Brand signals have been described as meaning vessels before, and vessels of trust too. Does that make a branded product package, container, or configuration a vessel within vessel? The tin cans below that have been recycled and transformed (as seen in the image I captured at the Minnesota State Fair), were most likely once brand vessels within vessels, but now, there is no trace left to the variety of brands that once adorned these physical vessels: No one of sane mind would question this vendor’s legal right to strip all brand recognition from these physical vessels and give them new life as creative hanging planters. And, it also seems unlikely anyone would question Coca-Cola’s legal right to stop a vendor who refills a branded Coke bottle with something other than Coke, passing it off as genuine Coke. But, the recognition of truth at these two extremes, brings me back to my post that rode the holiday weekend, questioning the level of control a brand owner has in…
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