Consumed is Rob Walker's New York Times Magazine column about consumer behavior, consumer culture, products, marketing, design, and all things consumed.

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In The New York Times Magazine: Cheetos Giant 6:09am May 9
In The New York Times Magazine: Digital goods 10:26am May 2
In The New York Times Magazine: Eco-remodeling and the possibilities of a new “normal” 7:50am Apr 18|2 Comments

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Consumed Hm: Blog that mocks mocks Wal-Mart customers. But, uh, it's for charity? [Thanks for the tip, Cousin Lymon]

www.peopleofwalmart.com

Source: www.peopleofwalmart.com

A collection of all the creatures that grace us with their presence at Walmart, America's favorite store.

Consumed Tomorrow's column:
"Some of ATK’s ammo-brand differentiation sounds more akin to the sort
of image making many people associate with, say, energy drinks or
deodorants."

Consumed - Even Bullets Get Branded - NYTimes.com

Source: www.nytimes.com

Ammunition may strike you as a commodity, but even bullets get branded.

Consumed The Big Money critiques The Hummer (and last week's colum). Their bottom line: "It didn’t really mean anything." Okay then.

No Goodwill for Hummers | The Big Money

Source: www.thebigmoney.com

Over at the New York Times Magazine, “Consumed” columnist Rob Walker has seen a Hummer— the large and often derided, military-derived General Motors SUV that will soon be sold as a brand to the Chinese—in the parking lot of a Goodwill and “smirked.” The

November 6 at 4:19pm

Marie-Agnes likes this.

William

DeBord writes "But the truth is that Hummer is just a brand"

and then in the next paragraph:

"But it was just a vehicle, it never sold in massive numbers, it didn’t really mean anything, except as a focal point for fringe debates about personal style and the environment. It garnered GM the brand attention it sought."... Read More

But is that really true? Isn't the brand or the symbolism of the Hummer something that now saddles or at least gnaws slightly at the whole concept of the SUV? A tarnishing of a class that has led the auto companies to desperately bring back the station wagon (and the small minivan) -- the very class of cars they gleefully killed off with the SUV -- in the form of the "crossover"?

November 6 at 6:47pm

Consumed

Good questions, William. As you might guess, my feeling is that saying anything is "just a brand" sort of misses the point.

Sat at 5:22am

Ryan

That was an aggressively stupid column.

Sat at 2:36pm

Consumed Kate Bingaman-Burt wants to draw your mixtapes.

Mixtapes

Source: www.flickr.com

Consumed "Just a few decades back, many car-radiator covers set a shiny stage for pouncing beasts, figures from classical art, or twists on an
automaker’s emblem. But now most models just roll with an abstract badge..." One thing I'd add to this slide show is the Mack Truck bulldog.

Ode to the Hood Ornament | The Big Money

Source: www.thebigmoney.com

A visual history of car hood ornaments.

Consumed The always-interesting Sociological Images blog posts this video of gothca-news-report that also has some sociological implications. Basically they faked situtions where an African-American shopper is unfairly hassled by clerks to see who if anyone will intervene. More than 80% did nothing.

Standing Up Against Racism: An Experiment » Sociological Images

Source: contexts.org

Sociological Images encourages people to exercise and develop their sociological imaginations with discussions of compelling visuals that span the breadth of sociological inquiry.

Consumed Have you had trouble buying bullets lately? According to WaPo you're not alone. Coincidentally, this weekend's Consumed is about ammo branding!

U.S. sees shortage of ammunition - washingtonpost.com

Source: www.washingtonpost.com

In a year of job losses, foreclosures and bag lunches, Americans have spent record-breaking amounts of money on guns and ammunition. The most obvious sign of their demand: empty ammunition shelves.

Consumed Significant Objects contest with SmithMag: Invent a six-word story that converts this object from thrift-store thingamob to Significant Object. Winner gets proceeds from object's auction on S.O. site. You should enter! Just six words, after all..

A Six-Word Story about a “Significant Object” | Not Quite What I Was Blogging

Source: www.smithmag.net

We know that everyone has a story, but the online project Significant Objects believes every thing has a story, too. Started by Joshua Glenn and NYT

Consumed Secondhand news: In survey, "91
percent say they would consider buying secondhand items. During the
last 12 months, 29 percent of them said they have been buying more secondhand goods and fewer new items. Fifteen percent said they
only starte buying secondhand goods within the last year."

Will Interest in Secondhand Goods Outlive the Recession?

Source: www.brandweek.com

RSS Subscribe Now! FREE Newsletter | Whitepapers | Digital Edition brandweek web

Consumed Tomorrow's column: What are Hummer fans thinking?

Consumed - Hummer Love - NYTimes.com

Source: www.nytimes.com

How do the drivers of a widely loathed vehicle see themselves?

Consumed Billy Mays III, son of the famous pitchman, has a site about his dad's ... legacy, I guess. "There will no doubt be a multitude of people dressed as Billy Mays
(or zombie Billy Mays)" this Halloween, he writes in this post, where he announces a contest for best Mays costume. Also, you can get Mays stickers. Curious.

Where's Billy Mays? - Home - Hallow-cleanContest.

Source: www.wheresbillymays.com

A heartfelt blog and headquarters for all-things Billy Mays maintained personally by Billy Mays' son, Billy Mays III.

Consumed On a less frivolous note, Andrew C. sends along this link about suspect company-made "studies" being treated as news. Writer says media companies "are short of cash, they are short of money to pay people to fill their pages, and they print PR-reviewed 'research' straight from the press release, because it’s quick and it’s cheap." Has examples.

PR-reviewed data – Bad Science

Source: www.badscience.net

You will have noticed – from the fish oil pill saga, and the Herceptin coverage – that journalists can cheerfully make grand claims for a product which would be impossible in any advert. This ...

Consumed Where can I get a Lucky Cat Candy Packet? I love the Lucky Cat.

box vox: Lucky Cat Candy Packet

Source: www.boxvox.net

Tiny cellophane packet achieves a surprisingly effective illusion: transforming its contents —(two gum-ball shaped candies)— into a miniature Maneki Neko. Different packets feature different facial expressions. (More photos after the fold...) Randy Ludacer Beach Packaging Design

Consumed Interesting rundown of ad-avoidance stats, and (this is what I liked best) ad-avoidance technologies of yore.

Hill Holliday Blog » Ad Avoidance Trivia

Source: www.hhcc.com

Radio Advertising Eliminator, 1934: “The device will operate the radio only when musical programs are coming over the air. Just as soon as any voice announcement is made from the station, the radio receiver is turned off and is not turned on again until the musical program resumes. ...

Consumed Tomorrow's column today: Redbox. "Some studies show that consumers are happiest with a lot of choices. Other studies show that consumers are confounded
(to the point of nonconsumption) by too many choices. So much, then,
for studies. What about an actual business that allies itself closely
with one or the other of these theories?"

Few Releases

Source: www.nytimes.com

For some at-home movie watchers, less is more.

October 24 at 6:05am

View all 4 comments

James Droske

I think that rebox and netflix are def. winning the battle. I imagine that the primary source of revenue for traditional movie rental locations is their new releases, and if redbox can offer those same new titles for a lower price in more convenient locations people are going to wonder why they even bother with blockbuster. Of course there will ... Read Morealways be people who love the tangibility and selection offered by the traditional method but can they alone save companies like blockbuster? Probably not.

October 27 at 10:07am

Consumed

All good points. Will be interesting to see how redbox does over the long term. It does seem to be meeting a need of sorts at the moment, and making things that much tougher for the Blockbusters of the world in the process.

October 28 at 4:30am

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Consumed

Consumed Hm: Blog that mocks mocks Wal-Mart customers. But, uh, it's for charity? [Thanks for the tip, Cousin Lymon]

Consumed Tomorrow's column: "Some of ATK’s ammo-brand differentiation sounds more akin to the sortof image making many people associate with, say, energy drinks ordeodorants."

Consumed The Big Money critiques The Hummer (and last week's colum). Their bottom line: "It didn’t really mean anything." Okay then.

Consumed Kate Bingaman-Burt wants to draw your mixtapes.

Consumed "Just a few decades back, many car-radiator covers set a shiny stage for pouncing beasts, figures from classical art, or twists on anautomaker’s emblem. But now most models just roll with an abstract badge..." One thing I'd add to this slide show is the Mack Truck bulldog.

Consumed Have you had trouble buying bullets lately? According to WaPo you're not alone. Coincidentally, this weekend's Consumed is about ammo branding!

Consumed Significant Objects contest with SmithMag: Invent a six-word story that converts this object from thrift-store thingamob to Significant Object. Winner gets proceeds from object's auction on S.O. site. You should enter! Just six words, after all..

Consumed Secondhand news: In survey, "91percent say they would consider buying secondhand items. During thelast 12 months, 29 percent of them said they have been buying more secondhand goods and fewer new items. Fifteen percent said theyonly starte buying secondhand goods within the last year."

Consumed Tomorrow's column: What are Hummer fans thinking?

Consumed Where can I get a Lucky Cat Candy Packet? I love the Lucky Cat.

Consumed Interesting rundown of ad-avoidance stats, and (this is what I liked best) ad-avoidance technologies of yore.

Consumed Tomorrow's column:
"Some of ATK’s ammo-brand differentiation sounds more akin to the sort
of image making many people associate with, say, energy drinks or
deodorants."

Consumed "Just a few decades back, many car-radiator covers set a shiny stage for pouncing beasts, figures from classical art, or twists on an
automaker’s emblem. But now most models just roll with an abstract badge..." One thing I'd add to this slide show is the Mack Truck bulldog.

Consumed Secondhand news: In survey, "91
percent say they would consider buying secondhand items. During the
last 12 months, 29 percent of them said they have been buying more secondhand goods and fewer new items. Fifteen percent said they
only starte buying secondhand goods within the last year."