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IELTS Essay Question: Famous Brands
Sample Answer by Jeenn Lee Hsieh
谢振礼 ielts360toefl@hotmail.com
IELTS 论说文真题：20131130 (Academic) China
>More and more people want to buy famous brands with clothes, cars and other items. What are the reasons? Do you think it is a positive or negative development? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your knowledge or experience to support your opinion.
Outline
Introduction: Buying famous brands>Cause--identity (positive); cause--vanity (negative)
Body A: identity>famous brands
Body B: vanity>famous brands
Conclusion: both identity and vanity>famous brands
谢振礼 Jeenn Lee Hsieh
Is it because of identity or vanity that more and more people want to buy famous brands with clothes, cars and other items? The question is a matter of cause and effect, and this trend may be considered as positive if identity is cause, but it may be regarded as a negative development if vanity is cause. In either case, brand is not cause but effect.
On the positive side, identity is cause and brand is effect because the former influences the latter. In an identity-conscious society, buying a certain brand says something about the person who buys it. The logic: the strength of identity leads to the strength of brand, and a strong brand is no less than a promise. For example, thinking of some top "trusted" brands, such as Nike, Volvo, Apple, or Coca Cola, people immediately know what these famous trade-marks would promise. In one sense, a trade-mark is a trust-mark for those people who want to identify with quality names. So, it may be said that such identity is emotionally associated with that kind of trust which a top brand has to delivery.
On the negative side, vanity is cause and brand is effect. Typically this happens when people mistake vanity for identity. So much so, some people may refuse to pay attention to the fact that some products or services are unreasonably over-priced. This phenomenon is partly the result of an increasingly materialistic society gone wrong because people do not necessarily get the real value from the face price. Of course, this kind of vanity certainly does not make economic sense because people would spend money that they might not have and buy expensive things they might not need. Under these circumstances, the desire for famous brands is only a reflection of the influence of advertising rather than the actual buying power.
Probably, partly due to identity and partly due to vanity, there is a strong tendency for people to buy famous brands. As often as not, this development may be positive or negative, and the issue is not a black-or-white one. It is likely that the reasons to buy famous brands are found in the grey area. (Essay by Jeenn Lee Hsiehielts360toefl@hotmail.com)
