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this post was submitted on 31 Oct 2024
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Showerthoughts
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I definitely consider a band shirt an ad as well, but wearing one feels like a conscious decision to show your preference for that band and perhaps attract like-minded people. With clothing brands, however, it’s more about signaling wealth and status rather than admiration for the brand itself. You're wearing an ad and being oblivious to it.
It's the exact same thing, you just have different goals and values from the other group of people
A band is not the same as a luxury fashion brand.
One is exploited by massive corporations, gets a single digit percentage of the profits they generate, gets known by word of mouth (or T-shirt) among fans, and creates a piece of culture.
The other is a (usually massive) corporation, exploits low paid workers, is a status symbol for the rich and the people who want to appear as rich, and sometimes they make an item that could technically be considered a piece of culture.
Advertising for and/or showing your support for them are very different things that imply different things, for different reasons.
Wearing band merch implies support for their musical stylings, a connection with the creative output of the band, and possibly their world view.
Wearing a logo-festooned piece of couture clothing implies wealth and status, and (often) complicity with sweat shops.
While the two previous paragraphs seem to be similar, because of the first two paragraphs, they are quite different.
The concept is the same. You're advertising your favourite band, they're advertising their need for approval.
I don't know how the brands exploitation of their workers is in any way relevant to this.
Well one is about money and the other is about art and culture so idk if they are really the same thing.
A sports piece of clothing or equipment is functional with or without the flashy branding; a piece of merch however is not (especially if it's just decorative - like a pin, a sew-on patch or something like that).