Companies and markets create images of their brands that they project on to the identity of their consumers. This is true for almost all brands. Apple has an image of trendy innovative youth residing in silicon valley. Jeep has an image of patriotic pro-gun Americans. Every brand has an image and they project it on to its consumers creating this distinct ‘myth’ about who we are as consumers. An article in the Journal of Consumer Research states that many theorists believe that markets and companies create trends and project them on to subgroups of individuals. And people who identify with certain values seek out these brands to reaffirm their identities. However, the study finds that with the case of hipsters, we have an entirely different thing going on. Hipsters actually go against such preconceptions and they arent the only ones. “Rather than being an iconic resource for identity construction (Holt 2004), the consumers in our study experience a marketplace myth as a threat to the value of their identity investments in a field of consumption” (JCR) They believe that sometimes certain groups see these images that brands project onto consumers and they find that some groups like to seperate themselves from the standard myth of their group. “They use demythologizing practices to protect these investments from devaluation and to distance and distinguish their field of consumption, and corresponding consumer identities, from these undesirable associations.” This is performed by being rebellious to what the market place projects your group as representing. These groups then radiate a rebellious aura with incorporated ritualistic practices that they use to distance themselves from their group myth. However this tends to backfire because companies will use your new achieved independence against you. “Hard-core members of the Harley-Davidson brand community engage in a number of ritualistic practices to distinguish themselves from the various cultural clichés that have been sparked by the brand’s burgeoning mainstream popularity.” Companies use this independent rebellious nature to then create a mainstream myth about the Harley Davidson brand. The Harley Davidson group is now known for being tough, independent bikers who hang around sketchy bars and they live outside the law. Harley Davidson used their consumers own rebellious nature against them to create a new brand image. Companies do this all the time an we don’t even recognize it. “Hummer owners confront the moralistic backlash directed at their vehicles by portraying themselves as heroic defenders of the American exceptionalist ideals and values represented by this iconic brand.” They take subgroups and their ideas and morals and use it for their brands. They project a certain image with it, making it mainstream. Once its mainstream, these subgroups have to deal with the fact that their ideas and brands are now mainstream. They have to see their brands and ideas being taken up by the everyday person and from then on it isn’t the group who controls the image, but the companies. This idea could explain why some hipsters hate being called hipsters and why others take it up as a badge of honor. The hipster myth and image was taken up for commercial use, essentially stealing it from the real hipsters. They created an image of indie-rock, organic food and expensive coffee and they made it mainstream.
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