The Relationship Between Media and Youth - Essay Sample

A team of research experts, psychologists, and marketing experts invest a lot of money, thought, and time when creating a commercial advert. Everything in an advertisement is subject to thorough intellectual engagement ; there is nothing unintended. In most instances, an advert is designed to challenge a consumer's lacks and intentionally convince the customer that the perceived inadequacies can be overcome by buying the product. Adverts and other television programs alter the thinking of a consumer by aligning it in favour of the brand. Advertisers adopt mechanisms designed to manipulate an identified group of consumers into a yearning to purchase a product or purchase more of it. The targeting of youth is one of the strategies whereby the teens; who constitute the most significant consumer demographic in the United States with a value of over 33 million, are targeted and influenced by various media houses.

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The documentary: Merchants of cool, depicts the symbiotic relationship that exists between the media and the youth. The two complement each other. According to Douglas Rushkoff, a Frontline correspondent, America's teen population is the largest globally. These teens do not shy off from spending money since they currently are among the greatest parcipants of the vibrant consumer market (Southgate, 13). As a result, several advertising agencies pay vast amounts to the marketing researches to comprehend the needs of youth. MTV's ratings were on the decline during the 1990s to manage the drop the company commissioned a market research. The research team visited youth's homes and asked them a series of personal questions based on their preferances and likes. The result of this excercise was an interesting one that ensured MTV successfully develop an image. They created two model images that both the female and the male youth could identify with (Southgate 42).

The Mook and the Midriff are a representation of youthful men and women exhibited in the media. They are self-absorbed and shallow individuals focused on personal satisfaction and outward appearances. The Mook is a young male who is sexually obsessed, brash, aggressive, and, rude as potrayed by MTV. His only concern in life revolves around his entertainment. The female counterpart to the Mook is the Midriff; a young woman obsessed with her physical appearance and making herself a desirable sexual object.

Her role, power, and place interlink to facilitate the attract attention (Sturken & Cartwright 48). These characters are a manifestation of the contemporary media culture that targets the youth and teaches that fulfilment is achievable through imitating what they see. Mook and Midriff are very prominent in media culture, they have successfully sneaked their way into the minds of youth, thus shaping their behaviours ( Frontline P.B.S).

Teenagers are often attracted to what they consider 'cool'. In addition to the creative image creation by MTV, marketing researchers opt for further strategies to increase sales. They actively seek out identified marginal groups or 'hunt' them using the cool hunters. They domesticate them through mass media and eventually make them part of the 'cool' group. Limp Bizkit, Eminem, and Insane Clown Posse are among the cool hunters( Frontline P.B.S). A cool hunter is a personality or an attitude that is manifested by respect or famous people. In The Merchant of Cool, a thirteen-year-old girl named Barbara develops an interest in the renowned pop superstar Britney Spears. The girl knows all of Britney's songs, watches the Idol dance during award ceremonies, and emulates Britney's mannerisms and physical appearance ( Frontline P.B.S).

Barbara's aim is to be noticed and liked, she goes out of her way to watch Britney's songs and keeps close tabs on all the stars does. Barbara then starts to reproduce and practice everything concerning Britney: talents, makeup, and personality. Barbara imitates Britney as she dances, and she tells the talent search agents that her ambition is to be a famous actor or model. Barbara attempts to sell off her acquired personality with the hopes of being signed at the agency. She is not successful, but she remains hopeful for she received praise, she now thinks that Britney's behaviour is worth perfecting and being adopted into her lifestyle.

From the documentary, it is evident that media researchers and corporates are actively involved in the creation of the youth culture. They are bombarding the youth with information tailored to manipulate their thinking and aligning them with what the corporates expect of them. Filmmakers refer to this as the 'feedback loop'; the child imitates what they watch on the media platforms. These media house, often observe youths, they gather all the relevant information about the youth; they then replicate the findings by creating images that will appeal to the child.

Qualitative research is a method used by communication scholars. It mainly used when study aspects that cannot be quantified. For instance, the meaning of our experiences, there is no way to quantify that (Culen & Gaspirini 6). Qualitative research comprises three methods: textual analysis, ethnograp hy, and historical research. The documentary Merchants of Cool, used ethnography as they conducted market research on American teens. Ethnography, reveal what experiences mean by immersing themselves in the day to day livelihood of the research segment (Culen & Gaspirini). The researchers of the documentary spent a significant amount of time living among teens and experiencing what the teens go through daily. MTV studies carefully the youth, they keep them on very tight surveillance in an attempt to understand what they like. MTV realized the need for a close relationship with teens. They realized that knowing what they want, what they do not like, who the youth are, and what goes on in their lives would make a big difference in the research findings (Southgate 63-67).

Historical research is a method that examines people, past events, and, activities. Scholars apply this technique when they are trying to understand the contexts of how recent scholars, such as Aristotle, formulated their ideas. The data used include; the original manuscripts of the documents, available drafts of famous scholarly works and, speeches of essential people that constitute primary data sources. Aristotle makes four assertions in his work concerning the communication process. First, the written marks are a representation of speech. Secondly, a statement as a manifestation of mental impressions. Third, spoken sounds denote the signs of an initial subjective reaction and lastly, spiritual prints that are similar to things that occur in reality.

This paper has successfully drawn the relationship between the youth and the media. The production phase of the documentary, Merchants of Cool, and airing, the understanding of the definition of 'cool.' In a manner that appeals to the teens. Merchants of cool are producers and advertisers who have successfully capitalized on teen insecurity. The use the perception of 'cool' to make their brands sell. American teens view up to 3,000 advertisements daily. In 2018 American teens spend USD 155 billion and managed to convince the parents into paying an additional USD 200 billion, for this reason, marketers are interested in dominating the youth market

Works Cited

Culen, Alma Leora, and Andrea Alessandro Gasparini. "Situated Techno-Cools: factors that contribute to making technology cool in a given context of use." PsychNology Journal 10.2 (2012).

Frontline, P. B. S. "The merchants of cool." (2001).

Southgate, Nick. "Coolhunting, account planning and the ancient cool of Aristotle." Marketing Intelligence & Planning (2003).

Sturken, Marita, and Lisa Cartwright. Practices of looking. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001..