Josh and I recently viewed a video on the PBS website titled Merchants of Cool. After viewing the documentary, I must say that I’m impressed with the research that has been done,and I would have to agree that pretty much the same concept of targeting teens is going on even after eight years. It may be unethical, but I think it was a brilliant idea for the advertising industry. The video basically explains how marketing and advertising industries target teens – the largest market available with the most expendable income. Some of the methods are a bit odd, and it seems that the trendsetters are being targeted and exploited.

The documentary focuses mostly on MTV and Sprite, two partners in one of the largest marketing campaigns in the world. MTV has maintained a very important role on the influence of yesterday and today’s generations. When it came to advertising, MTV went to great lengths to grasp the attention of teenagers, who in turn, had the attention of their parents. By grasping these teenagers attention, MTV has been able to grow and introduce new trends throughout the years by incorporating advertising into everything they do – music videos, sponsoring concerts and events, even in their reality TV. I still remember watching MTV and listening to pretty much all of the music that was featured in the documentary, so in a way I experienced some nostalgia (boy, do I miss it).

Targeting teens through such a large campaign has its consequences, though. As the video pointed out, there is a certain amount of “feedback” occurring with media and teens, where researchers find the small trends, make them big, convince bands to sell out, then let the trends die. The teens follow the trends until a new trend gets big, which was likely started by the people who were on the receiving end of bad humor. The beginning of this feedback loop is where most venues try to reach teens. They go to the teens themselves and find what just happens to be new; what trends are beginning.

After a new trend is found, it’s packaged and sold through channels that are catering to teens, namely MTV and Comedy Central. Everything from the commercials to music videos, or the crude humor that teen males find amusing, is packaged in a neat little visual identity. For instance, clothing trends are started by a few teens, then applied to bands, and resold to the masses. This is actually how MTV transformed advertising, by turning everything on the network into nearly subliminal ads.

In my personal opinion, I don’t think that these particular advertisers should be close to the audiences that they are studying, though this is the way that corporate media survives. I feel that teenagers today are acting more like adults with no responsibilities – if corporate media wants to mold teens, it would be a good idea to avoid molding them into the “mooks” or “midriffs” that were described in the video. One line in an interview struck a chord with me, when an executive mentioned that there is no stopping pop culture. I agree with him, but I don’t think that advertising should be pushing pop culture faster than it would normally evolve.

So what is your opinion on marketing to teens?  Would you consider this exploitation or catering to the masses?  How far is too far?

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