Better than the Leading Brand

Isn't that statement a little contradictory?  If the product advertised was BETTER than the leading brand, wouldn't it be THE leading brand?  I guess there will always be brain teasers in life.

Last night I had a late night craving for something sweet.  I reached for some yummy Reese's Peanut Butter Puffs cereal.  To my dismay there was barely a  serving couple of spoonfuls left.  Before I had enough time to be sad about this tragic incident I noticed we also had another box of peanut butter puff cereal, only it was a store generic brand. 

As I opened the new box and began to pour the contents of it into my bowl already half full of the Reese's cereal I noticed something startling.  It looked EXACTLY the same.  It didn't look like a different version of a similar flavor.  It looked identical to what I had just poured in from the other box.  What do you think the taste was like?  You got it!  Exactly the same as the Reese's cereal.  I could not tell that they were two cereals from two different boxes and two different brands mixed in that bowl.

So I pondered upon the fetish some people have about getting "NAME" brand stuff.  First I thought about how powerful having a brand can be that it makes people pay more for the product just because of the name.  Second I thought of how much we in the USA allow brands to determine our class in life. 

If the choice was identical in price and you could choose a pair of no name jeans or ones with let's say a Louis Vuitton label (assuming branding still held its value), which would you choose?  I would certainly choose the Louis pair.  But of course the price tag for those different jeans varies tremendously, mostly because of the name.  Let's face it when it comes to dungarees they're made of pretty much the same thing.

When I go to the store, I always go for the least expensive food item.  I don't care who makes it.  It has always been my thought that they come from the same plant or factory and then the item just gets a different label put on the container.  Last night when I ate the cereal and saw the evidence with my own eyes it amused me to think about how we put so much clout on branding.  However, when money no longer becomes an issue I will have no problem paying for the brand (especially when it comes to clothes and such).  But as a matter of life or death, I really don't think there's a difference or that it should matter. 

I wonder what the prevelant thinkin gof society is on this subject.  Thoughts?

Middle Class America

One of the biggest passions I have in life is becoming free.  Totally free.  Free from worry, free from negativity, free from any kind of bondage.  Will I ever attain to this passionate goal of mine to perfection?  Absolutely not, but that doesn't mean that it is not my God given right to pursue such status in life.  I believe we were sent to earth to learn how to progress and create.  Create the life at which we can marvel and for which we can have an appetite.  It is our mission.

Many of us don't even know how much we are bound by other responsibilities and without even realizing it we give up a lot of the freedoms we have a right to possess.  The worst thing that can happen to a human is that he/she lives life in ignorance.  Some of us think we are doing better than we are, and that is the largest trap of all.

When I found this  article on YAHOO! I knew I had to share it.  Some people consider themselves middle class and are happy with that status.  Are you middle class?  Are you below middle class?  Are you wealthy?  Read the article, think about where you are, and determine where you want to be.