talk about it anymore

I used to be cynical too, I still am but I used to be too.

that's why I don't like buying t-shirt with brand logos on, I feel like companies are using me as means to reach out to new customers

ironically technically not true

one principle of marketing is the knowledge that the brand actually adds (perceived) value for many consumers, and so they are willing to pay more

It's true that this is how most consumers act. It's dumb, but iirc it's factually correct.
If you take a brand name shirt, remove the logo in a way that is visually perfect, and sell them side-by-side, then the logo shirt will outsell the non-logo shirt. Or so I've heard.
- Absolutely. There are definitely people like OP who prefer products without branding, but for the majority (average) of consumers in many markets, the branding actually adds value.
"SuPrEmE" somehow did this and created a rabid following over some of the most basic stuff I've ever seen. It's a meme now to just stick their logo on like, a literal brick so it's suddenly more "desirable."
Truly boggles the mind.
- That is an extreme example of this, yes. Other examples of branding can be much more subtle and deft, e.g. Apple’s product design. It’s not in-your-face but nevertheless it’s present and adds to the consumer experience and perception of value.

Almost all of my branded shirts were free. ¯(ツ)/¯

That's how I get basically all my shirts
- I also get shirts from when family members travel. They're typically "branded" with locations rather than corporate trademarks, though.

This is true to a point. Once you go past brands Ralph Lauren, Gucci, or Versace to the "real" expensive brands, they become understated again. For example, this $555 blue T-shirt

For that price, a tailor better come to my home, get my exact measurements, and make it specifically for me from high quality materials.

And that is why, with our new triangle shaped business model, you and your customers are getting paid for wearing our shirts!

That's right! The more shirts you buy, the more you are getting paid! Just grap a couple of friends and get rich together!

It's not a pyramid scheme when it's 2D

I go pretty far to my way to make sure my branded t-shirts are from small to mid-sized online content creators that I enjoy. It works out because they usually put a lot of effort into making sure their stuff is unique

Pirate a shirt by buying the cheaper ad one and turning it inside out

'Do I get a discount if I take your free gym bag with the name of your gym'. Response is always no and a very weird stare

Also grocery bags. I pay for them, don't want you logo on it

Also grocery bags. I pay for them, don't want you logo on it
One alcohol bewerage chain in Russia popularized the blank black bag format in recent years, in theory - to make it less obvious you've bought booze. They are sturdy, have good handles, so overall it's a win. But since they are the most popular source of them, a blank black bag therefore automatically means booze.
It's damn near impossible to find bags without some greedy shit grocery companies trashy branding all over it. I still use plastic bags. Got a million of them in the weird plastic tub thing that everyone has a million of them in.
People look when I pull out some 15 year old plastic bag is amazing.

When shirts are worn less than a dozen times on average before they get tossed in the landfill, those branded shirt companies should be paying you.

Convenient video from today about this exact topic.

With very few exceptions, I will wear a shirt until it's just not wearable anymore. If the image is really faded, I don't care much.
The only exceptions right now are two shirts I still have from my previous job that I hated. I'm mostly keeping them around in case my wife wants them for some sort of craft project.

You’re paying for an ad-free experience with no logo. You could always make your own ad-blocked and cover up the logo on scrape it off if you want the cheaper one with no ads.

Am I doing this right?
- I would very unironically buy this shirt, hard!
- Yes. Yes you are.

That's what my granddad always said.

Interestingly, sometime after highschool, roughly around 20 years old, I stopped wearing/buying clothing with logos on them. Except for footwear, they'll always have their logo imprinted.

Yeah but it's a tight balancing act between selling at a higher volume vs selling at a higher price. If they're already selling high volumes of low quality, then going lower could put them in the negative, in theory. In reality there isn't enough competition for that logic to work, we buy low quality at high costs.

I actually just bought a saddlebag for my bike which was cheaper because it has a (rather inconspicuous) company logo on it.

Tbh I feel like this is sometimes the case. Whenever I've looked for really cheap basic one-color t-shirts, the lowest cost ones usually have a brand logo on them.

Browse the REI catalog. Vouri t-shirt, tiny label, $60. Free Fly t-shirt, no label that I can see, $55.

Yes yes yes