Future branding = Religion?

Ok so it might be because its half four in the morning and lack of sleep is inducing paranoid psycosis, but the more i think about the future of branding the more it seems like i'm almost tasked with promting a religion.

The idea of brands not only becoming accepted into a social network but intergrating themselves, or creating thier own social networks by being an immerisve part of the consumers life sounds like cultism, especially when the consumer agrees with the authenticity of what brand stands for and pledges thier loyalty to said brand. It happens to a certain degree now, just look at brands such as Muji or Apple.

This gets even scarier when the brand recruits from within its own social networks perpetuating the fevor.

In fact i can think of brands that i'm loyal too, firefly music promotions and hobnobs for example... i'm offically a comsumer whore! Its only a matter of time before i bow down before the great oat biscuit as a willing supplicant... n'shuggruthmc'vitiesot'ep.

tj -x-