HW # 29 Merchants of Cool

So What Exactly is the Problem?

Corporations have always manipulated people through marketing and at every age group. And the commercials try to make us feel dissatisfied with our lives and offer their product to help us out. Is it any different marketing to teens than marketing to old people(making them feel less sexy) or to children(get them the latest action figure or Barbie?) After thinking about the merchants of cool, I realize that marketing to teens is different. First, we're a huge demographic with a whale-load of money to spend(not me personally.) Second, we are in the buisness of developing our identities. We're not children and we're not adults. Advertisers can't help giving us materialistic values to identities they seem to think we have or want.

So What is he Danger?

The danger I guess is that the teenage time of life is an insecure time of peer pressure, trying to fit in, and getting self-confidence. Advertisers have the job of taking advantage of our fear of not fitting in and make us feel that buying the right stuff will make us one of the cool guys as defined by them based on what they think we want. Conforming to what everyone else does though is not most people's idea of cool. I think the idea is that corporations want us to believe that before we can even think about how we might distinguish ourselves as cool we must have certain products and dress in a certain way. I guess they are making us first stage cool. Then it's up to us. The scary thing is that for kids who can really get sucked into advertising(and its hard to avoid not getting sucked in to some degree) the identity being sold can get out of hand.

The "Midriff" girl who can only think about distinguishing herself by trying to get sexier and sexier with more revealing clothes. The Merchants Of Cool program says she can't even get in
perspective that she is being manipulated as a sexual object.

The Solution

Since it seems that right now there are only a very few(5) corporations trying to sell us their stuff, they will just get more competitive. The Merchants of Cool say that means they will "drag standard down." I guess that means more sex and violence. The answer I guess is to make us aware of what the advertisers game is and make us feel like idiots(uncool) if we don't think for ourselves.Also, we need to develop our own interests. I love playing soccer for example. I buy shoes that are best for my sport, not just buy what I see in ads(although you never see soccer ads with basic cable.)