Back in the '70s and '80s, there was a supermarket called Pathmark that did something wild (for the time). In addition to the standard organization of the store into departments like dairy, beverages and paper goods, they had one whole aisle that had a single version of every product. And everything in that aisle looked the same, other than the name of the item in bold black block letters: NAPKINS, ICED TEA, CANNED PEACHES, etc. Every product had plain white packaging and a red and blue striped "no frills" badge right at the top.

Here's the thing. They were the exact same products as the name brand stuff. CORN FLAKE CEREAL was Kellogg's corn flakes, straight from the same factory. The only difference was it had no advertising and no advertising cost baked in, so it was half the price. But kids would get made fun of if their parents bought the NO FRILLS stuff.

How'd I make the graphic? I googled "pathmark no frills cereal", screengrabbed it, used an app to knock out the box and then laid EYES OPEN over NO FRILLS. It's the actual badge, not a recreation, literally the original graphic, pulled straight off the box.

The first message is this: the name brand box, all dressed up, is perceived as valuable, while the no frills box, just plain white, is perceived as worth less, half the value. But inside? It's the exact same thing. Same corn flakes, same factory.

And that's really about us, isn't it? It's not how we decorate ourselves or dress ourselves up. It's what's inside us that matters. Who we actually are. The qualities, the character, the integrity, the authenticity we carry. That's the thing that counts, not what we look like on the surface.

But, true to our brand, it goes deeper. Back then, that plain packaging in your cupboard got you made fun of. Now people proudly wear it on a shirt. It went from something you hid in your pantry to something you put right on your chest. The meaning didn't just change, it flipped to the complete opposite.

Because we experience something, we assign meaning to it, and that meaning becomes our reality.

'Cause "lifE is a story wE'rE tEllin oursElf{s} + bEliEvin."