Seven-Dollar Pants [UTS Psikologi Branding]

Berikut adalah tugas Midterm Exam untuk mata kuliah Psychology of Branding. Tugas dari mata kuliah ini adalah menjawab pertanyaan, jika kalian adalah sebuah produk, maka kalian adalah brand apa? Dan bagaimana brand kalian bernilai di pasaran?

Saat dosenku melakukan briefing kepada para mahasiswanya di kelas. Ada yang menjawab Starbucks karena menyenangi kopi dan kesantaian. Sementara itu, ada juga yang menjawab Apple karena menyukai teknologi dan layanan yang ditawarkannya. Sementara ini jawabanku, jika aku sebuah produk, maka aku adalah celana seharga tujuh dolar.

Alhamdulillah Midterm Exam aku ini mendapatkan nilai A dan dosenku berkata bahwa ini adalah excellent paper. Btw, kalau kalian merasa paper ini biasa saja, mungkin perlu diketahui bahwa dosenku itu memang baik banget kalau kasih nilai :D Firasatku malah, semua orang di kelas mendapatkan nilai A. Hehehe. Karena banyak yang minta ingin tahu bagaimana midterm paper ini, jadi aku posting saja sekalian di blog:

Midterm Psychology of Branding - Maryam Qonita

Seven-dollar pants

One day, I was sitting in the subway after returning from campus. I was together with one of my friends. After waiting for a while, my friend didn't get a seat. I then stood up to approach her. And I gave my seat to a woman in front of me. I said to the woman, "please, have a sit." But the woman did not sit. Not long after, an Asian man finally sat down. We briefly faced each other because of the awkward situation for a moment.

I approached my friend. I had never noticed this issue before until my friend said that the man who took the seat wore branded and expensive clothes—starting from Prada shoes, to Louis Vuitton brand scarves for 1300 USD.  My friend was confused, why do people with clothes like that ride public transportation, not riding a luxury car instead.

Hearing my friend was admiring branded goods, I was amazed to listen to her. I also remembered the journal article "Symbols for Sale" by Sydney J. Levy. Many people understand things like that, and they value symbols more. But there are still people like me who don't understand and don't care. On the other hand, I feel grateful because I don't need to feel urged by the social pressure that exists. I tend to buy an item more likely because of its practical values. In fact, my entire collection of pants now are seven-dollar pants I purchased at Costco. Those pants are warm during winter and durable. For me, that’s enough.

I am a person who values ​​differences of thought. I appreciate the views of others who believe that branded products are more valuable than non-branded products—if you really think they are. But some people think that I take cover below a robe "do not understand or do not want to understand." Yup, I shared the story above on social media. Then I got a reprimand from several people. For example, they said I don't consider the salary of workers who might not get enough income because the company sells the pants only for seven dollars.

I am studying the Psychology of Branding. So, I explained to the people on my social media that the value of a branded item or art value was obtained purely from the user's subjectivity. If indeed the person considers a branded item to be more valuable, then it is. If one considers the value of a symbol of branded products does not exist (except for its practical values), then so it is. And I often find myself the second type of person, and these people can’t force their value to emerge in my intrinsic self.

As for the argument that said I don’t consider the salary of factory workers, I told them that it is almost impossible for consumers to always consider these things every time we buy a product. Moreover, today's world makes people tired of making decisions. They want to get a good quality product quickly and instantly.

Like Professor Paul, I'm not a person who understands the art of painting. One day I visited a museum on a group tour. I wandered around for fifteen minutes for curiosity. Next, I sat in one corner of the museum for two or three hours to study in preparation for my final exam. Although there is a feeling of guilt because other people must think I am a person who cannot appreciate art. But the fact is, objectively, my action cannot be judged either it was right or wrong. My action at the museum was decided by me, whether I enjoyed the artworks or not.

I asked five of my best friends for this essay. Two of them are my best friends for more than two decades, and we have met since we were babies. They have one opinion in common about me. I am a person who likes to explore new insights. From the idea that I gained, I am not worried about expressing my opinion even though it was different from common people.

I also tend not to care about other people's opinions about myself: how I think differently, how I look (I don't use makeup to class, and I don't use branded clothes). And I don't care how people end up disagreeing with me. Even though in the end, that kind of self-brand projected an arrogant part of me.

To a certain extent, I understand that my arrogant side will not work in the Market place. So, in some situations, I pulled myself back and improved my brand as a person. I also receive input from others, listen more, and keep my mind open.

On the other hand, as a person who prioritizes practical values. I think I bring more positive advantages to the world rather than disadvantages. Because I am a person who contributed to the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals launched by the United Nations, specifically how open education and research will contribute to the development of all aspects of the world, such as health-care and climate action. I will explain more about this.

The TEDx video "The Rise of the Collaborative Consumption" was fascinating to me. In terms of economy, the world has become more open, and symbols will only become a commodity. People don't care anymore when riding an Uber. Either they ride a Toyota or a BMW. What they care about is the practical values ​​of the car, whether it will take them from point A to point B or not.

I am the president of an organization called Open Access Indonesia. I spoke to people in educational conferences that open science, open access, and open research are the future of science. So not only in terms of economy, all over the world have become more open.

In terms of research and education, researchers who brag of the big names of journals and indexation of Scopus for rank and prestige, eventually they will be left far behind. They paid for publication in these journals, and people don’t read their published articles. Because even if students want to access the scientific article, they need to pay expensively for it. There is no use except for their prestige itself. Therefore, I advise researchers and academics to publish their works in open access journals, although not prestigious, people can access the articles for free.

Especially with the current health crisis, people, health care providers, and the government no longer care where a scientific article is published. What they care about is the practical values ​​of the knowledge conveyed in the article, whether that knowledge is useful for preventing diseases and overcoming other health problems and whether the article can be accessed easily as a basis for policymaking. People don’t care anymore whether the article was published in the prominent journal Elsevier or merely a campus repository. 

I know it doesn’t describe directly about my brand, but I think your brand can be determined from what you have been thinking and strive for.

At this stage, I hope, if only long ago, science was not an expensive and prestigious item. Then a journal article about Coronavirus by Cheng et al. 2007 would not be ignored. And now the world would not face a major crisis like today.

Yes, I am someone who doesn’t care about prestigious symbols. I even inspired by Professor Paul when he advised his students on making brands only as commodities in the future. The seven-dollar pants might be my brand, as a symbol for me to put forward practical values ​​rather than prestige in various fields of life (lifestyle, economy, education, etc.). And I believe my brand, in general, will bring more benefits to the world rather than the negative downside.