Ever since I was about twelve years old I've had a problem with brand names on products, specifically clothes. Why should I walk around advertising some company's wares and pay extra for the privilege of doing so? It's actually quite hard to find clothing that does NOT have a brand name printed or sewn on it (especially in my size but that's another post). It's even harder to find other consumer products without brand names (computers, backpacks, bicycles, cars, refrigerators, musical instruments, televisions, watches, etc.). It occurs to me that if a product is really of good quality, with a unique design, and desirable features, then it doesn't need a visible brand name label. Brand names, therefore, reveal a company to be insecure in their status and producing inferior products.

Let's take televisions as an example. If you're in the market for an LCD television then what you are probably interested in is the screen, not the stuff around it; the bezel, speakers, controls, etc. should disappear into the periphery and distract as little as possible from the display. If the company puts fancy controls, a brand logo, or anything other than nothing around the screen then it is diminishing your experience. Why would they purposefully do that? Are they stupid and/or evil? Perhaps, but they probably do it by convention, it never occurred to them not to.

Look, if there were a TV with a nice, simple, unobtrusive design that maximized your ability to enjoy what was on the screen combined with high quality parts and good customer service and you saw it next to the other brands with all their gaudy gizmos and distractions then what would you notice? That it looks at least as good as the other brands and that there is nothing to detract from that experience. And when a customer asks, "What's the brand and why isn't it printed on the set?" the sales person says it's so-and-so brand and they don't need to show it because they're distinguishable from their design and impeccable in their reputation. And what does that reveal about these other brands that need tricks and constant reminders of the company's name? They're all crap!

So maybe, like me, you're not interested in TVs. Well, it'd like the same thing from my computer monitor, my laptop, my clothes, my tea kettle, and everything else. I don't care how much time and effort these companies put into their logos, they don't belong on the products. I'm putting these things in MY apartment and I don't need to keep track of what companies produced them. If they are good products, worthy of remembering and recommending, then they don't need to put the name on them for everyone to see. And if they do, I can reasonably conclude that they are not good products. Is that the message they want to send? Probably not, but they are. The first brand in each market sector that takes their name off their merchandise (assuming they have good merchandise) wins the battle to make genuinely well-designed products and truly make a name for themselves.