The Brand Culture – A craze! Are you caught in the Haze!

ARTICLE : AL HUDA – JUNE/JULY 2005

The Brand Culture – A craze! Are you caught in the Haze!

“Mummy, Daddy I want that Nike T-Shirt and that Von Dutch bag and that Nokia cell phone…!” beg the children. The parents cower under the pressure and reply, “Okay my darlings Daddy cannot buy it today and why does it have to be Nike…?” The children cry out, “ Daddy but it’s the fashion and its so cool…” Sounds familiar?

In fact, the study by ‘Generation Next, the largest youth brand preference study’ indicated that tweens (children aged between 10 -13) influence their parents to spend R20-million and consume R6-billion worth of products a year ranging from beach-flops to cell-phones! The study illustrates how marketers have to change their advertising campaign strategies to entice this group of emotional tweens – emotional in the sense that they know very well how to ‘manipulate’ their parents’ emotions into buying things for them regardless of its necessity. Tweens, according to the research have tremendous spending power and they make up the largest age group in the population therefore, if ‘nurtured correctly’ by the marketers, the tweens will be best awesome future spenders. Awesome – isn’t it.

Amazing! We as adults will knowingly exploit our own kith and kin to a life of mindless and relentless buying of things they don’t really need with money they don’t really have (Credit) to impress people they don’t know for our (the adults) pleasure of wealth, corporate fame and boardroom antics or a certificate or two for being the best. Oh! Capitalism what a curse – “The modern age is your Angel of Death, Deprived you of soul by giving you anxiety for bread” said Iqbal the renowned intellectual of Pakistan, is so fitting to the discussion here.

The fate of these tweens’ worldview is already been shaped into a culture of materialism. Know for certain that the campaign with military precision of the advertisers engenders the seven deadly sins to make tweens & teens develop a profound sense of selfishness and obtuse individual preference over others.

Nabi Muhammed (S.A.W) said to the effect that he fears wealth for the ummah, that youth is a kind of madness and that this world is a prison for the believer and a paradise for the disbeliever; is remarkably true. When you put these traditions side by side with the tweens culture explained above, you will be astounded by its truths. Let us explore some of it detail.

The access to wealth by people today is amazing. I recall Moulana Dawood Cassim saying in one of his ever thought-provoking Jummah talks that all vacant shops are only seen to be occupied by LOAN SHARKS indicating the desire of people to want to spend only to have access to all of life’s goodies regardless of how one gets it. Wealth is a fear for the ummah in this light because we see our tweens, Muslims in particular for our discussion, spending and demanding things from their parents to the extent that parents are in debt with major stores whilst unpaid food accounts tarry on. This has made people more extravagant such that parents spend so much money on their tweens thinking that it is love consolidated. A striking incident comes to mind of a man who despite been in debt with school fees manages to afford for his son the latest brand of shoes at a store and runs down the educators at will. This incongruous behaviour of the adult is to become a common phenomenon. This is the curse of wealth i.e. when it blinds your understanding of the life hereafter.

What tweens want is what they are exposed too and how we as adults respond to it in our homes, conversations, values and discussions with peers and the likes. Youth is a kind of madness because all that they absorb is the reality of adult world they don’t understand but associate with. For example, the sex-crazed advertisements indicates to the tweens that provocative images gets the attention but they cannot understand the relationship between a naked woman and a tyre but, they do associate with the adult world in the sense that its dominated by lewdness of women, men, wine and song. In effect, they absorb these values without question and become maddened by it – not in the manner of being insane but, in a manner where they promote it. Consider as proof the then tween Britney Spears who become an icon of lewdness in the name of pop-culture fame at the tender age of 16. What about the Bollywood culture – whose values have eroded Indian morality, its proceeds in part, are used to fund oppressive measures against Muslims in India is tremendously famous with the Muslim tweens, teens and adults today? They i.e. the tweens/teens absorbed the culture of the morally decadent adult world that was and is dressed in garments of virtue. Sadly, the morally upright in this world feel the pressures of living in this world.

The world is a prison for the believer because it is so difficult to stem the tide. Their young ones are also caught in the culture of materialism as all others. It would appear therefore, that the disbeliever is enjoying the best of this world and is actually happy about it, whilst the believer is disheartened in trying hard to curb the damning influence to enjoin in good and forbid evil. At this point the following poem in part is apt to indicate just how the good see the world and how non-Muslims also want a moral world.

The Second Coming by W.B.Yeats
Turning and turning in a widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere 5
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.


How apt that a poet no long ago was also concerned about the disintegration of society, the moral chaos that would follow and the bloodshed that would ensue. How did he see this? Simple. He saw the age of materialism consuming society into a state of madness. The tweens who were looked upon as the largest population age group for material profit are the very same people who will rule you one day – imagine how they will rule with the seven deadly sins: Gluttony, Avarice, Envy, Sloth, Pride, Lust and Anger. For a moment reflect on how the advertising campaigns target these 7 deadly sins to market their products and how it plays a tremendous part in shaping worldviews. Don’t you see it in the types of leaders we have today? Look at the occupation of Iraq, Gunatanamo Bay, Afghanistan, the drug lords in Cambodia, the horrors in Ruwanda, the fraud of Shabeer Shaik and Mr.Zuma’s money incestuous relationship with him, the millions of dollars spent on personal whims and fancies in Zimbabwe and fiefdoms in the Middle East. What is presented is the culture of selfish interests in worldly gain and therefore, the view is: The brand culture that is promoted actually plays a determining role in how we will look and perceive our place in the world as citizen, a commoner or a layman. The image is clear as the ‘Days of our lives’ on the Plasma screen decorating our house for we have become the ‘Bold and the Beautiful’ on ‘Sevende Laan’ hoping that future ‘Generations’ change the world to ‘make it a better place for you and for me.’

Revisit the traditions of Muhammed (S.A.W) when he said to the effect that slaves will give birth to their masters and this would be a sign of Qiyamaah. It’s frightening but true. True! Today it is as if our tweens and teens are the masters whilst the mothers and fathers have become the slaves to the passions of the dominant capitalist culture all because the deen of Islam has taken second place to all actions. It is so because we have allowed it to happen. Our tweens have become our masters in many ways especially on the hard earned cash we work for. However, let’s illustrate the point differently. How many times have you heard and how many times are you hearing and how many more times will you hear about teachers complaining about parents that side with their tweens in front of teachers when the tweens are clearly wrong! The number of times is recorded with Allah as HE is the knower of all things.

Look at the big picture; we are caught in the haze. The brand culture that has engulfed our lives has in fact shaped our future where the ‘best lack all conviction and the worst are full of passionate intensity’. We are not seeing the big picture when we give into the whims and fancies of our tweens all because we, ourselves as adults have become submerged into the same brand culture. Until we don’t stop, the tweens will not and would not, in fact they will pursue all grounds to get what they want for ‘youth is a kind of madness’ – we were all there once upon a time but; why is it that we as adults look in general to the youth of today in sheer hopelessness? We do so because our association with the ulema, the teachers, the pious and the learned have become a resounding nil in most homes. These people have been shunned and the pop-stars, cricket stars, soccer stars, Hollywood/Bollywood stars have been embraced with love, sweat, tears and banknotes by tweens, teens and parents alike in unison. Think again – how have we become addicted? We have become addicted through the campaign of advertising that appealed to the 7 deadly sins which made us BRAND CONSCIOUS!

Gloomy as it looks the following incident makes you realise the wealth of iman. As I sat in my classroom there walked in a youngster of 14 dressed in a white kurta, a fledgling beard and a breaking voice saying that he would like to go out in the path of Allah during the school vacation otherwise the holidays will just be a waste of time with friends who worry about cars, cell phones and girls. Remarkable isn’t it? How is it that a tween can think like this? Simply put, the value he gets from home allows him to understand basic instinct from the command of Allah.

Amazingly another incident at a Darul-uloom/madressah made me stagger. In a visit to an ‘uloom’ recently tweens and teens from a Muslim school interacted with the tweens and teens of the uloom/madressah and the following comment is food for thought. Ismail (not his real name – teen from a Muslim school) said that the boys of the uloom/madressah were not concerned over their clothes, appearances i.e. gel and cells, but were at peace with the world yet, they related with all we could tell and share with the. What is the message? Clearly, we have to refocus our attention on our tweens and teens. Interestingly, of recent the arranged ‘halqas’/gatherings of discussions by the Jamiat-ulema Gauteng with students from universities and Darul-ulooms sparked off great levels of understanding between the youth to the extent that many stereotypes and generalisations have been cleared regarding their outlook to life in context of all that we jointly face.

In stemming the morally decadent tsunami we need to become more active with our tweens and teens. This means that we have put an end to APS – Absent Parent Syndrome and realise that quality time is what our tweens and teens need. They need to be given the concrete reinforcement that they are successful. And how would you do that you might ask. The answer is: You got to start taking an interest in what our tweens and teens do. This incident is a real example. A parent had to bear the nagging of his tween just turning teen for a Play Station 2. The father refused and took an interest in child’s desire to do archery. Today the child owns his own archery kit, his father is keen to assist him in the sport and to provide meaningful help for the school’s developing archery club. In effect, the child has redirected his ambitions and has become less demanding on those material goodies that don’t develop mind, body and soul. We make dua that the youngster keeps to his noble intentions.

The Brand culture in essence is not only the desire of a particular thing but, it attempts to shave you of your inner choice and inner self which is unique. Sad is that individual whose life is only an imitation of all that he/she absorbs and not a unique responder with Islam to all of life’s great favours and opportunities. Don’t be plastic, be fantastic with yourself in light of the fact that Allah did not create you off a production line and Allah did not market you on a billboard for sale to mindless adults. “And which of the favours of your Lord can you deny…” – Al Quran, Surah Ar-Rahmaan.
So where to from here with the brand culture that erodes all real living? In future times your tweens or teens want/demand/desire/moan/groan for a brand name thing say NO! See if it produces suicidal tendencies – it will not. It’s our fear that we will lose them if we don’t give them. You can deal with their lost tempers now over and over again but, would you able to deal with their loss of Jannah/Paradise in the life to come because of your own doings? The prelude to Jannah/Paradise is the day of Judgement when nothing will count but our deeds. They i.e. our children should not be the means of our destruction. To end off know and read:

Al- Quran: Sura 66 Ayat 6
O ye who believe! Save yourselves and your Families from a Fire
Whose fuel is Men And stones, over which Are (appointed) angels
Stern (and) severe Who flinch not (from Executing)
The commands They receive from Allah,
But do (precisely) what they are commanded.

To order your copy of the research: GENERATION NEXT contact: Grethel Pieterse or Maruschka Loubser on : email: grethel@hotdogz-inc.co.za. Tel.: 011 454 3297. Fax: 011 453 7121
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