The Brand as Hypocritical Church

A common plot device among creatives of all kinds is the idea of the hypocritical church: a religious body, usually Christian or a fantasy equivalent, tricking gullible believers into giving them money and power while secretly or openly violating the values they push onto the populace. The implication is that when the heroes bring down this oppressive force, everyone will be free and justice will reign forevermore as rationalism replaces religion.

However, I believe that this is projection, especially considering that this message is often pushed through branded content.

In real life, it has been noted that obsessive fans treat their favorite franchises with something close to religious reverence; on the other hand, actual believers in God have a weaker attachment to brands than nonbelievers. Fans hold intense emotional attachment to branded content, especially if they grew up with this content; there’s a reason that advertisers aim their efforts at children. This attachment translates to large purchases of merchandise, often for thousands of dollars of product, and the owners of those brands couldn’t be happier.

However, those brand owners do not hold the same reverence for the IP that the fans do. To them, the IP is just a means of padding their wallet or spreading their ideology, not some holy icon that must never be desecrated. The fans who support the IP and make it profitable are regarded as little more than childish buffoons to be manipulated and talked down to. They’ll happily damage the IP specifically because it causes actual emotional distress in devoted fans. They’ll revel in the fact that, as the copyright holders, they control the brand’s direction — and that there is nothing the fans can do about it, since they don’t own the copyrights. All that money, all those arguments over lore, all of those affirming messages — all of them mean nothing. In other words, the corporations who hold all valuable IPs today function just like the hypocritical churches depicted in fantasy.

And if the failure of Star Wars is any indication, people are falling away from this false faith. More and more people are realizing that IPs are not religion and should not be treated as such. They’re no longer just consuming product and getting excited for next products, they’re asking questions, understanding that the IPs they loved aren’t divine and do stumble and fall.

And the more this happens, the better. Walk away from any IP that violates your trust, even if it means that the IP sinks into the ground. The religious impulse is properly reserved for God, not a bunch of corporate-funded drawings.

To top everything off, this video explains just how big IP holders view their customers, and it explains that concept better than I ever could.