Emotions.

I am slowly coming to the conclusion that the advertising industry's two or three decade's-long infatuation with forming emotional connections between brands and consumers is as off and misguided as taking 45 days to write a tweet.

When I think about the contents of my apartment, the food I eat, the machines I own, the car I drive, it may be weird but I don't really have purely emotional connections with any of them.

Certainly, I don't have an emotional connection with anything in my kitchen or the closet where we keep our laundry and cleaning supplies. No, really. Most of the things I like, I like because they provide rational benefits.

The tomato sauce we buy, for instance, we buy because it is all natural with no added sugar. Not because it reminds me of my childhood in Tuscany. Same with our furniture polish or soap.

I feel no emotions about these things.

Even bigger things like my television I have no emotional connection to. I bought a Samsung five years ago because I heard they last long. If someone came in at night and replaced it with the same sized Panasonic, I would not be bereft.

Down in the garage sits my BMW. When I decided to buy it, I made a purely rational decision. Emotionally, Audi, Mercedes and BMW were all equal to me. The BMW had the longest warranty and 4-year, 100,000 mile protection.

My running shoes, too.

I look not for the swoosh of athletic coolness, I look for something sturdy enough to manage my girth.

I wonder if our industry's obsession with emotional connections comes from our unwillingness to do the hard work of finding a difference.

Pursuant to one of my posts last week, I wonder if these so-called emotions are the 21st Century au courant way of treating the consumer like a moron.