Cult
There are similarities between the reasons people join a brand and the reasons they join a cult. Some in the advertising business have studied cults, and applied some of what they've learned to advertising strategies. One thing that both have in common is that they try to bypass reason in order to get people to behave in a desired manner.
Naomi Klein defines emotional branding as traditionally the human desires for narrative, community, and transcendence, fulfilled in institutions like schools and churches. We want our lives to make sense, to be a part of some larger story which gives us a sense of meaning and purpose and confers a particular identity on us. We also long for connections with other people. We desire transcendence, often finding it in some sort of spiritual practice or faith.
Klein points out that advertisers capitalize on this by trying to associate their product with our needs for narrative, community, and transcendence. And she observes that it is, in many ways, ridiculous.
Psychology Today
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