Last night I read about a new marketing trend called “unbranding,” where luxury houses allegedly send out their competitor’s products to keep their own brands from being associated with celebrities who don’t match their brands’ carefully-crafted images.

Unsurprisingly, they used Jersey Shore‘s Snooki as an example; Snooki was originally known to have carried around a Coach bag everywhere but now seems to have gone on to various other designer brands. Not because she is earning more money and able to afford these new purses, nor because publicists and PR staff are sending her free swag to hawk, but because luxury houses are sending her each others’ bags in an attempt to disassociate themselves from the train wreck!

I don’t think I have ever become more loyal, or distanced myself from a particular brand due to celebrity associations. To me, it is more about the design and the quality. Sure, there are some brands to which I am more partial just based on their names, but there is usually a good reason their brands are associated with luxury: their superior products speak for themselves.

The funny thing is that I have found myself placing negative connotations to certain brands as of late. But not because of celebrities or pop culture. Rather, because of spam comments.

Yes, you read that right: spam comments. Because in the past month or so I have been getting tons of spam comments from people pushing (probably counterfeit) luxury brand items — more specifically, from Louis Vuitton and Christian Louboutin. As a result, I have noticed that whenever these two brand names come up, I cringe inside.

I am well aware that Louis Vuitton or Christian Louboutin has no control over these comments. But the fact of the matter is that these spammers have ruined these brands for this blogger, at least for the time being.

I can think of another example which dates all the way back to high school: a girl who used to bully me had a penchant for Prada bags. Because of this girl, I now associate Prada with painful high school memories and have no desire to own a single Prada item.

Again, Prada has had no control over this situation. It is merely due to my own personal experience that I choose to distance myself from this brand.

What about you? Are there certain brands that you are fiercely loyal to, or tend to stay clear of, due to personal experiences? Are you ever swayed by the products that celebrities use?