In her first non-fiction text, Alyssa Quart argues that teens and tween get easily manipulate by corporations to buy unnecessary products. They go and purchase products that are being announced on TV or products that their friends have in order to "fit in".The corporations now look at the teens and tween as their number 1 consumers and try to appeal to them to sell their merchandise. Since the 1950s corporations have been advertising to children, like when TV first came out they made kids persuade their parents into buying them a TV. Now a days there are trend spotters which are teens who tell famous magazines and corporations what is in style and what is not in order for them to be able to get the teens attention. She explains how brands are advertise so much that kids poke fun at each other is the brand they have on their bag is a rip off, and how now even their underwear has to have a brand on it. She states that brand advertising keeps growing and growing that kids want everything bigger and better, sometimes they want to look 10 or even 12 years older than what they really are. Also she compares how parents, especially moms, get easily manipulated and buy these products, they buy it for their kids because they asked for it or even for themselves because these name brands they feel makes them look 10 years younger. She says that these corporations are not only involved with persuading teens to buy the best clothes, handbags, or make up but also by telling them they need to have the best party, which can cost up to $300,000. These marketers sell more with their peer-to-peer method which is that a teen talk to her friends about the brand of product she has and in a way persuades her friend to want it to and go out there and buy that products either being Avon or Mary Kay. Alyssa Quart points out how the marketers or corporations use these teens to make money off of them and how name brands influence teens to not have an identity of their own.
Questions
Clarification- Do you think the trendsetters get bothered with the fact that the marketers are only using them to get money out of them and their friends?
Application-Would you yourself become a trendsetter? Why?
Quote
"The standard "pretty and popular" refrain has changed. Now teens judge one another more for the brands they wear and how much money they or their families have"(pg.14)
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Clarification:
ReplyDeleteI don't think they are bothered by it, I think they see it as a compliment. The trend spotters don't even notice that they are being used by these corporations. These teens see it as a compliment and like that there is someone out there that listens to them.
Application:
If I were to become a trendsetter, I wouldn't be a trend setter with fashion but with things that are more significant. I would be a trend setter because it's like being an example or role model to someone, teens listen to trend stetters to be updated on what's "in".
Clarification:
ReplyDeletei dont think trendsetters are bothered by this aspect because they are unknowledgeable of being manipulated by corporations.They see it as a step up for them and they take something, make it fashionable, and others follow that trend if it looks worth following.
Application:
I am a trendsetter and i dont see it as negative as it has come to be. A trenndsetter is an originator of a trend, which also means an role model or person who starts things off.I would continue being a trendsetter because it makes me a look up to person and i can convince my peers to do things that is positive for the most part.
Excellent work Mayra and keep it up! I think it is interesting what you point out in terms of Mothers buying expensive brand names for their daughters. I do thik sometimes that moms try to relive their lives vicariously through their teens and as a result feel pressure to both look like their teenager and try to buy her the latest fashions as a reflection of how good a mother she is. Ms. G
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