What is "cool"

In recent times, one of the largest targeted demographics for advertisement are teens. Teens are so important to large industries because if they find a certain product or brand to be "cool," then everyone will buy it. And for various reasons, many teens also have a decent amount of spending money. The goal of advertisement for teens is to target people like me. Even though I don't have a job or any way to make money for myself, I am usually able to buy things because my parents are willing to lend me spending money. This allows me to waste money on pointless things that I have seen in advertisement.

Teenagers are a good audience to target because if they find something to be "cool" it spreads like wild fire. There are so many teenagers who feel like they need whatever is "cool" which is why we all copy each other. An example of this is the iPhone. When I started to find phones appealing, it was not because I thought it would be practical or I thought it would make me safer, it was because all of my friends had iPhones. I thought it would be cool to have one because everyone else did. When I look back at how I felt, it seems shallow pointless. Just because everyone finds something appealing, does not mean it's better.

It's tricky to find something that teens like because what we consider "cool" frequently changes. Even though we are so challenging, teens are such an important consumer for big industries that people go to extreme measures to find what is "cool" for teens. In the video we watched in class, there was a group of people who made it their job to interview, photograph, and study teenagers so they could sell that information to companies. This information was so valuable to companies because they could use this information to create appealing advertisement.