Like If You... Like Liking Things?

In the olden days, the relationships we struck up with brands were simple. Actually, it wasn’t even a ‘relationship’ was it? We just bought the products and used the services we thought we wanted or needed, and that was that.

Nowadays, brands seem to have become incredibly needy. Paranoid and neurotic; forever worried that we’ll run off with a better peanut-filled chocolate bar or fragrant finger wipe, they’re constantly seeking validation: asking us to ‘Like’ them on Facebook, or setting up websites so we might better understand them. Even if all they are is a jam – a particularly tasty jam, but still just a jam nonetheless.

Having a digital presence is obviously important for many, many brands. It’s a brilliant way to speak to a huge portion of your target market and, potentially, an excellent platform to produce exciting, surprising work for agencies and creatives alike.

However, just because a brand can have a digital presence doesn’t necessarily mean it should. Digital is just another channel, and I’m not certain it’s right for everyone.

Boy does this boy like bread! He looks like he's going to warm
it in the microwave, cut a hole in it and then like it a whole lot more.

I have no idea why, but 203 people ‘Like’ Toilet Duck. Two hundred and three living, breathing, presumably sentient beings actually felt the need to share with their friends that they prefer their toilet bowl freshly scented and free from poo.

Another 136 ‘like’ Anusol. I imagine if I had a sore bottom I could conceivably like Anusol too, but I wouldn’t want to share this with friends I haven’t seen since primary school.

Maybe I’m the odd one, and the 365 likers of Vagisil are perfectly normal?

Perhaps I’m unusual for wondering why anyone would want to visit the Jammie Dodger website and discover ‘fun facts’ such as the one about Dr. Who (a pretend person) and the singer Labrinth (???) enjoying them.

Am I mad to expect a brand’s digital presence to be of some use to me? Is it ok for a brand to lazily just want to be liked without really giving me anything actually worth liking in return?

Given all the interesting/weird/funny/embarrassing things we ‘like’ everyday shouldn’t everything a brand expects us to share online be on the same level? If a brand is going to build a Facebook page it should be doing something more creative than just prompting us to, “Like if you’ve flushed your toilet in the last ten minutes!”

Ok, I’m paraphrasing, but only a little.

Call me old fashioned, but I think that the best place for a Jammie Dodger is next to my mug of coffee. I’m perfectly happy with this relationship, and so long as I continue to buy the odd packet of jam-filled biscuits, shouldn’t they?

So I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I won’t ‘Like’ brands simply because they ask me to.

It’s not them, it’s me.

Actually, that’s a lie – it is them.

They are margarine, or a safety match, or a biro, or something else I have no interest in when I’m online.