Expanding on Discussion Question 12- Self Destructive Ads/blog 9

In Making Cents out of Teens: Merchants of Cool, one discussion question from our packet stood out to me- it reads " What is meant by the remark by the remark that when an advertiser finally finds a cool ad, the ad will self-destruct?" Teens (ourselves) are constantly struggling to make ourselves different yet fit in. By making a trend, we make ourselves different but we also stand out- especially to marketing companies. Teens are an incredibly desirable market, and we account for around $100+ billion of total sales in the market. Advertisers are desperate to market to teens, and they have found that by getting the trends from teens, they can market to us best. So, there have been "cool spies" and experts on teens that are looking for the trends. However, this takes a long time to recover the trends and get deep into teen culture. So, once an advertiser gets hold of a trend, it is likely to become old and un-cool. Part of the makeup of a trend is its uniqueness and creativity- so once it becomes mainstream, part of the foundation of it is destroyed.

This is exactly what teens need to recognize- we need to establish our sense of identity that is separate from big companies. It is hard to do this when our privacy is invaded by marketing companies buying our information based off of our search history. Our whole identity as a teen is being compromised by advertising agencies looking to earn an extra couple of bucks. It has never hit me that everything I do on my phone is sold back to me. Our society has become so centered around money that we don't even allow our fellow humans to exist separate from their monetary value.