On the Im/Propriety of Brand Names
This paper asks what kind of modifications we might have to make to our conventional understandings of proper names to accommodate the im/propriety of brand names. On the basis of ethnographic research on a naming crisis at a Mumbai advertising agency, I suggest that the classic anthropological noti...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Centre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud
2015-09-01
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| Series: | South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/3986 |
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| author | William Mazzarella |
| author_facet | William Mazzarella |
| author_sort | William Mazzarella |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper asks what kind of modifications we might have to make to our conventional understandings of proper names to accommodate the im/propriety of brand names. On the basis of ethnographic research on a naming crisis at a Mumbai advertising agency, I suggest that the classic anthropological notion of ‘participation’ (as opposed to reference) allows us to consider the play between baptism and the mimetic activation of virtual potentials that characterizes the public life of brand names. I argue for moving beyond the distinction between ‘artificial’ and ‘real’ proper names sustained by the theory of commodity fetishism, and propose instead that the supposed artificiality of brand identities has come to operate as an alibi for the unsteady authenticity of personal identities. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c301edc88ae042af9a3fcddcc7a9335f |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1960-6060 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2015-09-01 |
| publisher | Centre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud |
| record_format | Article |
| series | South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-c301edc88ae042af9a3fcddcc7a9335f2025-08-20T02:21:17ZengCentre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du SudSouth Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal1960-60602015-09-011210.4000/samaj.3986On the Im/Propriety of Brand NamesWilliam MazzarellaThis paper asks what kind of modifications we might have to make to our conventional understandings of proper names to accommodate the im/propriety of brand names. On the basis of ethnographic research on a naming crisis at a Mumbai advertising agency, I suggest that the classic anthropological notion of ‘participation’ (as opposed to reference) allows us to consider the play between baptism and the mimetic activation of virtual potentials that characterizes the public life of brand names. I argue for moving beyond the distinction between ‘artificial’ and ‘real’ proper names sustained by the theory of commodity fetishism, and propose instead that the supposed artificiality of brand identities has come to operate as an alibi for the unsteady authenticity of personal identities.https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/3986participationbrand namesproper namesreferencemimesis |
| spellingShingle | William Mazzarella On the Im/Propriety of Brand Names South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal participation brand names proper names reference mimesis |
| title | On the Im/Propriety of Brand Names |
| title_full | On the Im/Propriety of Brand Names |
| title_fullStr | On the Im/Propriety of Brand Names |
| title_full_unstemmed | On the Im/Propriety of Brand Names |
| title_short | On the Im/Propriety of Brand Names |
| title_sort | on the im propriety of brand names |
| topic | participation brand names proper names reference mimesis |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/3986 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT williammazzarella ontheimproprietyofbrandnames |