Bear Grylls, from Man vs. Wild:
And now Dave Canterbury, from Dual Survival:
I suppose in a way this marketing trend appeals to magical thinking. Some primitive hunter-gatherer or warrior would want to possess a knife like that carried by a higher status and more successful male in his tribe, in an effort to share in that dominant male's superior mana. Consumer culture, where impressionable people want to buy the products used or endorsed by celebrities, reflects the same kind of reasoning. Though in the case of survival experts elevated into minor celebrities by the Discovery Channel, the knives they've franchised under their names have to function as tools based on their own merits, which distinguishes them from symbolic goods like, say, designer clothing.
BTW, Canterbury's quote:
I asked Dave what prompted him to pursue his own knife design after having worked with so many others. He told me that “A knife is the ultimate survival tool; it is the first item on the list of survival items I encourage people to carry, as it can create everything else in an emergency.”
reminded me of something Robert Heinlein writes in one of his "juveniles":
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