Apparently, The Most Important Things In Life Are Things

Anthony D'Angelo once said "The most important things in life aren't things." A new study, titled "Brand Attachment and Brand Attitude Strength: Conceptual and Empirical Differentiation of Two Critical Brand Equity Drivers" and reported on in ScienceDaily begs to differ.

The ScienceDaily article starts by asking

Can you forge an emotional bond with a brand so strong that, if forced to buy a competitor's product, you suffer separation anxiety? According to a new study from the USC Marshall School of Business, the answer is yes. In fact, that bond can be strong enough that consumers are willing to sacrifice time, money, energy and reputation to maintain their attachment to that brand.

Interesting in and of itself, but that's just the first paragraph. Let me direct you to the summary of the study's findings:

Overall, the research suggests, the greater the attachment, the greater sacrifices a consumer will make to connect with or remain connected to the brand.

The study's key findings include:

• The more strongly a consumer's attachment to a brand, the more willing they are to forsake personal resources to maintain an ongoing relationship with the brand. They are willing to engage in difficult behaviors -- "those that require investments of time, money and energy, so as to maintain or deepen a brand relationship."
• Highly attached consumers are more motivated to devote their own resources in the process of self-expansion, including paying more, defending the brand, derogating alternatives, and devoting more time to the brand through brand communities and brand promotion through social media.
• Attachment represented by both brand-self-connection and prominence is a significantly better predictor than brand attitude strength of actual behaviors.
  

Now think about that for a moment. And while you do, I'm going to run the risk of being self-referential and quote something I wrote about a year and a half ago:

These entities [corporations] do not care about us. Individual humans are classified by them as either "headcount" or "customer" - which can be understood as "property" or "food", respectively.

I'll leave the explication of the moral as an exercise for the reader, but I'll give you a hint. Have a look at the Mayo Clinic's Drug addiction: Symptoms page, and think long and hard about whatever brand loyalty you may have.