Self-branding

Published by

Clarissa

April 27, 2018

On the subject of self-branding by smart individuals:

Emotional support animals require no training. They don’t even have to be dogs. Their purpose is to provide a therapeutic benefit through companionship. At Yale, there are emotional support dogs, emotional support cats and even an emotional support hedgehog.

Oh, I just can’t go through life without the emotional support from my hedgehog! I’m too fragile and wrought for that.

This is what sells, folks. The quirkiness, the knowledge of how to manufacture and flaunt personal peculiarities.

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9 responses to “Self-branding”

E (The Third Glance)

April 27, 2018

I’m sure you’ve heard about the “Emotional support peacock” from a few months ago? http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42880690

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1. Clarissa
  
  April 27, 2018
  
  No, wow, I had no idea. Thank you. 🙂 And it’s precisely what I’m saying: she’s an “artist” and this is her way to self-brand.
  
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Tal Hartsfeld

April 27, 2018

It could be worse
…emotional support rattlesnakes
…emotional support chimpanzees
…emotional support skunks
…emotional support elephants
…emotional support kangaroos
…emotional support dolphins
…emotional support birds that stress you out again when they crap all over while flying around the room …

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1. Clarissa
  
  April 27, 2018
  
  And since you got to raise the stakes all the time in order to be original, this is definitely going in weird directions.
  
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  1. cliff arroyo
    
    April 27, 2018
    
    “this is definitely going in weird directions.”
    
    I think my speciality will be emotional support illnesses (some contagious) that require me to cough all over people in public. If prevented from doing this I will suffer extreme anxiety and distress and lawsuits will follow.
    
    -Emotional support whooping cough,
    -Emotional support black lung,
    -Emotional support ebola….
    
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David Bellamy

April 27, 2018

I always have believed that emotional support animals were merely stand-ins for friends and other human beings. If someone is so socially inept that he/she cannot connect with other in a meaningful way, and cannot aford appropriate psychotherapy, these may be the only viable option.

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1. Clarissa
  
  April 27, 2018
  
  This is at Yale. They definitely can afford shrinks.
  
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el

April 30, 2018

Doesn’t such self-branding sell only if it’s done by 0.00 1% of people in very specific professions and socio-economic class?

I do not see how hedgehogs may help school teachers, programmers or even university professors to find and hold a good job.

I have not even mentioned working class people, but even for middle-class, why would employers hire someone because of something unconnected to the employee’s ability to earn money for them?

And if someone is unable to function without a hedgehog or without making mattress-girl performance, I would doubt their ability to withstand work-related stress and \ or be a good team player without creating scandals and meltdowns at work.

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1. Clarissa
  
  April 30, 2018
  
  These are Yale students. They are definitely not going into regular jobs after sinking quarter million bucks into this education. This is precisely how a minority sets itself apart because it can afford to do so.
  
  Why do you think the elderly grad student at Nebraska put on all that show? She knows what the job market is and is trying to brand herself in a certain way to stand out. And she might actually be successful at that.
  
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