"Identity myths are useful fabrications that stitch back together otherwise damaging tears in the cultural fabric of the nation. In their everyday lives, people experience these tears as personal anxieties. Myths smooth over these tensions, helping people create purpose in their lives and cement their desired identity in place when it is under stress.
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Over time, as the brand performs its myth, the audience eventually perceives that the myth resides in the brand’s markers (e.g., its name, logo and design elements). The brand becomes a symbol, a material embodiment of the myth. So as customers drink, drive, or wear the product, they experience a bit of the myth. This is a modern secular example of the rituals that anthropologists have documented in every human society."