Self-branding exercises frame profit-seeking as the discovery of an authentic self.

Evidence

In practice, most self-branding books and seminars begin with a series of exercises to define the personal brand, suggesting that everyone has an easily monetizable passion that needs only to be uncovered. … These exercises imply that the reader is excavating a true, authentic self to present to an audience. Of course, the reader is “uncovering” only potentially profitable interests. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 496

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Goffman’s performance theory and the sociology of authenticity, and to the reader’s existing work on staged identity. — connects to: BarCamp’s framing as authentic hinged on excluding profit motives — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 162; Self-branding treats the self as a salable commodity marketed to employers — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 418; Self-help gurus script acceptable affect for self-branding, naturalizing and gendering it — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 510 (+4 more)