Bonfire of the Brands debate

September 8, 2007

neil-boorman.jpg

So Thursday evening I headed over to Mother’s offices to hear Neil Boorman author of Bonfire of the Brands, share the epiphany he experienced just over one year ago, that made him want to live a brand-free life. Neil was joined by Dylan Williams, strategist at Mother, Adam Curtis, director of BBC documentary The Trap and media commentator Peter York to discuss the ethics of advertising. For someone who publicly set fire to everything he owns to raise awareness of this life choice and has just released a book detailing his experiences, I didn’t quite know what to expect from Neil. His actions have been received with mixed emotions ranging from full admiration for believing in something so much that he was actually prepared to do something about it, to some more self-righteous opinions (fellow Guardian readers I mean you) who believe Neil should have donated all his belongings to charity and only set fire to them to raise awareness of his own brand.

From meeting Neil I have to say I found him charming and wonderfully honest. He genuinely believes that brands have come to mean too much in our lives to the point where we think that they will enable us to achieve a better quality of life. Choice has become too much of a burden. He openly discussed the vitroil he has experienced since burning his branded belongings, and admits that he could have given everything to charity instead of burning it, and that’s ok. It is really as simple as Neil Boorman believed in something so much that he decided to change his way of life, and he has let us share this experience with him. Personally I think it is a very brave decision.

Neil I know you are reading this and as we discussed even though you have received mixed emotions, I hope you always have faith in your decision and wish you every success with your book. Those who wish to purchase it can do so here.

Posted by Jamie Coomber | Filed Under Blog, Books, Events, Marketing  | 1 comment

Comments

One Response to “Bonfire of the Brands debate”

  1. Neil Boorman on September 10th, 2007 10:06

    Hey Jamie
    many thnaks for coming to the launch event… I do hope it was interesting for you. And thanks for the support on your blog.

    Neil.

Got something to say?