Cooler than a Polar Bear's Toenails

In class on Monday, we watched part of the Frontline documentary The Merchants of Cool. The film focused on what corporations have to do to keep up with ever-changing youth trends. Or, in the case of Sprite, become part of the trend itself. What amazed me most was the hyper-conglomeration of the market. Huge conglomerates like Disney and Viacom own 4 of the 5 companies that sell 90% of the music in this country...Honestly, I just don't care this week. Usually giant corporate conspiracies are right up my alley, but I'm trying to get my seminar paper done, and this just isn't on my radar right now. Yeah, so 5 companies own everything. We already know that. They have focus groups to find out what we want so that they can sell us something they already have prepackaged, but tell us it's actually what we want. The trendsetters don't care what's on MTV or what jeans are "so cool" right now. Do you think that kid in the gas mask gives a shit what Rupert Murdoch tells him is cool? Of course not. As soon as the marketing departments of these huge companies latch on to something and make it cool, it's not cool anymore. The gas mask kid will be on to something else. The media sells caricatures like the "midriff" and the goofy white guy, and the ghetto black kid, and people buy it. They believe that's how they're supposed to dress and act. You can't be cool unless you have the Ecko jeans and the Phat Farm hoodie, and some Lugz. Individuality through mass consumption--what kind of crazy shit is that? Whatever. Be yourself. Fuck what they say. That's what I say. Focker, out.