Peak middle class marketing

[kindlypudding]

I am in this demographic, but it fucking irritates me.
I suppose it could be called consumer class appropriation, how so many goods are aimed at the MC with taglines including factory workers, craftsmen, etc.

I look at a woolly hat, typical shop that I like and have purchased from, and there's a foot long description about the wool process. OK, we are the main target for ethical, climate related messaging, but it's beginning to feel cheap, worn out and fucking patronising.

Here's one from Navy&Grey -
"The wool arrives in Scotland by boat where it is spun and dyed on the banks of Loch Leven in Kinross by Todd & Duncan, one of the finest Scottish Mills which has been spinning yarn for 150+ years.
85% of the dyes used by Todd & Duncan are organic and the water used for washing and dyeing the wool is cleaned and purified before returning to Loch Leven to be used again".

And here's another from Toast -
"Established in 2009, Bleu de Chauffe, the name taken from French workwear jackets worn by 19th century factory workers..."

You could almost say it is a fetishisation of the working class, or at least pre war. It supposes I am thick headed, desperate to show my privileged, ethical plumes. I chose the bag quoted above because I love it, it has served me well and the softness of the strap reminds me of my old horse's reins long ago. This squarely places me within the target market, and whilst a lot of these products are beautiful, the cloying, oozingly false pretensions about the environment leave me cynical.
It's like when you read a Guardian article about capitalism and clothes, and all the commenters claim to only ever buy second hand and patch up their own repairs. This is great, but along come san actual poor person who has been doing that anyway for years. It feels like just another road to excessive consumption, but with a more insidious intent.

'colourway' is just a way of saying 'the one with blue on the body, red on the yoke and green on the cuffs, vs the one that's mostly green and red with blue cuffs'.... in other words, it applies to more than just a 'colour' it's a whole colour scheme of a multi-colour or patterned item.

Granted using 'colourway' for block colours is wanky.

@derxa I agree it is cruel, but I have known it happen.

Where?

Cornwall is awash with this stuff and it's great until it just tips over into eating itself.
Frugi, Finisterre, Seasalt all great little companies that have overgrown to the point of collapse.
But Jo Downes jodowns.com/ I hear good stuff about

If your looking for a Finisterre alternative @cornishsqueezy can I recommend Rooted Ocean in Bude - lovely people, living a good life.
https://rootedocean.com/

All that ridiculous Cornish gin, forget that, a triumph of branding and graphic design.

North Cornwall also suffers from Trustfunded Artisans, I'm not naming them but there's a couple of local potters that dabble in a bit of burnt oak woodwork for 'considered spaces' the tray with 'a stunning split running across the surface' which is not destined for a long life. The limited editions of bloody everything - the wood literally grows on trees, I chuck bigger offcuts in the woodburner. And it's all announced to great fanfare, available to buy online when 'we drop the collection on Sunday evening', gives me the rage.

You can't fund a shop at Lidl selling some scorched offcuts with a hole drilled in the corner, there's inheritance lurking there.

@derxa sussex. I have farming family there and they have talked criticising farmers locally to them who do this.

Rooted oceon might have ironed their clothes prior to photographing them! The puckering around the logo on those men’s shirts is terrible too

@Finestreason I think most of us are aware of what Pulp's Common People is about ! Is that a quote from somewhere ?

Yes, it was cut and pasted from an article. I tried to put quote marks around it.

I put the quote here because the poster who put the song had made some odd analysis about the loneliness of wealthy people or somesuch as I thought it was an odd analysis given the nature of the song. Not sure if that makes sense.

Ah OK - I must have skimmed over that post - yes, an odd thing to say.

Yes that puckering is awful, it should never have left the workshop like that!

Our family keen surfers so I had a look at Rooted Ocean. The colours are so dreary as if that makes them more worthy, environmentally friendly. I've noticed that a lot with these micro businesses.

Haven't rtft. I'm a bit torn over this tbh. I get what you mean about the OTT wording on the packaging. Even fairly bog-standard supermarket packaged food is 'specially sourced' and 'lovingly hand-crafted'.

On the other hand... I'm a spinner, knitter and crocheter and am aware that we import wool at great cost from abroad, while British farmers often burn their fleeces because the miserable price they get for them is not worth the cost of having them cleaned and processed to sell. I recently listened to a talk about this, where it was suggested that if British fleece and yarn were marketed better, labelled with the individual sheep breed and its properties, and traced back to the farm, people might actually be more inclined to buy British and pay what it's worth.

My friend uses the wool to protect her plants and vegetables in the ground from frosts. Works well. Our wool board are a bit defeatist

I did get this whiff too...strongly.

They are making political and environmental well thought decisions and want you to know that your money is well spent. That explains why it is 50% more expensive than the less expensive brand.
Also...I would naturally want to go to Loch Leven was it? And check if it does go back there. And then expose them if it doesn’t 👀😬😬

I agree with a lot of what has been said.Using the words curated and hand-picked.Ugh.
Another word used a lot is heritage.Our heritage this,our heritage that.Even when the company has been going a short period of time!

OP i agree. Used to work in advertising and it has left me so cynical. Almost everything on branding and marketing copy is planned within a meeting of people deciding what their expected stereotype of customer will be swayed by. It feels so predictable and transparent. And especially annoys me when it actually IS something I would like so - they're right.

I just "had" to buy my DS an actual French Workman's jacket complete with darns and paint 😂. It probably cost half of what the repro ones do. I thought it was an odd desire but I've realised he was clearly just fashion forward.

I hear you. And you are right - the portrayal of the working class factory worker as something romantic feels uncomfortable. All they can really say it the poor wages we pay are better than what a teenage girl might get in Bangladesh if we outsourced there.

That doesn’t even make sense though. I can’t think of any accent that pronounces fella as fulla!

👏👏👏👏👏👏

1984 anyone?

😂 sums it up!

Usually aimed at the MC virtue mob that will happily fall for this marketing but ignore the plight of those around them (homeless, addicts) as that’s just a little too real and seem to feel anyone white who hasn’t ‘succeeded’ in life in this country just hasn’t worked hard enough (conveniently forgetting all their privilege & advantage)

Its like the fishing jumper s .. you get to pretend you are a sailor and hip .