Inviting consumers to imagine themselves.

• Position: Advertising - Brief Article

A "product is not really how you see yourself, but it is an idealized image of what you'd like to be," explains Carolyn de la Pena, an assistant professor of American Studies at the University of California, Davis, and a former branding strategist who worked on national corporate accounts. "Advertisers aren't typically trying to make people desire something they don't want; more often, they're trying to attach a set of things that consumers do desire--status, relaxation, love--onto materials that may or may not have anything really to do with the actual thing desired.

"Advertising is more about figuring out how consumers want to imagine themselves and claiming that a product can make that imagination reality."

She points to the Prada fashion company, which is rebranding itself through a showcase store in New York. Although pricey, the Italian fashion...