Dictionary.com defines popular as “regarded with favor, approval, or affection by people in general.” It defines obsession as “the domination of one’s thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc.”  Do these apply in any way to today’s society? You bet, it does! Our society is caught in the notion that we need to be obsessed with popularity. Popularity can be a dangerous thing for obvious reasons. Same goes with obsession.

How many pairs of Nikes do you have? What about Adidas or Asics? Wait, you know what Asics is, right? Obviously, it is a company that sells shoes, cleats, and other sporting goods. There is a good chance that you have more Nikes or Adidas than Asics. This alone reveals today’s complete obsession with popular brands. Our society is caught in the illusion that we need to have the most well-known brand and that we must be deemed popular.

According to CBS, brand name products are generally better than generic products. However, they obviously are more expensive. In our day-to-day life, it really doesn’t matter much if we have popular brands or not. In the end of the day, one shouldn’t care about it. Also, generic products can sometimes rival brand name products in terms of quality.

According to Interbrand, some of the most popular brand names are Apple, Nike, L’Oréal, J.P Morgan, Adidas, Cartier, HP, Microsoft, Toyota, Samsung, Colgate, Tiffany and Co, Starbucks, Ikea, and Honda. Look around your house and see how many products you can find from these list of brand names. It shouldn’t be a shock. You probably have quite a lot.

Why are people obsessed with popular brand names? It’s more than just better quality. According to TopYaps, some other reasons are the influence of celebrities, social status, uniqueness, marketing, authenticity, fitting in, and style.

“Under Armor and Nike are popular and famous athletes use them, so people want to be like them,” says Whitman 9th grader A.J Wobig.

“The obsession with popular brands exist throughout the world. I can understand the obsession with certain brands because I have a tendency to only buy things from a specific store,” says Whitman freshman Jackson Lin. Obsession with popular brands is very easy to see in our daily lives. Lots of individuals, especially the youth, are susceptible to being addicted to popular brands.

“Obsession over popular brands show how the market and media has manipulated our thoughts and everyday lives,” remarks freshman Jaycee Cardoso.

In this day and age, we are constantly being bombarded with artificial stuff. There are companies that are continuously providing us with so much advertisement. It seems absurd. Media and materialism are influencing the way we live. It seems like our old culture is being obliterated and a new one is rising. We must be aware of this. Popularity, it seems like, is becoming our ultimate goal of life. It appears to be unavoidable. Our obsession with popular brand names is just an example of this. This is developing into a really perilous thing.