The film shown today in class was very intriguing and really persuaded me to think that teenagers literally run today’s economy. In this day in age this world is all about marketing and a major part of marketing is the image that these companies put forth. This is a stubborn generation and image is everything. It is all about being “cool” and that is what teenagers today respond to. The video explained that sprite has obviously been an enormous company but has really blown up and continues to get bigger since they decided to market teenagers with a hip hop image. Corporations such as Sprite and MTV started realizing in order to market teenagers they really have to get to know them first. With hip hop and music in general being such a main focus of children it is no wonder there are so many commercials out there with this theme involved. MTV’s show Total Request Live or (TRL as many kids know it) has been one of the most popular teenybopper shows in the last few years. The reason for this is because it is on as soon as these kids are getting out of school and they get to vote themselves on which videos that they want on the top ten every week. This means that they hear what they want when they want. This show continued to grow since most teens are into to the same type of main street music, and still continues to grow until this day.
Furthermore, the reason kids are so stubborn in today’s world is because their parents let them get that way. If parents do not have enough time to spend with their children then they will feel guilty and give them money to spend on whatever they want. If these teens are simply getting money from their parents then it do not realize or care what it is worth. They see something and they want it no matter what it cost. This is exactly why large corporations want to target teenagers.
In addition to targeting teenagers companies are also targeting the sex of teenagers. With young teens it is all about SEX, looking sexy, acting sexy, just simply being sexy. This is what teenage girls want to be and who teenage boys want to be with. If you take a look around at teenagers in today’s age you will see it is undeniable true that sex sells. It is all over television, radio, internet, magazine ads, and is always getting not only teenagers attention but everyone’s attention.
In closing with teenagers being such an enormous part of today’s marketing helps beg the question; does media influence teens, or do teens influence the media? In either case the two are working together to consist of one hell of a marketing tool.
