I think I get what shootingstar is saying.

I find the word "brand" when applied to human beings just sounds too impersonal and reductionist. Don't really know how to express this other than to say that to me, products have brands; living creatures are much richer and multi-layered than the word "brand" conveys. For some reason thinking of a person as a brand is as off-putting to me as treating corporations as people is.

Just my opinion...