In "Merchants of Cool", so-called "cool hunters" are featured. Cool hunters are marketers who, in search of the next "big teenage craze", attempt to scientifically research how and what to sell to the rapidly-growing teenage demographic. Cool hunters collect marketplace data about teenagers through exhaustive surveys, questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, and even personal visits at home. Of course, the goal of a cool hunter is to tap the teenage marketplace for about $100 billion a year (Rushkoff, 2001, internet). Moreover, the estimated size of this very large demographic -- about 33 million Americans -- makes it especially lucrative (Rushkoff, 2001, internet). Unfortunately, this type of siege by corporate America is forging an identity for teenagers that they may not desire, and forcing upon them a lifestyle of privilege that has a profound downside. Unfortunately, I see a corollary between the documentary, "Merchants of Cool", and my own life experience.
First, I feel that marketers, and the overall corporate attempts to exploit teenagers' by trying to figure out what is "cool", is immoral because these attempts do not allow teenagers naturally grow and experience life without being viewed as consumers of things that are defined by them as "cool". To me, being "cool" may have been important at one time, but it is no longer important. In a way, "being cool" may be a rite of passage for many teenagers. Unfortunately, it is, in actuality, not their first brush with relentless corporate interference and interference in teenagers' lives.
Even as children, I feel that I was a part of a target market. For example, much of the music and movies I watched as a younger child was geared towards consumption by a particular well-studied age demographic. Disney was a main part of my life as a young child. Movies such as Aladdin, merchandise such as clothing, as well as television shows/movies such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (and its merchandise) were always being sold to small children. I feel that there is something terribly wrong and immoral with these tactics. Although much of "Merchants of Cool" is somewhat outdated (as it was produced in 2001), it is relevant to this day.
For example, although I am young, many things are sold to my generation, specifically. It seems that corporations, such as Viacom, are so busy interfering with my generations' lives that it is obvious that all they care about is their profits. It is saddening because a lot of kids who are my age still "buy" into the idea of being cool, adopting things that are cool because other people, especially corporations, define what is cool. Personally, I think that ethnography studies are demeaning because they view teenagers (and youth, in general) as animals with money (Rushkoff, 2001, internet). On the other hand, I feel that many kids grow out of this period. However, many kids are so insecure about being who they really are that they "grow up" as adults who are preoccupied with being cool. But, being cool is a concept that is constantly changing (Rushkoff, 2001, internet). One of the problems is that large corporations do not honor people for whom they genuinely are, and they simply do not care. Even in 2016, this is true, and it appears that the marketing machine and corporate revenues play an even larger role in "shaping" the weak(er) identities of susceptible teenagers.
Works Cited
"Merchants of Cool". Dir. Douglas Rushkoff. 2001. Film.
