Alain de Botton: Like sentimental artists, brands try too hard to pretend everything’s rosy

At the root of some of the suspicion that business attracts is a trait that has long spoiled, and can be particularly well observed in, works of art. Luke Fildes was among the most respected English artists of the late Victorian period, illustrating books by Charles Dickens, painting the coronation of Edward VII and depicting moments in the lives of children and young lovers. He was – in addition – a profoundly sentimental artist.
The determining mark of sentimentality is a resistanc