2 paragraphs

What is “Cool”?

Starting in the early 20th century, cool increasingly shaped the lives of people. Specifically the teens have created a great market field that buy the idea of cool. For this reason, giant Media corporations have started to research the idea of cool in order to sell these ideas to the teens. In Merchants of cool, the people have mentioned the cultural blending between a product and a lifestyle. For example, Sprite has linked their product with Hip Hop, in order to make the product represent a lifestyle. MTV was the second corporation, which used Sprite and broadcasted it on TV. By externally synergizing, the two companies used their ideas to advertise their company with cool, which creates a huge market field, because Hip Hop in general is considered cool. The reason for this is that media companies such as MTV or the producer Dr. Dre have made the rappers and hip, cool. Again, teenagers, who then drink sprite, consider them very "ghetto" or "hip hop". Similar to Merchants of cool, No Logo explains the same concept, in which Nike and Tommy Hilfiger brought into the Hip Hop scene. Again, hip hop is the key area, which is considered cool. Tommy Hilfiger, for example, adapted their clothes to the Hip Hop scene, by making the clothes more “baggy”, because similar to the idea of Sprite, something that links to Rappers or ghetto is considered cool. The teenagers see these rappers as their "idols", who they look up to. By wearing "baggy" clothes, the appearance of the teenagers of close to one of a rapper; cool. The term is known as bro-ing; the adapting of a product to make it more “Ghetto/Hip Hop”. Both, the Merchants of Cool and No Logo seem to show that cool is the best and most efficient way to sell a product successfully.

By using the same method, both the Merchants of Cool and No Logo explain another way that companies use to sell their product; Brand Identity. This means that a company’s entire philosophy, and as a result their products are based on a certain lifestyle. In No Logo the company “Vans” is the best example, because they sell the ideas of skaters and snowboarders to the public sector. This means, that the company uses this concept to both advertise and make their company cool. Again, this leads into the mainstream that cool sells best, because teenagers base their whole life, meaning attitude and actions on being cool. In Merchants of Cool, companies identify themselves as cool, by using a product and connecting it to the company. The idea of the Midriff is the best example, describing this procedure. They take the “model”, which then leads into a standard for many teenage girls. By using this model like figure, the companies can sell products, using this idea. Teenagers buy these products, in order to feel more like their idols. This is the best method for companies to market their products, buy tighing it to an "idol". In general, the idea of "sex sells" is introduced by the companies, because again, this is one f the best ways to sell a product. The reason for this is that anything that has something to do with "sex" seems "disrespectful" and therefore is considered cool. Companies in general, use ideas or philosophies, in order to make the products more interesting and cool. Again, this is te best method to sell the products in the public sector.