Overhauls of 'heritage brands' raise the question: How important are our products to our identities?

abcnews.go.com:

A spate of iconic rebrands in recent weeks have left some people reeling in a consumerist society where what we buy says a lot about who we are

LONDON — When Katja Vogt considers a Jaguar, she pictures a British-made car purring confidently along the Italian coastline — a vision of familiarity that conveys “that dreaming, longing feeling we all love.”

She's not sure what to think about Jaguar now after the 89-year-old company announced a radical rebranding this week that featured loud colors and androgynous people — but no cars. Jaguar, the company says, will now be JaGUar. It will produce only electric vehicles beginning in 2026.

And say goodbye to British racing green, Cotswold Blue and black. Its colors are henceforth electric pink, red and yellow, according to a video that has received backlash online. Its mission statement: “Create exuberance. Live vivid. Delete ordinary. Break moulds.”

“Intrigued?” @Jaguar posted on social media. «Weird and unsettled” is more like it, Vogt wrote on Instagram.

“Especially now, with the world feeling so dystopian,» the Cyprus-based brand designer wrote, «a heritage brand like Jaguar should be conveying feelings of safety, stability, and maybe a hint of rebellion — the kind that shakes things up in a good way, not in a way that unsettles.”

Jaguar, a sturdy symbol of British tradition and refinement, was one of several iconic companies that announced significant rebrandings in recent weeks, upending a series of commercial — and, yes, cultural — landmarks by which many modern human beings sort each other, carve out identities and recognize the world around them.

Campbell's, the soupy, 155-year-old American icon immortalized in pop culture decades ago by Andy Warhol, is ready for a