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INT270 Assignment 1: Brands, Impressions and Emotions

Title: Brands, Impressions and Emotions

In today’s world, first impressions are formed through brands. The brand of shoes you wear, the bag your carry, the car you drive and even the school that you go to. People use these brands to shout out their social status or personal identity. Sometimes people use these brands to hide certain insecurities they have about themselves or to portray an image different from their real self.

However, if one considers what all these brands are all about, they are merely name and reputations that has gone through extensive advertising to artificially create their desired image in our heads.

Furthermore, is there a difference of how men and women perceive brands? There may be some men who thinks that spending thousands on a bag is pointless but would be quick to defend why they spend hundreds of thousands on their fast cars.


Objective:
To explore the meaning of brands that people carry and how they personally feel about these brands


Performance:
A single performer will walk down a street decked in branded clothing and make a few stops on the way.


Performers:
Audience and Performer


Setting:
For my performance, I have chosen Orchard Road in Singapore as it is the shopping paradise of Singapore. Major brands are all located there and people visit these places to buy these brands.

Post - Interview:
People are evidently brand conscious and would form an impression on people based on the brands they carry. As most brands are well-publicized, these brands do project a certain image rather quickly. Like one would associate sportiness with Nike or Adidas and being well off with LV or Gucci. One of the interviewee would buy branded goods because she feels that people around her are brand conscious and would be quick to judge, therefore to portray a more professional image, branded items are a must for her. Whereas for another interviewee, she chooses to buy branded goods to signify a monetary achievement such as gains from the stock market.

On the other hand, brands which were viewed once as being exclusive may soon see their brand value erode away. With people’s rising affluence, brands are fast becoming common rather than exclusive. Take for example Rolex; one of the interviewee didn’t feel that exclusive or special wearing a Rolex watch as he felt that it has become too common. It seems such that the more people own a particular brand, the less people value it.

As for my personal experience while being decked out in very outstanding brands, I personally felt more “noticed” and confident. However, this only happened while I was on the train from Pasir Ris. Once I stepped onto Orchard Road, the stares no longer exist as it becomes quite a common to see people decked out in branded clothing and goods.

Assignment 1 Part 1



Assignment 1 Part 2

windsor castle 

windsor castle 

Winsor Castle 

guards marching 

Buckingham Palace 

spectacular view 

a view of London 

Big Ben 

the Eye of London 

that's the Tower of London not London Bridge 

Siying and I 

Trafalgar Square 

London - Part 1

The last stop of the trip was London. We had to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to catch our flight and some of us were a little late. When we arrived in London, I felt slightly bored as half of the original group of 31 has been reduced to a mere 13 (because those who have chosen the 13 days package finished their trip in Paris).

The day started with a tour around the city and we had breathtaking photo-stops. London is simply a tourist playground, transport systems are efficient, no language barrier, rich history and a friendly city. Although the currency is ₤1: S$3.12 but the things here are much cheaper than Paris. Clothes are a real bargain too but services are much more expensive like cab fares and tours.

My first night in London was spent watching the musical Chicago which has lots of dark humour in it so my Mum and Aunt couldn’t quite understand the plot. The story tells of female prisoners who killed their unfaithful lovers or husbands and the notoriety they got from the murder case. They all had this same lawyer who tends to use the media to gain sympathy from the jury by distorting and exaggerating facts. Thus, they rose to stardom and some get offered acting contracts therefore the women will tend to try to outdo one another in terms of publicity. Ironically, when the main star of the show was acquitted, she was rather unhappy as news of her case died down and was no longer a “celebrity”. (This kind of reminds me of a recent case on the news but I shall not mention which)

2nd in London was kind of a shopping day so nothing much happened but on the 3rd day, my mum and I went on a full day tour to Windsor castle, Stonehenge and the City of Bath.

Windsor castle was truly a dream come true as I love the medieval times where Kings and Queens rule the land and stories of chivalry of the knights just overwhelms me. Unfortunately, no pictures are allowed within the castle so that experience has been etched in my memory for eternity. It was more of a viewing gallery as the place is still being used by Queen Elizabeth II which she spends most of her private weekends at. What fascinates me the most was Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House. Can you imagine that everything in it is as real as it can get? The food and wine are edible; there is electric lighting, hot and cold running water and even flushing lavatories. It’s simply a masterpiece on its own because everything are real stuff made miniature and it was made quite some time back. The Doll House alone is worth going all the way there to see it. The rest of the castle shows the lavish life of royalty and the humongous state apartments.

Stay tuned for the 2nd part of the London trip which is also the last post up on the blog.

Champs Elysees is pronounced Sean Se Lei Say 

i am so much taller than the Eiffel Tower (LOL) 

Eiffel Tower 

SY and I  

lourve museum (where mona lisa is) 

Paris

Truthfully, the city tour was horrible! There wasn’t much photo stops so didn’t get really good pictures of Paris (luckily there was an Eiffel Tower photo stop) but and we also stopped by the Fragonard Perfumery to purchase some scents. The scents were pretty strong so I wasn’t really interested. Later the tour bus stopped by the River Seine which some of the members went cruising around. While they were cruising, I bought 2 beautiful paintings of Paris for €28($58) which I am going put one of it in my room. Last stop for the day was SHOPPING at Galleria Lafayette. Things were pretty expensive there, almost one for one but I managed to grab a cheap Zara tank top for just €4 ($8+). That was all for the day now time for some history lesson.

Remember Joan of Arc and Napoleon Bonaparte? They were the pride and joy of France so let me tell you a brief story of them.

During a battle against the British, the French government called for all the men in the country to fight in the war. Joan’s father being old and frail was sure to have a hard time in the army therefore Joan decided to take over his place. She dressed up as a man and went to serve the French army. One day, she was found out by the other soldiers that she was a girl and that made them realized that if a girl can fight so well in battle, so can we thus the French soldiers were highly motivated by this and fought harder.

When the British found out about this, they decided to capture her and humiliate her to dampen the spirits of the French army and they killed her in front of the French army before the battle. (Well, the tour guide ended the story here so I have no idea what happened after that.)

There was once a great warrior called Napoleon who fought very hard in battle because he knew that if he wanted to marry his sweet-heart, he would have to survive all the battles. Soon, he became a great general, proclaimed himself Emperor Napoleon and he married his sweet-heart who was his cousin Josephine.

However, she did not bore him any sons so he married another woman who was an Austrian. Later, the Austrian wife gave birth to a son and Napoleon decided to send him to Austria and keep this a secret as he was afraid that the British will kill his only son. Unfortunately, the story leaked out and Napoleon’s son who was 17 years old at that time was killed.

Afterwards, in the great battle of Waterloo, General Nelson led the British army against the French and they managed to capture Napoleon. The British put him in exile in St Helena and later announced that he had died of TB.

P.S i just receive news from my friend,thim ,that the architest jumped to his death because the windows of both side was improportionate. Sorry for the inaccurate info!

the building which the architect jumped off 

Menekken Pis 

Belgium!

A short stop to Brussels (capital of Belgium) right before we enter Paris, the fashion paradise. What comes to you mind when you think of Belgium? Well excellent chocolates of course! Belgium chocolates are the best in the world therefore it was absolutely necessary to have a shopping spree in Godiva(expensive chocolate brand). I think the shop attendant was pretty shocked when the entire group went in and started buying bars and bars of chocolates because before we entered, it was dead quiet inside. Although I have not tried the chocolates yet (because I want to save the best for last), you can already tell that it was sure to be superb! So people reading this, keep on drooling.

In the market Square, there was the entrance of a Cathedral (I think) and the tour guide asked us, why do you think the architect of this structure jumped down from the top? Bewildered by this question, we gave lame answers and it turns out that that was the answer! So why do you think the architect jumped to his death? The answer will be revealed at the end of the post.

From a short distance of the square, was the mascot of Brussels- Manneken Pis. This is a very widely copied statue all around the world and is often placed in people’s garden. You know the statue of the small boy peeing? Yup that actually came from Brussels.

Here are 2 different stories of Manekken Pis.
1st version: There was an old man who has always longed for a son and one day he finally had a son. He was simply ecstatic by this so he brought his son to the market to show it to everyone. Then, there was a commotion and during that turmoil, the old man had lost his son. Since that day, he has been looking around everywhere for his lost son until he saw this dirty boy who was laughing and peeing and he realized that the boy is none other than his long lost son. Thus he sculpted that statue of a boy peeing happily.

2nd version: During Napolean’s time, there was this unwanted child who happened to see some French soldiers trying to start a massive fire in the square. Once the soldiers left, he immediately went up to pee at the fire to try to put it out. Therefore, for his bravery in saving the square, they made this statue of him.

Now the answer as to why the architect jumped off the building is because he did not build a way to come down so the only way to go back onto the ground was to jump.

tulips at the keukenhof 

clogs and more clogs 

Stay away! 

diamonds! 

the gothic cathedral 

Amsterdam

Just to let you guys know, Germany came up with the idea of a Cuckoo Clock. Right before going into Amsterdam, we went to Cologne, Germany, to take a picture of the Gothic Cathedral. Can you actually believe that the Cathedral used to be pure white but due to the heavy pollution it has now become black and dirty.

The city of Amsterdam is a real lovely place. (Amsterdam is part of the Netherlands) There are lots of canals, the streets are so clean and the Dutch are a friendly bunch too. Amsterdam is, I think, the most liberal country because drugs and prostitution are legal over there.

If you decide to go there, you must first know the difference between coffee shop and café. Although they may mean the same thing over here but a Coffee shop is where people go to purchase soft drugs while a café is where you get your regular coffee. Over there, Ecstasy cost only €0.70 ($1.50) so many people from the surrounding countries would drive there and have some “fun”.

Anyone knows what a “Fish Tank” is? In Amsterdam, the prostitutes do business by posing in the window of a shop which has a bed in it and whenever there is business, the curtains are drawn to show that she is taken. I have no idea why but they call those shop windows “Fish Tanks”.

Although I didn’t visit the Red Light District, a few fellow tour members told me that several of the prostitutes looked innocent because they wore specs and were decently dressed. Also, I heard the prostitutes weren’t that voluptuous but it was still early when they went so only some “Tanks” were open.

Amsterdam may be liberal in vices but it is still a lovely city to visit so better not miss this place out when you visit Europe!

heidelberg castle