Chapter one
This chapter was a chapter that begins to define the word “cool.” It begins to bring in the idea that cool is all about being young and hip and exciting. It is used to attract those who are young at heart, and young in body. Teenagers are the target of cool. People are also immediatly attracted to anything that is “cool.” Something new and different is always desired. The internet makes much use of the idea of “cool”
Chapter two
This chapter begins to describe cool in a little more detail. It identifies the roots of the ideals and attitudes on the internet. Many of the ideas and feelings expressed on the internet are actually extensions of the rebellious 1960’s movements. The move against the normal establishment was perfectly at home on the internet.
Chapter three
Chapter three focuses on the idea of cool and advertising. It shows how advertisers combine the idea of cool(for example attitudes and icons) with the intent of selling a product. Using the “clothestime” example, if someone can relate their shopping experience with breaking the law, then they enjoy their shopping experience more because it gave them a thrill. This was just one example of how advertisers bring in cool to their world.
Chapter four
This chapter really defines cool with the Youth culture. Teenagers have the most amount of spending opportunity in America. They have an almost 100% expendible income, and most are perfectly ready to blow it all. Advertisers have found the advantage of getting into the teenager’s lives and really showing them that they care, and that they are not alone. That there are many more like them.
Chapter five
this chapter plays off the rebellious nature of the human mind. It is full of theories that encourage people to rebel against the “system” of social norms and do what they want to do. By going against what people expect they are often tricked into seeing a new point of view and often believe it.
Merchants of Cool
This video was very prevelant in Chapter four from Writing about cool. it was all about market research done towards the teenage market. since consumerism is so prevelant with teenagers, it is almost impossible for any marketing ideology to get away from that part of the culture. Teenagers are the target, and older people want to get back to their more “Nostaglic” years. which makes “cool” a perfect target for consumerism. Unfortunatly, the desire to show rebelliousness to an extreme, leads to more and more exaggerated views of culture. Like the video says, each time a teenager sees something they relate to on tv, they try to be the extreme example of it. Then what they are doing is on tv, so they decide to go even more extreme. This leads to the debachery we are starting to see on tv and in our culture all the time. I think cool and consumerism should not be seperated, but ways to identify people with themselves without being extreme about it should be found.
