Rationale – “Cool” Workshop
Marketers have utilized the concept of ‘cool’ to entice consumers, especially teenagers, for decades. Many have argued that since the 1960s, ‘cool’ has actually driven the modern consumption-based capitalist system. Stemming from the works of Joseph Health, Andrew Potter, Thomas Frank and Naomi Klien, I intend to identify the negative impacts of this desire to express oneself as ‘cool’ through ones consumption choices. Ultimately the intension of this paper is to explore the background research for a proposed media literacy workshop focused on the issue of ‘cool’ developed for youth between the ages of 14-15.
At the outset of this discussion, it is necessary to define the term ‘cool’. According to Health, ‘cool’ is at the apex of the modern social hierarchy. Individuals who rebel from the established norm or create an identity for themselves as non-conformists are recognized as ‘cool’ (14). Malcom Gladwell of the New York Times categorizes these individuals as “Innovators”, those who are the first to do, wear or use items in the introductory stages of trends (Gladwell, 5). Those considered cool have different tastes from the average person and think of themselves to be non-conformists. The co-option of cool in marketing strategies directed at teens is regular practice for corporate marketers.
Marketing to youth is by no means a recent phenomenon; since the 1960 marketers have identified youth as a valuable sect of consumer society. However, as the offspring of the baby boom generation emerge in to the consumer based capitalist life, they have been targeted harder than any generation of youth prior to them. Naomi Klien identifies 1992 as the first year since 1975 that the number of teenagers increased in the US (85). Perhaps even more worthy of note, was the size of their wallets; by 2000, teens had 155 billion dollars in disposable income (Health, 180). These facts combined led to the resurgence of marketing strategies in the early 1990s with an intense focus on brand identity development with an emphasis on ‘cool’. During this decade cool re-emerged as the engine for consumption on overdrive. Consumerism driven by buying patterns which are inspired by cyclical nature of trends that regenerate themselves by attempts to be on the cutting edge of cool.
Cool as a tool for appealing to teenage consumers is problematic in numerous ways. One issue being that cool is a cycle and when everyone is attempting to gain this status of cool through consumer goods they must continuously invest in new commodities in order to attain it. This behaviour lies at the root of the destruction of our natural environment as well as the exploitation of human beings in foreign manufacturing factories who produce the vast majority of these goods. Additionally, the very essence of cool is inspired by a need to be an individual and avoid conformity, which leads to a competitive social environment. The rise of competitive consumption among teenagers in the1990s was matched by a sharp rise in school violence and teens entering the consumer life (Heath, 180). Although, it is difficult to confirm direct connection between these two trends, the competitive nature of this social environment is likely to have contributed to such changes in teenager’s behaviour. Health and Potter suggest that it is not only advertising that provokes competition among consumers, in which individuals desire to acquire superior material possessions in an effort to reach higher social status earning the respect of (117). Michael Moore in his documentary Bowling for Columbine, argue that the competitive nature of consumer youth has led to the high rates of school shootings and other acts of violence. Health argues that this competitive environment undermines of the cohesiveness of society.
Marketers rapidly recognized individualism, in the 1960s, as instrumental in the practices of advertising. Thomas Frank demonstrates this in his book The Conquest of Cool he describes advertisers of the time recognizing this new trend as the “permanent revolution of capitalism”(89). Their new objective became appealing to consumers aspirations not only to be admired by those around them but also to stand out from the crowd (89). The Volkswagen campaigns of the 1960s provide an ideal example of such initiatives here, for the first time consumers were offered not only an alternative to the massive American-produced cars but a contrast to the “grotesque excesses” of the established consumer society of the time (Frank, 67). The Volkswagen represented a divergence from the norm and therefore promised to never go out of style. Consumers of the Volkswagen wanted to stand out or be a rebel. This urge is described by Health as an “intrinsically positional good”, or a means of expressing ones deviation from the ordinary Of course, these displays of individuality quickly fade away when the rest of society catches on and one is then forced to find something novel to purchase order to maintain the rebellious identity (Health, 13). This cycle of cool in a competitive consumer society is incessant.
Health and Potter discuss this phenomenon in their book, Rebel Sell. They explicate that the very root of modern consumerism lies in the belief that commodities “both express and define our individual identities” (Heath, 186). They describe this pattern as the “consumption trap” as our seemingly innate need to express ourselves as a unique and “authentic” human being requires us to invest in new commodities whose obsolescence is predetermined due to trends in the consumer market (186). Need to consume as a continuous form of self expression has lead to severe destruction of our natural environment due to the extraction of natural resources, the transportation and disposal of these commodities thanks to their planned or perceived obsolescence. Additionally, the mass production of these commodities in foreign markets exploits the workers who manufacture them by offering extremely low wages, demanding long working days and often exposure to dangerous chemicals (The Story of Stuff).
Richard Sennett noted that when people began to define their inner selves through outward appearance, the products they purchased began to acquire great meaning. However, people in western countries became more and more removed from the goods they purchase (Vanderbuilt, 133). This is problematic in that consumers are less aware of the production practices, which enable such products.
In the proposed media education workshop, I plan to explore the ways in which cool operates in youth culture and the negative effects the cycle of cool has on society. At several points in the workshops, participants will use the ideas they have developed to create their own media messages that comment on their perceptions of the effects of cool in their lives.
Works Cited
Frank, T. The Conquest of Cool. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1997.
Gladwell, M. “The Coolhunt”. The New Yorker. March 17, 1997.
Heath, J & Potter, A. The Rebel Sell: why the culture can’t be jammed. Toronto: Harper Perennial, 2004.
Klien, N. “Alt. Everything: The Youth Marketplace and the Marketing of Cool.” No Logo. New York: Picador, 2000.
Moore, M. Bowling for Columbine. MGM, 2002