Chapter 1
In Chapter One, of Rice’s “Writing About Cool”, Rice begins by defining what ‘cool’ is. He associates it’s meaning with images like James Dean, Snoop Dogg and Madonna. All of these images carry the characteristics of ‘cool”, which are defined as independence and rebelliousness. Rice believes “when we say someone is cool, that normally indicates that we think highly of them or admire their cool traits”. At the end of the chapter, Rice briefly touches on ‘cool on the internet’, explaining that internet sites use ‘cool’ to attract hits.
Chapter 2
Chapter 2 begins describing the early internet including, the beginning of graphics with programs like mosaic, and early voices for the internet (the sort of hippie-internet revolution). He also describes Netscape, one of the first websites to use the word cool. Rice does an excellent job of conveying how cool language can attract different types of users. The word “sucks” is an example of a ‘younger generation’ word that Rice claims youth thinks is cool. Yahoo using “music that sucks” as a lure for young people to open that link, is a great example. The section on Youth, Design, and Cool Web Sites discussed websites use of linking, to say somthing about their own attitudes. For instance, Yahoo linking itself with Gap or Cool.com linking itself with MTV’s TRL.
Chapter 3
Chapter 3 on Advertising was my favorite chapter. Here Rice uses Thomas Frank’s Book, “The Conquest of Cool”, to relate how marketing campaigns use ‘cool’ for commercial purposes. “Frank demonstrates that cool’s association with rebellion and resistance to authority, are often used by advertisers to make potential customers feel they, too, are being rebellious when they purchase a given product”. Everything seems to revert back to being a rebel and advertisers use this idea to get their idea across. Another form of this is the ‘Icon’ used to project an image onto a brand or product. Rice explains icons like Madonna, Michael Jackson and Oprah Winfrey and the attitudes they carry with their names. He tells how the icon can facilitate brand name recognition.These icons can be used to sell by getting the customer to identify with the product on a personal level. Michael Jordan and Gatorade is a good example Rice uses to demonstrate this point. The last point rice explains it the Example of Nike. Associating Jason Williams (rebellious and tatooed NBA star) with their shoe. As a cool figure, he gives their shoe an appeal they otherwise would not have. “Nike’s lesson for cool writing involves a method for displaying iconic images in a persuasive manner”.
Chapter 4
Chapter 4 explained how cool is tied to teenage consumerism and the process of finding out teen attitudes with the intent of creating brands specifically to suit them. All of this is an attempt to take advantage of the teen culture and increase young teenage sales. The market is capitalizing on their need to identify. Rice’s reference to Sprite was also a good example.
Chapter 5
In this last chapter, Rice discusses the resistance to advertising. He defines interpellation as “teenagers identifying their attitudes with a product” and again reference’s Sprite as an example. Sprite’s “obey your thirst” slogan is in itself, a contradiction that still attempts to “trick “the consumer into believing that Sprite is what they want, and they will be going against something if they obey what they really want (Sprite). Sprite identifies itself with typical teenage attitudes. “Using cool to sell a product creates an identification between the customer and the product, an identification that tells the customer, ‘I am cool because I make this purchase’ “. Cultural Jamming was the next big topic of Chapter 5. It is the appropriation of advertising slogans ang images for resistance purposes. Subvertise.org was a contemporary cultural jammer cited. Adbusters are the”anti-cool” and direct specific attention to ads that highlight the concept of cool for commercial purposes. The last topic addressed was Critique. Rice claimed it as the basis for all writing and explained a bit about it. He says, “Cultural jamming teaches us, how to appropriate in a critical manner, how to reuse the tools of mainstream ways of thinking for alternative purposes”.
“The Merchants of Cool”
The video was a real eye-opener for me, revealing just how immune we have become. So much goes into investigating what will appeal to our youth today and there is no doubt that there is a direct relationship between cool and consumerism in today’s market. It seems as though they are waiting like wolves for the next big hook or addiction to hit today’s youth so that can mold and manufacture it. Teens today do not even realize how they are exploited or perhaps they do no care. Either way, the movie is great at shedding light on what is really going on the the industry.
