Marketing is all about manipulation the term "selling ice cubes to an Eskimo" exists for a reason. XD I used to work in sales and some of that "training" carried over when I worked retail. Once a company knows it's audience, it can manipulate them and advertise in a way that will make the audience want to buy the produce. Which in the case with designer items, yes, they do manipulate their audiences into thinking their product is "cool" or "the product" to have. Top 40 music is an excellent example of marketing crap and people eating it up. Anyway, back on topic.

I was more using Ford as an example of a "brand" that I trust. It is a brand name, although I do not consider it a "designer" brand of car. The terms "brand name" and "designer" means two different things. Nike is not that bad unless you really overuse the shoes. Mine actually lasted years compared to my cheaper shoes. They were on sale so that's the only reason I ended up with them. Then again, that was back in the 90's. when things were not made a cheaply. Now a days it just seems like products in general are more cheaply made but that is a whole other topic.

Also with the label, if you buy "designer" in a department store, you are also paying for shelf advertisement, which is actually having the shelf space for the product and the use of the product name. That is why, let's say, Walmart brand items are going to be a lot less expensive than a "designer" or a bigger name brand item. Gotta love how many hidden charges are attached to an item if it is not directly produced by the store that is selling it.