Since the 1960s, the way in which advertising speaks of things has changed profoundly. From the classic praise of the quality of objects, we move on to the description of the form of life that an object makes possible - until the object advertised in the claim almost no longer appears (as in the emblemac cases of Nike and Apple). This revolution is both theoretical (because it concerns the theory of marketing and the self-awareness of advertisers) and practical (because it has profound consequences in the construction of the advertising image). The key to this revolution is the concept of lifestyle, created at the end of the 19th century by Simmel and Weber and taken from marketing theory thanks to the intuitions of Philip Kotler and Sydney J. Levy. The conference aims to reconstruct part of this story and dwell on the logic of iconic recognition that it has made possible. It is thanks to this revolution, in fact, that we have learned to say "I" through an image.