PEOPLE who claim being a “coffee lover” would always tell their friends and  colleagues they always badmouthed that they would always go to a certain globally-known coffee shop to hang out with random guys met on Tinder over cups of sugary milky drinks they proudly called “coffee”.

In reality, they, I mean most of them, do not really know what a true coffee tastes like because what they only care about is BRAND.

Like business, brands are influential that they can buy your souls and turn you into loyal spenders that will make you regularly spend every penny you have from your pocket even if you have no clear idea of “why should I consume this product”.

Same goes to politics, voting for a certain party has been a democratic tradition for a number of voters who will never shift their ‘precious votes’ to other political parties that offer better realistic pledges or field credible candidates. They are the loyal consumers to certain political brands that exist.

In the local politics, a political branding has its special place in the hearts of certain voters that it has bitterly costed them long-lasting problems such as underdevelopment, constant rise in poverty, unavoidable floods happen every year and an inarticulate parliamentarian or state assemblyperson who mouths his or her parliamentary speeches like a 5-year-old kid spelling word by word in his bedtime storybook.

The existence of the newly-born political parties in the mainstream arena would competitively create new political brandings that will serve new deals for the first-time and persuadable many-time voters, and that needs voters, regardless of their age, to be wise and smart about picking a brand that could be reliable for their prosperity.

It may sound fictional that some voters would rather elect a candidate of a certain political party, whose histories were ugly enough to say that choosing him or her would be detrimental to the constituents’ wellbeing, than vote for a politician, whose professional credibility and experiences were nationally proven to be useful, just because the latter represents a brand that is not familiar and ‘tasteful’ to them.

Like I said, a well-known brand will make you believe that its products are good enough to please your needs as if buying other ‘unfamilair’ brands could downgrade your life. That is a disastrous problem in politics, metaphorically—instead of buying a product that serves you with a good quality and cause, certain people would rather be trendy and follow suit of people around them who blindly choose brand over purpose of having a product as they believe, “This brand has been in the market for decades and is the only best option we have to survive.”

In the real world, despite being in the market for uncountable years, certain brands we choose still fail to satisfy the market. Ironically, there are segments of consumers in the market who would still choose the same brand although they were told of great offers offered by other existing brands that have been sustainable in other regional markets.

Sustainability of a brand always comes with greatness that its competitors can’t truly serve. In other words, a brand that serves products that fail to meet the consumers’ needs will hardly survive unless the majority of unclever consumers feel reluctant to experience new brands. The seller, as they comply with the choice of the highest number of spenders, have no choice but to retain the products sold by the brand.

There are people around you, especially oldies, who would still wear an old dirty shirt they bought 15 years ago with holes on it to go out. Even if they were given a new shirt of a different brand for free, they won’t take it as they would say, “This shirt I’m wearing is still comfortable despite the look.”

Well, one can’t be forced to change preference. Not everyone wants to be or feel new. Some would choose to remain stagnant while the rest are racing to pursue betterment.

If you are a voter, be objective about electing a candidate. Do it with purpose, not because of certain political parties whose leaders like to appear on TikTok more than celebrities.

Don’t be influenced by sweet fictional pledges offered by certain brands ahead of elections, especially political parties that have previously failed to survive in their original marketplace.

Some failed brands would unashamedly tout benefits their products could offer to newly-targeted consumers although they, in denial, realise that their products are nothing but just a useless display item on a rack that sells good quality and durable items to be chosen by consumers.

* Amerul Azry Abdul Aziz is an independent writer who now views politics as something that can be researched.

** The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of Astro AWANI.