We watched a documentary called Merchants of Cool, and it discusses marketing towards teenagers. While it may be a little dated (like before I was even 3 years old), it still remains relevant in terms of how companies are selling us a lifestyle, and once it's marketed towards us it becomes "uncool". However, there was something in that documentary that I found was not true. The media is trying to sell teens, the next adult generation, a reckless lifestyle coupled with a careless attitude. Companies, in an attempt to develop a physchographic of teens to market towards, came up with the "mook" and the "midriff". The mook is a testosterone driven boy who are "arrested in adolescence", and value violence and savagery over being gentlemen. The midriff is a pre-maturely mature girl who sees herself as sexual object, and her body as well as looks are her source of power. I think these stereotypes are inaccurate portrayals of teens because the mook and midriff are only a small percentage of the teenage population. For example, most teenage girls I know are not like the midriff because they dress modestly, and have some self-respect. Also, surprisingly, most boys I know do not willingly put themselves in serious danger, and act like meat heads. The mook and the midriff are stereotypes designed to get closer to the teen population, and show that they "understand" them. In reality, they should be something for teens to rebel against because teenagers are more than hungry beasts who only take joy in violence and copious amounts of sex, they are capable of becoming intellectual and progressively open-minded citizens of society.
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| The midriff |
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| The mook |
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