Why Are We So Obsessed With Our Water Bottles: Brand Loyalty and High Schoolers

Emma Wartzman, who works for the NY Magazine, once said that the Owala freesip water bottles are “simply too well designed to be a passing trend.” However, it sounds quite similar to the once viral slogan in 2023-24: “If being obsessed with my Stanley is wrong, I don’t want to be right.” As well as the viral 2019 line from a TikTok skit in which the phrase “This is my new Hydroflask. Oh, you don’t have one?” skyrocketed sales by 200%. The question remains; if we are loyal to the Owala design, why as a society do certain water bottle brands blow up so fast, last for months, then disappear in the blink of an eye?
Every purchasable item has a brand; whether it’s clothing, perfume, food, electronics, or water bottles. High schoolers appear to be especially susceptible to this manipulation. A brand is defined by a unique name, term, design, or symbol that identifies a company’s products and services, however modern technology has introduced a new phenomenon. Many high school students struggle to “brand themselves” as they aim to figure out who they are and what they present to the world. According to Naomi Klein, renowned author, social activist, journalist, and filmmaker, “Consumer culture encourages us to think of ourselves as brands, creating a separation between our true identity and the ‘Brand You’ we present to the world. This process of ‘branding’ ourselves is akin to turning ourselves into objects to be consumed.”
A common method of creating an individual ‘brand’ is by utilizing brands to present a specific aesthetic through the intentional representation of certain brands. For example, the Nike brand slogan, Just Do It, embodies the Nike spirit of hard core athleticism, determination, grit, and hard earned excellence. The more brands invest in their advertising, the more likely they are to succeed in their sales. In fact, just last year Nike spent approx. $4.68 billion dollars on marketing. When consumers are offered a physical representation of the ideology a brand represents, such as athletes using Nike’s clothes to enhance their athletic performance, it creates further substance beyond the product. With this marketing tactic, Nike’s famed Nike Pro running shorts are now represented as shorts that a stadium-selling, record-breaking athlete wears. Consequently, when we see someone else wearing Nike Pros, we associate that person with the Nike brand’s values like being athletic and determined, which allows someone to project personal values through their clothing.
Meera Huja, a freshman at Franklin High School, assumes that individuals who use an Owala water bottle must be from a family that is financially successful. Many see showing off a specific brand’s products as a symbol of status. Lululemon, a brand well known for their high quality workout attire and high tech athleisure apparel, sells loungewear such as sweatshirts and yoga pants for over a hundred dollars a piece. When you see someone wearing a Lululemon Define jacket, and you know that they cost up to $138, you know that they have enough money to afford something like that.
Greg Garcia, psychology teacher here at Franklin, explains about something called an Upward Social Comparison. He says it is “where you look at someone who you think is better than you and you compare what makes them better than you and how you could potentially go and be at their standard.” He continues, saying, “So in the context of brand loyalty you see someone use certain trademarked items and you think you look up to that person, you think they are better than you, you think you want to be better than them. And through the concept of upward social comparison you admire that person in some way.”
Now, instead of the trend being a cute water bottle, it is having a cute Owala, which is more expensive and less accessible, and it can make people feel bad about themselves. In psychological language, this is referred to as a downward social comparison. When someone wears a product from a less common brand, it may influence others to look down on them based on the preconceived desirability of a brand.
Picture two people with virtually identical outfits. Same vibe, but different brands. One’s clothing was purchased from luxury brands, and the other from local thrift stores. Would you consider them to have the same style or “aesthetic?” Is brand loyalty essential to what defines someone’s personality? Several other Franklin students agreed that they would consider the two to have different styles even though they both had decided to wear essentially the same outfit.
As high school students, if we use brands as a form of self expression, it can lead to unnecessary judgment of peers and ourselves, and replacing personal values with brand logos and materialism. We have to be mindful and aware of when we are consuming media propaganda, and ask ourselves if we really should care so much about what things our friends buy.