It's a vicious circle

I've watched "The Merchants of cool" twice: once in my "Media and Youth" class with Heather Wallace at Dawson College and a second time during my first year of university.

I don't define myself as a "cool" person and I don't think that cool hunters would come see me EVER! I'm a very ordinary, simple, and natural girl and I would consider myself to be part of "the late majority who plays it safe." I don't spend a lot of money compared to some of my "cool" friends and I really have to think twice before I buy something expensive.
However, I do wear brand names and if I had the money I would probably spend more time shopping and trying on different styles.

I went shopping over the weekend at the same kind of store I always go to. I tried on a top and it looked pretty good. I wasn't too sure about it because it kind of made me look pregnant. The saleswoman kept telling me that I shouldn't worry, because it's going to be in fashion this summer and EVERYBODY will look pregnant with me. Then I asked myself: do I really want to be like evrybody else? No! I'm different. But again...I am not. I am surely not the only girl shopping at that store, so there must be plently of other girls out there who look just like me.

Then I thought, if EVERYBODY is going to wear the pregnant style this summer, it is probably because all the stores will have it in stock. Therefore, I won't be able to find anything else different.
So to the question "Do you think that maybe it's not your choice, that we are being programmed in some way?" I say: it's a vicious circle.
Even when it comes to explicit material in the media. It's there, we consume it. Since we consume it, we give ratings, consequently they give us more, then we consume it, they make money, hence they give us more.
I have a choice to not buy the top, and instead go to Jacob and buy myself a plain regular white t-shirt. I have the choice to turn off the TV; to switch channel. I have the choice to buy a certain record or not and encourage certain artists.
But in the end, to get more choices, whether by acquiring satellite radio or TV, sometimes means more money. And when one spends more money for something more expensive, then we are considered to be "cool."

It's a vicious circle.

Here is a URL where you can find interviews with cool hunters, Eminem's Grammy controversy, and comments from teenagers on the documentary and the cool culture.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/

culture jamming

You have a mac I have a PC. We are different.As a matter of fact, as carducci explains in his article Culture Jamming: "in postmodern consumer society, brands are said to represent a kind of authenticity; they are part of a consumer's self-identity, indications of a self-appointed claim to a certain position in the social system."
You have a mac, I have a PC...who's better? What's your personality? Who are you? Are you defective? Am I?
Here is an ad in favor of macs that defines who you are. Maybe I should get a mac...after all i am an artist.





Now, if we continue with what Carducci says, culture jamming is the attempt to get at the authentic nature of goods, in order to pass sovereign judgement over them.
You have a mac, I have a PC. But aren't ALL computers doomed to fail us at some point? A computer is a machine, it's electronic pieces put together, and no matter how extraordinary the new technology might be, no matter how revolutionnary, the bottom line is: there is no one perfect computer out there. The truth is ALL will eventually fail us. The jammed ad below tells us that that mac's grandiose turn in technology will probably blow up in your face at your most glorious moment.