Are the products we buy becoming part of our identity?

Steve Scher
06/25/2008 at 9:00 a.m.

We can avoid conventional ads now with TV recording devises and the internet. That doesn't necessarily mean we're less susceptible to marketing. Companies have found new ways to encourage us to participate in their marketing campaigns. Do you identify with a brand? Is it Apple? Saab? REI? Are the products you buy an expression of what you believe in? Why is that? Has modern day marketing convinced us that products are an extension of our identity? The New York Times' 'Consumed' columnist joins us.

Guest(s)

Rob Walker writes the weekly column Consumed for The New York Times Magazine. He's contributed to many publications from Fortune to AdBusters, and used to write the Ad Report Card column for Slate. Walker's new book is Buying In:The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are.