A Secret History of Brands

by A Secret History of Brands- The Dark

  The events of 17 November 1972 would go down in history. Barbara, now age 50, was at home in her penthouse apartment in London. Antony went to the apartment with a plan, one that he had been formulating in his paranoid and delusional mind for some time. He took a kitchen knife and stabbed his mother, killing her almost instantly. When the police arrived on the scene, the 25-year-old Antony was on the phone attempting to order Chinese takeaway.

  Antony was institutionalised at Broadmoor Hospital in Berkshire for eight years, until his eventual release on 21 July 1980. There are some reports that say a bureaucratic mistake allowed for Antony’s release from the well-known high-security psychiatric hospital. There are other accounts that claim wealthy and influential friends or family may have secured his release. The move was a tragic mistake, no matter which version of events was true.

  Upon his release from Broadmoor, Antony went to New York to live with his maternal grandmother, Nina Daly. This arrangement would be short lived. It took a mere six days from Antony’s release for him to become violent again; this time he attacked his elderly grandmother. He stabbed her eight times and broke some of her bones – but she did survive the attack. He later gave his reasoning behind the attack, explaining that his grandmother had been nagging him, just like his mother would. Antony was promptly arrested and sent to Rikers Island, the primary jail complex for New York City. The massive complex features both correctional and mental institutions.

  On 21 March 1981, Antony appeared in court, in relation to the attack on his grandmother. The proceedings didn’t go as Antony was hoping and he was said to have been distraught. He returned to his incarceration on Rikers Island at 3.30 PM, where he suffocated himself to death with a plastic bag. His body was discovered in his cell half an hour later.

  Baketlite Today

  The various products that were produced with Bakelite have become increasingly collectible in the modern second-hand market. The products range from baby toys, pipes and jewellery to kitchen utensils and even firearms. People are also buying it and re-carving the Bakelite name into new items, like jewellery. The repurposing of Bakelite has become a huge fad.

  Interestingly, the original colours that adorned the Bakelite product have changed, courtesy of a prolonged reaction to oxygen. A few examples include the standard brown colour morphing to a black, white appears in an amber-tone, and clear products have the appearance of apple juice. In one example, a once red, white and blue patriotic American pin is now red, yellow and black in appearance.

  The family controversy, the unhealthy relationship between Barbara and Antony Baekeland, and the subsequent murder of Barbara at the hands of Antony, were chronicled in the 2007 feature film, Savage Grace. The independent film, starring Julianne Moore and Eddie Redmayne, was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay.

  Conclusion

  In spite of the bizarre and sometimes horrifying histories behind these brand names, there is no doubt that these people and their inventions changed the world. There may have been an immense amount of negative energy surrounding them early on, but there were also a lot of positive contributions to society from these flawed individuals. All people are complicated and life is rarely viewable in black and white, there is always that ever important grey area to explore.

  Henry Ford, for example, may have had his share of personal flaws and upsetting viewpoints, but what he did contribute to the American economy and society cannot be overlooked. The automobile industry became the backbone of the American economy for several decades thanks to Ford. The autmobile industry today accounts for at least one of every twenty-two American jobs. The only reason that the car is a commonplace feature of American life is because of Ford. He was able to manufacture his affordable Model T and set a new standard for daily life and the future growth of dozens of American cities. The groundbreaking higher wages that Ford paid with his $5 per day initiative set a new standard for the working class and helped make factory and manufaturing work a viable career option.

  Imagine the world that Chanel grew up in. She was born poor and abandoned by her father. She lacked emotional connection and faced boundless misogyny in a world where she wasn’t even allowed to vote, much less become a successful entrepreneur. In the face of this adversity she was able to become successful and leave a lasting mark on fashion that survives to this day. Chanel actually created costume jewellery and made it a staple, so that women wouldn’t have to own just one or two key pieces of more expensive jewelry. Instead, a woman could have the option to accessorise her daily outfits with a variety of less expensive, but still flashily appearing jewellery. Chanel also helped rid women of the burdens of elaborate clothing and even more restrictive underclothes. She found difficulty in riding horses in a skirt so, in an act of inspirational feminism, she took the pants right of a male rider and put them on herself, a move that was unheard of at the time. It soon became fashionable for women to wear pants. Add to all that ‘the little black dress’, a simple but elegant staple in many wardrobes.

  These are just a few examples of the immense amount of good that has come from these important fixtures in history. In today’s world the art of branding has become an important staple. A brand can be anything from a certain company to an individual, like an actor or singer. The benefits of branding, as they are seen today, include the building of customer loyalty and trust, enhanced product recognition, better product positioning, successful introduction of new products and the building of brand equity. Brand equity is the idea that a brand itself, rather than any one product, can be of great value. This can lead to franchising and a far higher price tag on both stock and sale prices. A brand can also be a status symbol to many, showing that you have the coolest or latest product, regardless of the quality or effectiveness of that product.

  It is important to keep those that are famous and well regarded, both in history and in today’s world, off a pedestal. It is easy to glorify those that contribute to culture in a positive way, but there is an old saying about Hollywood: ‘never meet your heroes’. No one is perfect and we all make mistakes in life, some bigger than others. Our imperfections are often considered to be our weaknesses, but they are also a major part of our make-up as individuals. It is my sincere hope that you take away from this book the reminder that we must never forget our history – a rule that should always be carefully regarded – lest we be doomed to repeat it. When you see these products on the shelves or in your own home it’s okay to use them without guilt or negative feeling, because we all know how far away these companies are from their dark pasts. Hopefully, we can remember the history and harbour the knowlege, without taking away from the fantastic products that we’re left with. You can drink that Coke or eat that delicious bowl of Corn Flakes without reproach, but certainly with some enlightening anectodes to share with those close to you.

  Notes

  Coca-Cola

  -More of Coca-Cola, 21 June 1891 http://www.atlantareconstitution.com/1891/06/21/more-of-coca-cola

  -The Great Coca Cola Trial, 7 November 2010 http://drvitelli.typepad.com/providentia/2010/11/the-great-coca-cola-trial-part-2.html

  -Cocaine-Cola, 19 May 2011 http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/cocaine.asp

  -Williams, M.D., Edward Huntington. Negro Cocaine ‘Fiends’ Are A New Southern Menace, The New York Times, 8 February 1914

  -The very first Coke? It was Bordeaux mixed with cocaine... and 23 other interesting facts about the world’s best-known brand, 14 January 2015 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2910885/The-Coke-Bordeaux-mixed-cocaine-23-interesting-facts-world-s-best-known-brand.html

  -King, Monroe Martin. John Stith Pemberton (1831-1888), 14 May 2004 http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/business-economy/john-stith-pemberton-1831-1888

  -Hamblin, James. Why we took Cocaine out of Soda, 31 January 2013 http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/01/why-we-took-cocaine-out-of-soda/272694/

  -Pemberton, John Stith. Encyclopaedia of World Biography. Encyclop
edia.com. 12 October 2016, http://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopediasalmanacs-transcripts-and-maps/pemberton-john-stith

  -The Chronicle of Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Company, http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/heritage/chronicle_birth_refreshing_idea.html (February 11, 2008).

  -A History of Coca-Cola, Associated Content, http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/37117/a_history_of_cocacola.html (February 11 2008).

  -John Stith Pemberton, article originally published in Business Heroes Newsletter (July 1998), http://www.cocaine.org/coca-cola/index.html (February 11, 2008).

  -May, Clifford D. How Coca-Cola Obtains Its Coca, 1 July 1988, New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/01/business/how-coca-cola-obtains-its-coca.html

  -Adams, Mike. To this day, Coca-Cola still imports coca leaves which are used to manufacture cocaine in the United States, 9 June 2011, http://www.naturalnews.com/032658_Coca-Cola_cocaine.html

  -Report of the International Opium Commission, 1 February 1909, Cornell University Library, https://archive.org/stream/cu31924032583225/cu31924032583225_djvu.txt

  -Martin, Jeff. The Coca Cola History Documentary.

  -Fahey, David M. Temperance Movement, 10 March 2003, http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/temperance-movement

  -Candler, Asa G. A Card From Mr. Candler, 13 June 1891, http://www.atlantareconstitution.com/1891/06/13/

  -The Constitution, Atlanta, GA, What’s In Coca Cola?, 12 June 1891, http://www.atlantareconstitution.com/1891/06/12/

  -Firedog. ‘Vin Mariani: An Experience with Coca & Alcohol (ID 51792)’. Erowid.org. Jun 24, 2008. erowid.org/exp/51792

  -Allen, Frederick. Secret Formula. New York: Harper Collins, 1994.

  Henry Ford

  -Ford, Henry. The International Jew: The World’s Foremost Problem, 1920.

  -Colt, Sarah. The American Experience: Henry Ford (PBS Documentary Film), 2013.

  -Grubin, David. The Jewish Americans, (PBS Documentary Film), 2008.

  -Chartoff, Melanie. Henry Ford’s Mass Production of Hate Meets Its Match, Huffington Post, 18 February 2014. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/melaniechartoff/henry-fords-mass-producti_b_4470542.html

  -History.com. This Day In History: Henry Ford Publishes The Last Issue of the Dearborn Independent. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/henry-ford-publishes-the-last-issue-of-the-dearborn-independent

  -History.com. This Day In History: Ford’s Assembly Line Starts Rolling. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fords-assembly-line-startsrolling

  -History.com. Henry Ford, http://www.history.com/topics/henry-ford

  -History.com. This Day In History: Beetle Overtakes Model T As World’s Best-Selling Car. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/beetle-overtakes-model-t-as-worlds-best-selling-car

  -Jewish Virtual Libarary. Anti-Semitism in the U.S.: ‘The International Jew’, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/ford.html

  -Jewish Virtual Library. The Nazi Party: Ford Motors Report on German Subsidiary in World War II, 6 December 2001. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Ford1.html

  -Rare Historical Photos. Henry Ford receiving the Grand Cross of the German Eagle from Nazi officials, 1938, 20 November 2013. http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/henry-ford-grand-cross-1938/

  -http://www.TheHenryFord.org, 2016.

  -Taylor, Mitchell. FordModelT.net, 2011-2016. http://www.fordmodelt.net/henryford.htm

  -Wellhell. ‘I regard Henry Ford as my inspiration’ - Adolph Hitler, 1931, http://www.ipernity.com/blog/246215/407138

  -Dobbs, Michael. Ford and GM Scrutinised for Alleged Nazi Collaboration, 30 November 1998. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/nov98/nazicars30.htm

  -English, Simon. Ford ‘used slave labour’ in Nazi German plants, 3 November 2003. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1445822/Ford-used-slave-labour-in-Nazi-German-plants.html

  -Klatzkin, Shmuel. Modern Anti-Semitism: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, 21 February 2016. http://www.myjli.com/why/index.php/2016/02/21/modern-antisemitism-the-protocols-of-the-elders-of-zion/#_ftnref6

  -Rudin, James A. The dark legacy of Henry Ford’s anti-Semitism, 10 October 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/the-dark-legacyof-henry-fords-anti-semitism-commentary/2014/10/10/c95b7df2-509d-11e4-877c335b53ffe736_story.html

  -The Dearborn Independent. Anti-Semitism-Will It Appear in the United States, 19 June 1920, http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/2013218776/1920-06-19/ed-1/seq-2/

  -Madigan, Charles M. The Libel Case With A 6-Cent Verdict, 8 June 1997, http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1997-06-08/news/9706300080_1_henry-ford-chicago-tribune-anarchist

  -Wears, Adam. Ford Did Not Invent The Assembly Line, 17 July 2013, http://knowledgenuts.com/2013/07/17/ford-did-not-invent-the-assembly-line/

  -United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Protocols of the Elders of Zion: Timeline, 2 July 2016, https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007244

  -Animal Welfare Institute. Urban Carriage Horses: Out of Step with Responsible Horse Welfare, https://awionline.org/content/urban-carriagehorses-out-step-responsible-horse-welfare

  -Aronson, Sidney R. The Automobile: Its First 100 Years Documentary

  -Worstall, Tim. The Story of Henry Ford’s $5 a Day Wages: It’s Not What You Think, 4 March 2012, http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/03/04/the-story-of-henry-fords-5-a-day-wages-its-not-what-you-think/#7a8247611c96

  -Gale, Thomson. Henry Ford, 2003, http://www.encyclopedia.com/people/social-sciences-and-law/business-leaders/henry-ford

  -Baime, A.J. Henry Ford’s reign of terror: Greed and murder in Depressionera Detroit, 1 June 2014, http://www.salon.com/2014/06/01/henry_fords_reign_of_terror_greed_and_murder_in_depression_era_detroit/

  HUGO BOSS

  -Walters, Guy. Shameful truth about Hugo Boss’s links to the Nazis revealed: As Russell Brand is thrown out of a party for accusing fashion designer of helping Hitler, 6 September 2013, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2413371/Shameful-truth-Hugo-Bosss-links-Nazis-revealed-As-Russell-Brand-thrown-party-accusing-fashion-designerhelping-Hitler.html

  -Brand, Russell. Russell Brand and the GQ awards: ‘It’s amazing how absurd it seems’, 13 September 2013, https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/sep/13/russell-brand-gq-awards-hugo-boss

  -Köster, Roman. Study on the Company’s Foundation, 2011, http://group.hugoboss.com/en/group/about-hugo-boss/history/

  -BBC.com. Hugo Boss apology for Nazi past as book is published, 21 September 2011, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-15008682

  -World War II: The Postdam Declaration, 2 August 1945, http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/potsdam.html

  Adidas/Puma

  -Kuhn, Robert & Thiel, Thomas. Shoes and Nazi Bazookas, The Prehistory of Adidas and Puma, 4 March 2009, http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/shoes-andnazi-bazookas-the-prehistory-of-adidas-and-puma-a-611400.html

  -The Dassler Brothers Timeline, http://dasslerbrothers.weebly.com/

  -Katherina ‘Kathe’ Dassler: wife of Adidas founder Adolf Dassler, 23 March 2015, http://www.theherzogenaurachstory.co.uk/KaetheDassler.htm

  -Connolly, Kate. Adidas v Puma: the bitter rivalry that runs and runs, 18 October 2009, https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/oct/19/rivalry-between-adidas-and-puma

  -Akhtar, Omar. The hatred and bitterness behind two of the world’s most popular brands, 22 March 2013, http://fortune.com/2013/03/22/the-hatred-and-bitterness-behind-two-of-the-worlds-most-popular-brands/

  -Tousif, Muhammad Mustafa. Adidas vs. Puma: How it all started, 14 March 2016, http://bundesligafanatic.com/adidas-vs-puma-how-it-all-started-part-1/

  -Adidas x Puma Documentary Film, 2005

  Coco Chanel

  -Flanner, Janet. 31, Rue Cambon, 14 March 1931, http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1931/03/14/31-rue-cambon-2

  -Coco Chanel - Style Icon of the 1920s, http://www.1920s-fashion-and-music.com/Coco-Chanel.html


  -1920s Fashion: Style in The Jazz Age, http://www.1920s-fashion-and-music.com/1920s-fashion.html

  -Hirst, Gwendoline. Chanel Biography, http://www.ba-education.com/for/fashion/chanel.html

  -Picardie, Justine. The Secret Life of Coco Chanel, 5 September 2010, http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/article/TMG7975778/The-secret-life-of-Coco-Chanel.html

  -Chanel.com, http://inside.chanel.com/en/timeline/

  -Schleunes, Karl A. The Twisted Road to Auschwitz: Nazi Policy Toward German Jews, 1933–1939. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1970.

  -Friedländer, Saul. Nazi Germany and the Jews. New York: Harper Collins, 1997.

  -United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Anti-Jewish Legislation in Prewar Germany, https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005681

  -Ross, Kim. Coco Chanel Nazi Spy, Goal Was To Use Nazi Influence To Take Back Parfums Chanel From Jewish Company, 9 December 2014, https://thestyleofthecase.wordpress.com/tag/gabrielle-coco-chanel/

  -Vaughan, Hal. Sleeping With The Enemy: Coco Chanel’s Secret War, 2011.

  -MessyNessy, Coco Chanel Was Definitely a Nazi, 3 April 2012, http://www.messynessychic.com/2012/04/03/coco-chanel-was-definitely-a-nazi/

  -Warner, Judith. Was Coco Chanel A Nazi Agent?, 2 September 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/books/review/sleeping-with-the-enemy-coco-chanels-secret-war-by-hal-vaughan-book-review.html?_r=0

  -Whitelocks, Sadie. Karl Lagerfeld who? Meet the REAL men behind Chanel’s $19billion fortune, 25 September 2013, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2432311/Karl-Lagerfeld-Meet-men-Chanels-19billion-fortune--Alain-Gerard-Wertheimer.html