robhorningtni:

Given that authenticity is only “real” as a brand-management phenomenon, I figured the book Authenticity by marketing consultants James Gilmore and Joseph Pine would give me some useful insight. So far I am not disappointed. 1. Gilmore and Pine regard authenticity as a means to create consumer…

All right, this made my eyes cross just a little, but it’s not too bad. It is also an incredibly important idea, fleshed out relatively well by someone who knows what they’re talking about. This article deals mostly with authenticity as a commercial concept; a brand signifier in the marketplace of objects. While I agree that that idea is hugely problematic, I also object to the idea of authentic experiences, and authentic human populations – real Indians and Vietnamese peasant cuisine and the actual Paris experience, not that touristy shit. Authenticity-seeking re: human beings is a pure form of elitist acquisitiveness, especially among white people in the US (and probably other places too, but I don’t live in other places), and it contributes to racism, the exoticization of other cultures, and to an exploitive vision of the world as an outlandish theme park filled with “Realness” that exists explicitly for wealthy white people to have adventures in. Its open practice should be shamed out of existence.