Condemned to authenticity: corporate branding through an existentialist lens

What is it about?

Corporate branding has long been shaped by the assumption of a fixed, essential pathway towards an ‘authentic moral identity,’ reinforcing essentialist thought. However, as corporate brands increasingly navigate complex landscapes, essentialism reduces morality and authenticity to a set of criteria, overlooking its subjective and emergent nature. This conceptual paper critiques essentialist thought in corporate branding, arguing that conscientious corporate brands engage in a process of becoming worthy of moral consideration, which resonates with existentialist philosophy. Existentialism shelves predetermined essences and confronts human existence by emphasizing the primacy of authentic constructed meaning, (inter)subjective experience, freedom, and responsibility. What could existentialism mean for authentic corporate brands? And how can corporate brands pursue their true authentic self? By framing corporate brands as ‘condemned to authenticity’—in a state of perpetual becoming—we propose an existentialist rethinking of authenticity. This lens reshapes corporate branding towards nested, emergent phenomena, offering tenets grounded in existentialist thought, and addressing both theoretical and practical implications for brand orchestration.

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