The merchants of cool

Being a teenager is difficult. TV and music influence teenagers and send them messages about how they should be cool. But, who decides that? Who decides how to be cool?

In one hand, companies and TV want to sell their products because teenagers are a potential and big market to buy anything. When you watch TV, advertisments tell you that you are not thin enough or not pretty enough. They tell you clothes that you have to wear for being cool or how to smell. In the other hand, a teenager has to combine his own opinion with the opinion of his friends, TV, his favourite music groups.

Nowadays, there is a symbiotic relationship between the media and teenagers. It exists the example of MTV. This channel has TV programs and music videos for young people. The true is that these videos sell them a life style. Moreover, the companies monopolizes the system and that provokes that the same thing is sold by TV, radio, newspapers, magazines…because a big company owns different places where they can advertise their products.

And, where are adults in the media? In TV series, they show adultified kids that make their own decisions. In the documentary "The merchants of cool", they talk about TV series like Dawson's Creek or Buffy, the vampire slayer, where it's true that main characters are teenagers and they make decisions like if they were adults. In that way, they will decide how and why they spend their own money. But the marketing has to be attractive for them. For that reason, companies ask teenagers what they want and what they think it is cool or not.

Then, who decides? I don't know, because it's a vicious circle.