DigitalSandbox

I’m not sure when this first aired, but The Merchants of Cool is very good documentary on how marketing is affecting teens. I watched this documentary today in my e-marketing class. It is basically a study of how teens are marketed to and to some degree about the effect this is having on our society. All I can say is that it paints everything you see happening in the media in a new light.

It is really disturbing to see what is being pitched at these kids. These kids see these messages day in and day out. They are constantly bombarded with how they should look, act, and dress. Sex is being thrown at them in their music, TV, and movies because, “that’s what they talk about.” The culmination of all this a giant feedback loop. The marketers portray some product of how they should act, then the kids mimmick these actions and the marketers feed them some more of it, but a little more charged and the cycle repeats.

Can this possibly be good for society as a whole? Where do they take it when they have pushed it as far as they can? How do I raise my kids to be above this garbage when they will be around it more than me…?