Aimée
Brands — they’re not just for companies anymore. Nowadays, everyone’s got a brand. Even your 4-year-old child has a brand (although that brand is probably just “goofy”). In fact, you most likely had a brand when you were a kid, too. What that means is just that you’ve done and still do certain things that are quintessentially you your whole life—kind of like That’s So Raven, except it’s not Raven, it’s you. Are you snarky? Always late? Are you known for being stubborn? Have you always been kinda selfish? A doofus? All of these things make up your own personal brand (and here you thought that was just your personality. No way! Brand!). Your brand isn’t always perfect, but it’s YOU.
It started with Twitter user@prinxeMu, who tweeted a memory about something that they did as a child that still really embodies their personality today. They wrote,
“What’s the most On Brand™ story you have from your early childhood. Mine is when my mom told me not to touch the electric stove when it was red, because that meant it was hot, so I made direct eye contact with her and slapped my hand down on the stove top.”
Damn! That is a pretty good example of someone who questions authority (or just likes hot things).
People on Twitter answered the call and shared stories of the most “on brand” thing they’d done as a child, and the results were pretty damn hilarious.
16. Who among us has not self-sabotaged in order to own our families?
15. Worrying about stuff you see in movies can start at a very young age.
14. Then there are those for whom “awkward” is just a way of life.
13. Some people are really concerned about messy clothes.
12. It doesn’t matter what kind of clothes.
11. TFW your brand is buttering the couch. Wait, what?
10. In comparison, eating butter is a lot more normal.
9. A future foodie. (Not butter.)
8. Some of us just want to be taken seriously.
7. On the way out of the birth canal is as good a time for a panic attack as any.
6. Cat lovers are born, not made. Well, okay, maybe also made.
5. This person either loves ingenuity or just loves television.
4. Hey, introverts gonna introvert.
3. The first in what must be a lifetime of “Actually…”
2. Empathy can be a brand.
1. Don’t feel too bad. Some of us are still figuring out our brands. Some of us are even off-brand.
My personal brand? One time at a block party I accidentally covered a street vendor with art at a spray art stand. Not really great with the ol’ physical coordination. And I haven’t improved much since then.
