Walking about campus, a Whittie encounters a wide variety of attire on his or her fellow students. Kids who seem to wear the same t-shirt every day, girls who have a different dress for every day of the year, prep-school sweaters, Birkenstocks, stiletto heels, or a brave student with no clothes at all: none of these choices surprise or bother me.

Yet, there is one wardrobe item on campus: the logo-flaunting sorority sweatshirt: that has caused me endless aggravation and bewilderment. My irritation with such a simple cotton garment has been questioned by many of my friends, but I still feel the need to air my grievances.

The specific examples I have witnessed are a North Face logo with “Kappa Alpha Theta” replacing “The North Face,” and a John Deere logo with “Delta Gamma” printed underneath. I’m told there are more examples from the past, but, alas, I am but a first-year whose eyes have seen little.

First, and most obviously, these sweatshirts represent the absolute nadir of creativity in graphic design. Those designing these shirts had a tabula rasa to work with and squandered this great opportunity for artistic expression by simply replicating a pre-fabricated media image.

And don’t even try to call it pop art: Andy Warhol at least altered those soup cans in some way.

If the shirts don’t contain an original message and aren’t altered in any way to parody the brands, what is the rationale for their existence?  

Is it just kitsch, or outright plagiarism?

In fact, they are merely a symptom of something much worse: the ruthless colonization of public spaces by corporations and their brands.  

Multinational corporations are extending their carefully manufactured image into every corner of our lives. Advertising campaigns and logos are constructed to associate positive feelings with their brands, even as the sky-high prices of omnipresent ads drive most corporations to utilize lawless sweatshops overseas.  

Corporate logos are mostly harmless in the context of a paid advertisement, but, as these sweatshirts demonstrate, their ubiquity is extending into other parts of our lives.  

Increasingly, people looking for a personal symbol tap into the good feelings associated with our favorite brands by simply copying them. Why bother creating your own image when you can simply assume somebody else’s?

In this way, logos create a convenient template for personal identity. To quote Advertising Age reporter Jeff Jensen, “Selling out is not only accepted, it’s considered hip.”

Unfortunately, a logo can only say so much. Based on the imagery in their outfits, I conclude that Thetas are independent, rugged mountaineers and DGs like tractors and weak irony.

The true nature of both of these groups is obviously so much more complicated than these generalizations, but a recycled corporate logo can’t capture nuance. The fetishization of corporate icons not only encroaches on our culture, but inevitably dilutes it.

Simplification and homogenization of culture is exactly what multinationals want. When we define ourselves by the brands they create and define, we become easier to fit into target markets for ever-increasing consumption.

So, think twice before ordering that next batch of faux-corporate sweatshirts.  

Instead of succumbing to the desire to replicate a ready-made logo, create something unique, something distinctive.

Enrich our culture instead of simplifying it.   You’ll look better too.