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| Ancient Authentic Fake Tibetan Singing Bowl |
Thinking about cultural appropriation and branding this morning, especially in occulture. I first wrote this as a post on social media, but then I thought it would be better on my blog. This is a "take" and only a personal opinion. But if, like me, you spend a lot of time in online occult circles, forums, and other communities, you see accusations of cultural appropriation a lot. My TL/DR point below is that when someone starts ranting about it, they're usually talking about something else, namely their own products or services or special digital niche.
I know this sounds cynical, but if you pay close attention to some of the loudest voices screaming "cultural appropriation" online, you'll often notice them marketing their own culturally coded products, brands, and digital identities (often in direct competition with the appropriators they're criticizing). Once you see this, you realize they are not crying out for social justice. They are more likely protecting their personal brands. And that is nothing new.
Consider that if your primary selling point is that you have an exotic product, service, or monetized identity, your greatest marketing vulnerability is dilution of that exoticism. In other words, you want exclusivity and you want to attack the credibility of competitors who would reduce that. It's not rocket science. It's as old as commerce itself.
Here's a test: do angry "culturally authentic" marketers have anything to do with their culture of origin (writing in the language, marketing their products to consumers back home, involving themselves in the cultural life of their own people)? Or are they writing in English on social media to a lifestyle demographic with a lot of disposable income? If the latter, they are definitely engaging in brand warfare when they scream appropriation and they are probably not social justice culture heroes.
Marketing works best when it's subliminal, invisible. Once you see it for what it is, it has a much harder time persuading you to open your wallet. This is not to say that people don't have a right to make a living off their invention and ingenuity. They have a right to engage in cultural puffery, too. But others have a right to say, "Hey, isn't your $50 'Authentic Sonorous East Asian Healing Bell' being sold elsewhere as a $5 'Tibetan Singing Bowl'? Is this why you're so pissed off?"