as the 'poster' brand for your analogy. Do I mind any brand obtaining greater visibility/exposure through mass-media product placement and general advertising? Of course not, as they say, no publicity is bad publicity.... With this said, does that drive my own affinities and purchase behaviors? Absolutely not, it never did, even when I was a kid. I always sought products and services that I felt resonated with me personally for whichever philosophical reasons. Unless, of course, you are talking about perishable, basic-need goods like food etc.... I don't care for products at all just because they happen to belong in a 'luxury product category', that to me never carried any weight. They have to patently appeal to me regardless of their 'luxury status', and any manufactured 'image' the product may or may not have. Do I happen to love Aston Martins and Omega watches?? 100%, and neither has anything to do whatsoever with James Bond, whom I find to be a terribly outdated piece of fiction exemplifying pretty much everything that I strongly dislike as a human being....