COMS 427 Blog Post #3 Personal Branding & The Commodification of Self

Image source: https://yourstory.com/2016/05/building-personal-brand/

    Personal Branding and The Commodification of Self

"Personal brands" have become a popular topic in recent years, with entire university classes devoted to the subject!  Those in favour of these practices will say that in the new age of digital marketing, having a personal brand is important to market to millennial consumers. Is it even possible to be a politician today without multiple social media platforms? Having a personal brand for these individuals is no longer an option, it is an expectation.             Image source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deal_with_the_Devil However, to what extent are these practices commodifying ourselves? Commodification refers to how “Even during their leisure time, consumers must orient themselves according to the unity of production” (Horkheimer and Adorno, 2001, p.44). Having a personal brand imposes work and labour on not so much a product, but on an idea. It brings to mind a kind of socially contractual obligation. And what about those who deny this obligation?  They can face stigmatization and ostracization as a result of their choice not to use social media.  In conclusion, increasingly, as young people using social media, we feel the pressure to have and to develop "personal brands"; to begin to curate ourselves on social media. But to what extent does this pressure lead to unrealistic social expectations, and what are the personal costs associated with commodifying ourselves and our identity.

Image source: https://giphy.com/gifs/rewiredotorg-pbs-social-media-xULW8F2VnLmoK0EkYE/embed
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Reference: Adorno, Theodor and Max Horkheimer. “The culture industry: Enlightenment as mass deception.” Media and Cultural Studies: KeyWorks. Eds. Meenakshi Gigi Durham and Douglas M. Kellner. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2001. 41-72.