Monday, July 10, 2006
conquest
Okay, this may be fudging with the mandate of this site, not about ads per se, but this is about corporate branding. I don't see my silent co-bloggers raising any objections...
I'm seriously bothered when the familiar things in my life are taken away from me. It causes nothing but woe and disconcertment. When corporations acquire things they change them, not in any rational manner to benefit the consumer but to benefit their collective egos. Much has been made of Macy's acquiring Marshall Fields in downtown Chicago and foolishly changing its name, an act of cultural imperialism that has greatly angered the populace. But less noticably, these things happen on a smaller level as well. I've grown up with two chain drugstores, Walgreens and Osco, both are very nice and familiar to me. Of late a new chain, CVS has moved in from the East, like the Dark Shadow of Mordor. We fear change.
I have continued to patronise Chicago's original, traditional stores as much as possible, but recently CVS assimilated Osco into its collective. CVS has draped their name to cover up the defunct Osco name. To me these draped banners resemble nothing so much as the flags of an occupying foreign army. I will not salute.
I'm seriously bothered when the familiar things in my life are taken away from me. It causes nothing but woe and disconcertment. When corporations acquire things they change them, not in any rational manner to benefit the consumer but to benefit their collective egos. Much has been made of Macy's acquiring Marshall Fields in downtown Chicago and foolishly changing its name, an act of cultural imperialism that has greatly angered the populace. But less noticably, these things happen on a smaller level as well. I've grown up with two chain drugstores, Walgreens and Osco, both are very nice and familiar to me. Of late a new chain, CVS has moved in from the East, like the Dark Shadow of Mordor. We fear change.
I have continued to patronise Chicago's original, traditional stores as much as possible, but recently CVS assimilated Osco into its collective. CVS has draped their name to cover up the defunct Osco name. To me these draped banners resemble nothing so much as the flags of an occupying foreign army. I will not salute.
# posted by Rory Leahy @ 8:27 AM 
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How very interesting - as a native of the East Coast, I was a little disturbed by the dearth of CVS pharmacies when I moved to Chicago, and it was only with extreme trepidation that I ventured into an Osco to purchase toiletries. What manner of store is this, I thought, that seemingly combines the inventories of an ill-stocked apothecary and a 7-11? You may fear the change, Rory, but I believe it's for the better, as CVS is simply a better version of your paltry Osco. It's like Osco 2.0, and it feels like home to me.
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