Ah, the Bobians and the Joeians didn't use branded sticks though - they couldn't see the
point in it!
Actually, I had forgotten about "branding" in the traditional sense which was used on cattle - first instance of branding with a symbol or name was used by the Egyptians in 2700 BCE to indicate ownership, and to deter thievery.
To quote wikipedia, "However, the term has been extended to mean a strategic personality for a product or company, so that "brand" now suggests the values and promises that a consumer may perceive and buy into."
Thinking about it historically, you can quite easily see why branding could evolve into it's current state - Bobhmet and Joebari were Egyptian landowners in the 2700's and everybody thought Bobhmet's cows where the shiz, so Joebari upped his game and bought a few of them and bred them with his stock to make supercattle that could feed twice as many labourers.
That is why the 2700's coincided with when they started to really get into their pyramid building. Supercattle. Honest! That's how it happened. Only Joebari cattle could have done this: get yours today! Labourers sold separately.
Sorry for the confusion, incidentally, when I said 20th century, I first of all, should have said 19th century - when the brands of various things got taken up by the marketing machine and turned into their current capitalist
format - I didn't mean
snobbishness around a particular make wasn't around before - more that it's current incarnation based around a corporate entity, rather than an individual person, started then. :P
Joebari and Bobhmet merged incidentally - they married into the family of a third farmer, some old guy called MacDonald? Old MacDonald they called him - he had a farm, and on that farm he had some supercattle, if the legends are true. They now serve a few million supercattle daily.
YOU just made me realise! The
German Tank Problem!
It can apply to Pentaxians viewed in the wild! We can statistically determine whether or not we are in fact rare!
Bayesian analysis to the rescue!
You've raised an interesting point with Paula - which conveniently brings us round full circle
Brand Awareness: she's displayed, at the very least, brand recognition - "here are some brands - I know that one - so I'm going with it". In this case, she's typed in "camera", seen "Canon" and said "Ah-ha! I've heard of that, they make good cameras!" and forked out for it.
There's actually an alternative route called "brand recall" where you don't search, but go straight for the brand: "I have a need for a camera, Canon can fulfil that need - I'll search for a Canon". This doesn't appear to have happened in this case (as she replied "I saw it in a flash deal" rather than "I have heard Canon are good") - I mention it merely as an alternative route that demonstrates how deeply entrenched marketing can become in the consumer.
I'd actually strongly recommend reading through the
wikipedia page on Branding, as it gives a fascinating insight into the marketing machine and it's various methods - and pretty much covers everything I've said before more eloquently than my rambling has
Oops, I menat to say, btw! Paula seems to have at least a budding interest in photography, even if it is in a naive kind of way - I'd look up a few local photography clubs and pass the details onto her: we all have to start somewhere! Who knows, maybe it might even prevent a near-pristine Canon going on sale at some point! xD