Think you can live without peer pressure? Think again

Eat whatever you like, but dress as others do, says an Arab proverb, which neatly addresses the subjects of conformity and social pressure.

Think about that the next time you dine out with a group and see how peer pressure comes into play. If you follow a special diet, say you are a vegan, you will receive comments and questions from someone at the table.

If someone says she is on a sug- ar diet, many will cancel their dessert orders or sometimes if enough are ordering dessert, the one on a diet will probably give in. Sometimes one wonders how many of our decisions and choices are made independent of others and what happens to those choices when certain products are being promoted and advertised.

We are constantly bombarded by a variety of stimuli and cues – from unconscious ones to obvious social and marketing cues – that shape us and can change how we feel, think and even behave. Studies show how our mood can change if a certain word or image or even a set of colours are flashed somewhere for a few seconds. If someone is looking up, we stop and look as well. It is as simple and as powerful as that.

Industries, schools, governments, media, politicians and celebrities tap into these tools and use them to manipulate and steer the public in a particular direction to serve a certain agenda.

We have all experienced it at some point. We understand marketing and branding tech- niques enough to resist them and make measured decisions. When one buys a particular car, one buys into a certain lifestyle, for instance. Once, I conducted a simple social experiment. I borrowed a friend’s expensive, luxury car for a week and then drove a rented older “average” car. The treatment I received was so different from everyone who saw what I was driving – from friends to valet staff at hotels to sources I was about to interview and who saw what I was driving.

Even on the road, I got bullied more in the rented car. When I drove the fancy car, almost no one cut in and sometimes they even made room for me.

So whether we like it or not, the brands you choose to bring into your life do make a difference in the social arena. Some are truly better quality as well. When it comes to things like medicine, food, drink and cosmetics, reputation is everything. Would you use an unknown brand or a brandless product for, say, your baby?

It is very difficult in today’s consumer-driven market to go brandless and I have tried numerous times throughout my life, but even brandless became a brand in itself. Take a step back and look around your home, and count the number of brands you have. When my friends and I did this, we counted more than 100 in just one household.

Only our plants didn’t seem to have a brand stamp on them, until we checked the pots, and yes it was some kind of brand.

It is not difficult to understand that most of us want what everyone else has, and to be popular and be in the “in” crowd. But will this make you happy?

Prophets, philosophers and anyone who had acquired true happiness, which means different things to different people, all advise to look inward for contentment and peace.

With all the temptations, pressures and brands that promise you a better life, especially if you can easily get them, it becomes hard to resist and just be yourself. But then again, even our own names, brand us.