The Merchants of Cool gave a deeper look into how teenagers are marketed towards. I found it very interesting that some of the same techniques are still used today. Hip hop and pop music have an especially strong influence on many teens today, radio stations that are catered towards genres like this are played over and over in shops, festivals, some restaurants, etc. I've noticed that some bigger brand stores play certain pop songs so that you may associate that store with a particular song. Upcoming movie or show trailers usually also play popular songs to hype up their product. One thing from the documentary that stayed with me was the idea that all the marketing towards teen is done because we want it to happen. Which may be true to an extent since many teens are easy consumers and think similarly. A certain group of people would like a certain artist and see them as the best thing ever, that makes it easy to sell products where the artist is associated with it. Even a product that is seen with a lot of people can become popular, such as fidget spinners. Half of the people who buy the product probably don't even need it but their need for autonomy makes it easy to market it to the masses. Since the definition of cool is constantly changing, teens will keep going for the next thing that all the other kids have. However there is the other side of the spectrum, teens who want to be unique and stand out. Some achieve this by liking things that are older or not as popular, of course eventually even this becomes available to everyone so these types of teens have to keep bouncing around. So what is "cool", do teens make it, or does someone else make it to market towards teens?
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