HW 29

“There is no solution to discovering cool you force cool to move on to the next thing.”  It’s a never-ending cycle that we continue to allow to repeat itself because we don’t have the self-control to stop it.  It seems as if we like the media in a weird way, that without them we wouldn’t be able to function.  Is it the fact that we are afraid to be ourselves so we constantly need the “advice” from those who know best?  However for a person who hasn’t necessarily caught on to this it isn’t what will look best on you or what will help you be a better person all around, it’s the product that will sell the best.  Then there is also the idea of being an “individual” the truth is no one is.  There isn’t one person in the world that is far different from the rest of us.  We are all just copies of one another.  Although we hate to admit it, in reality it’s the truth.  So when we find one person cool I am sure there is someone out there who is just like them, does this mean they are both cool or does that make them both uncool?  I think attention is nice as long as it is positive but it seems that most of the time attention is usually negative.  Do we do all of this to be happier people?  If the attention we receive is negative how can we be happy?  Corporations are funding us with the right attire to satisfy the arch type we live up too.  So in a way we are both doing each other favors we give them money they give us “happiness”.   

Then we need to address the question is it all just because of the thousands of ads we see on TV, billboards, the World Wide Web?  I think it has an affect on some people but personally I don’t know how much influence it has on me.  I think the place where I am most drawn into the medias trap is on the streets of NYC.  When you see someone up and close, they are real.  What we watch on TV is just another tool of manipulation.  They are not as real as the people I am surrounded by.  My mom was telling me recently how companies hire people to advertise their product without saying they work for the company.  They literally advertise the company in a non-chalet way and make it more personal.  I googled this type of job and information for college students looking for work came up. “For the Public Relations Student: Working as a secret shopper can be an interesting and unexpectedly fun gig. (Additionally, you often get to keep the groceries or other products your employer pays for you to buy.) Some companies hire secret shoppers to "work" undercover in their stores as shoppers, whereas other companies hire shoppers and send them out to different stores.” (http://collegelife.about.com/od/moneyfinances/a/offbeatjobs.htm) No longer are people listening to there TVs there is a new solution to making the money, manipulate people right under their noses.  Another tool similar to this is by sponsoring people; this is used in the skateboarding industry.  The companies give all there products to teens to ride around on there “cool” skateboards with their “cool” clothing making all the other people their age jealous.  This then inspires there audiences to go to these stores that sell the product that looks “cool” so that they can be just like the skating billboards. 

 If you think about it not only is it the companies involved in the manipulation it’s the government as well.  The government essentially makes all of these rules when in reality they are well aware they will be broken.  In many countries they have no drinking age or they drinking age is much lower than the United States.  The government claims it is because the brain is still developing but then why is it so much lower in other countries?  I’m assuming that when alcohol companies are trying to figure out ways to market their products to the world they also factor in the teen population.  Although the legal drinking age is 21 they are well aware that a lot of the profit comes from underage drinking.  This money goes right back to the government who are making the laws forbidding it.  Isn’t that a little strange?  I don’t know exactly how the saying goes but the whole idea of the thrill of doing something when you know it is really bad is much more fun than doing it when your allowed to.  I am more than sure the companies take this into account when marketing and maybe even work with the government.  The law is almost just another key part of the manipulation involved in making high school and college kids feel the need to look cool.  This is a sick country.

             Below is a song that is a complete advirtisment which includes: The United States of America always being a party (influencing people to move here = $$$$), Hollywood being this AMAZING place ($$$), Jay-Z ($$$ for him), Kicks aka sneakers ($$$), not feeling comfortable so trying to change to fit in (infleuncing all girls they need to do the same = $$$), Britney Spears ($$$) which all leads back to being cool!

Party in the USA - Miley Cyrus

I hopped on the plane at LAX
With a dream of my cargidan
Welcome to the land of fame access
Am I gonna fit in?
Jumped in the cab here I am for the first time
Look to my right
And I see the Hollywood sign
This is all so qrazy
Everybody seem so famouse! 

My tummy's turnin'
And I'm feeling kinda homesick
Too much pressure
And I'm nervous
'Cause when the taximan turned on the radio

And a Jay Z song was on
And a Jay Z song was on
And a Jay Z song was on

(Chorus)
So I put my hands up
They're playin' my song
The butterflies fly away
Noddin' my head like 'Yeah'
Movin' my hips like 'Yeah'
I got my hands up
They're playing my song
I know I'm gonna be okay
Yeah
It's a Party in the USA
Yeah
It's a Party in the USA

Get to club in my taxicab
Everybody's lookin' at me now
Like "Who's that chick with rocking' kicks she gotta be from out of town"
So hard with my girls all around me
It's definitley not a Nashville party
'Cause all I see are stilletos
I guess I never got the memo

My tummy's turnin'
And I'm feeling kinda homesick
Too much pressure
And I'm nervous
And the DJ dropped my favorite tune

And a Britney song was on
And a Britney song was on
And a Britney song was on

(Chorus)
So I put my hands up
They're playin' my song
The butterflies fly away
Noddin' my head like 'Yeah'
Movin' my hips like 'Yeah'
I got my hands up
They're playing my song
I know I'm gonna be okay
Yeah
It's a Party in the USA
Yeah
It's a Party in the USA

Feel like hoppin' on a flight
Back to my hometown tonight
Something stops me everytime
The DJ plays my song and I feel alright! 

So I put my hands up
They're playin' my song
The butterflies fly away
Noddin' my head like 'Yeah'
(Noddin' my head)
Movin' my hips like 'Yeah'
I got my hands up
They're playing my song
I know I'm gonna be okay
Yeah
It's a Party in the USA
(Na, na na na na na)
Yeah