Merchants of Cool

Brandy Zeng
May 25, 2017

Merchants of Cool is a video describing how our generation is obsessed with what is "Cool" and since they have money to spend, they are able to purchase clothing and items that they believe are cool. It describes how advertising works. For example, it describes how the sprite commercial isn't even really advertising it's own item, it is actually just showing figures that they think are cool and will appeal to the younger generation so that the item will appeal to them. Advertisements also feature famous people like sports players or celebrities to get people's attention in order to focus on the item. The Midriff represents girls and how they are overly sexualized and the Mook represents guys and how they need to be manly and strong. This relates to what we were talking about last week in lecture, about the automobile industry and how it sexualizes girls in a fashion that makes them an object that men can "own" and will make men seem manly because it shows that they have control- they can change the girl into the way he wants, just like the car.