Who cares about branding?

To counterweight the post below we have to ask: how trivial is this? Under the threat of world financial collapse, why pay any attention to the print on an orange juice carton?

Three reasons why we might care:

1. Brands are celebrities of a sort in our culture, and watching their ups and downs can have amusement value
2. Brands demonstrate human behavior (What do people care about? What do they believe in? What motivates them to act?)
3. Brands can drive business activity: surely more Tropicana will be sold this week...

Hail to the Citizens of Tropicana

Amid all the gloomy news, one ray of brightness: Tropicana undoes its mistake.

(Which would you rather buy?)

I detested the new generic packaging and stingy logo on the left. A supermarket should be a place of visual delight. The true Tropicana orange leads me to an aisle of abundance where the Land O'Lakes lady kneels next to pink and brown egg cartons, white milk and yellow cheese.

This new watered-down look could only be described as perverse. Also infuriating to search for the variety, so clearly labelled on the neck before.

Not surprising: the backlash chronicled today, as people clamored for a return to the original. Surprising: PepsiCo gave in to their demands.

A brand's true owner may not be its trademark holder, after all.