Great creative writers invent stories about thrift-store objects -- and you can buy them on eBay. A project in collaboration with Joshua Glenn.
Unconsumption blog and Wiki in progress.
Things That Look Like Other Things.
Counterfunctionality (A Gallery).
MLK BLVD: Open-source photography project: Contribute to the Flickr pool; browse the blog.
--> The Metapoll. Take it.
"Where Were You?" Annual.[This is a slightly tweaked cross-post from SignificantObjects.com.]
Here’s yet another twist on adding an invented narrative to a seemingly low-value thingamabob:
Designer Matt Brown bought a pack of 15 plastic horses for a couple of bucks. Then he dreamed up a name for each one, then packaging, reconceptualizing his two-dollar purchase as a line of toys, [...]
As some of you know, I have a particular fascination with imaginary brands — it’s a subject that’s come up in Consumed (here and here), and on this site, and in my Delicious links. So I was extremely interested to learn of this Tumblr blog, curated by Gladys Santiago, documenting what she calls “product displacement.”
This [...]
There were reports a while back that the imaginary brand Booty Sweat, a prop (so I read) in the Ben Stiller movie Tropic Thunder, would be released as a real product — like Brawndo (May 4, 2008 Consumed subject) — and supposedly in two different packages, one for the “urban” market, one for [...]
Here at Murketing HQ, we’re particularly fond of one of the newer offerings from Last Exit To Nowhere (a November 17, 2007, Consumed subject).
This time around the imaginary brand is Genco Pura, “the finest Sicilian olive oil.” As you may know, this is a business formed by Mr. Vito Corleone — although [...]
I haven’t seen Wall-E, but yesterday someone* was telling me about it. I wasn’t taking notes but Wikipedia says much what she was saying about the movie’s plot. (Spoiler alert!) Here’s the context:
In the 22nd century, the megacorporation Buy n Large assumed every economic service on Earth, including the government. Overrun by un-recycled [...]
I’ve linked to past entries in the Brand Autopsy series “Would you miss …?”
But this is the best one: Would you miss Dunder Mifflin? That’s the non-existent paper company in The Office.
Side note: Look at all this Dunder Mifflin merch!
THIS JOKE’S FOR YOU:
A satirical product from a dark comedy crosses over to reality.
It’s interesting to consider the Brawndo project as metasubversion, making it possible to express knowing amusement at the absurdity of American commerce by buying something. But maybe the message is simply that cautionary tales about dumbed-down culture are a futile endeavor: [...]
Brainiac points out a contest of potential interest to those who follow imaginary brands. The contest is from Mark A. Raynor, author of The Amadeus Net, “a satirical novel set in the near future.” Contest is:
Alter a vintage ad — for any product — by inserting a product from a fictional future. That [...]
I’m really not much of a convention guy, but I have to admit a certain curiosity about ROFLCon, the gathering of living memes and “brainy academics” who go on about them. (Details here.)
Somehow I had missed the fact that the event’s “partners” include Brawndo: The Thirst Mutilator. This is the combination energy [...]
The folks at Last Exit to Nowhere, purveyors of imaginary-brand T-shirts (Consumed 11/18/07) have a new design out that I gather is doing well among U.S. customers right now. Given current interest in politics, maybe that makes sense: It’s for an imaginary candidate. Senator Palantine, you may recall, is the guy that [...]
Column appears in The New York Times Magazine. Archive here. NOTE: Consumed is on hiatus until late March. (Illo: Kate Bingaman-Burt)
The Consumed Facebook Page. [NOTE: The Facebook page is still updated & active during the hiatus.] 
Letters From New Orleans, by Rob Walker.
Introduction to Ad Nauseam: A Survivor's Guide to American Consumer Culture
Essay for OBEY: Supply & Demand - The Art of Shepard Fairey - 20th Anniversary Edition
Consumed column about Obama as muse is included in Obama: The Historic Journey.
A piece I wrote way back when for Slate is included in Sponsorship: The Fine Art Of Corporate Sponsorship/the Corporate Sponsorship Of Fine Art
Gary Hustwit's industrial design documentary Objectified.
Anne Elizabeth Moore's book, Unmarketable: Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing, and the Erosion of Integrity.
Kaya Oakes' book, Slanted and Enchanted: The Evolution of Indie Culture
Elizabeth Currid's book, The Warhol Economy: How Fashion, Art, and Music Drive New York City
Kim Fellner's book Wrestling with Starbucks: Conscience, Capital, Cappuccino
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