Map: The United States of brands

Brands make the world go around. So, we were struck by this map built by Steve Lovelace at his “Maps of the Web” Tumblr. In it, he picks the corporate brand most closely associated with each state. Some of his picks are non-controversial — Starbucks for Washington State or LL Bean for Maine. Others — Apple for California, for example — are more so.

Lovelace clearly has an agenda — “My hypothesis is that, as corporations and non-governmental organizations grow in power, the power of nation states will become increasingly irrelevant,” he writes in a blog post explaining the map — but his map stands on its own as a terrific debate starter.