HW 29- Merchants of Cool

This week in class, we watched "Merchants of Cool", a documentary (on PBS) about how corporations manipulate teenagers through their advertisements on what should be cool. The movie talks about what teenagers think is cool (back in 2001), and how corporations find what is cool form teenagers, and then market different types of cool so teenagers can market their products.It isn't a secret that companies are marketing directly to teenagers. In 2001, it was said that the average teen will process approximately 10 million ads by the time they turn 18. Imagine what the number is now. Corporations know what teens consider cool by hiring people to go 'cool hunting'. These people go through the process of finding cool teens that they think will be trend setters. Cool hunters are looking for the 20% of teens who don't seem to care about cool, but instead make their own style/ cool. By selling the pictures they take to major companies, they are hoping that this 20% will be trend setters for the other 80% that are waiting for the next big trend. The documentary brings up a good point about the process of cool. Once this new cool style is marketed to major corporations, how is it cool anymore? It is no longer about being your self, because everyone is trying to be cool like you in some way. By discovering a cool trend, the need to find a new cool is forced.