Merchants of cool.

Today we will watch Doglas Rushkoff’s documentary film “The merchants of cool”.   After the film is finished we will have a brief discussion about trends which the students have experienced which have become mainstream. Then we will setup the blogs (make sure you’ve decided on a domain name!), and you will be shown how to log in, and post images to your blog.

General Goal(s): Students will begin to see the connection between marketing, design, and the art of persuasion.

Possible Connections To Other Subjects: Seeing the role of Marketing in Design.

Homework: You must make one new post during the week on your blog with an image which inspires you. The image must be accompanied by a  brief description.

Think about these questions when writing your description.

Who made it?

Why did they make it?

For whom did they make it?

Related vocabulary terms.

Trendspotting

Cool Hunting

About the Film

They spend their days sifting through reams of market research data. They conduct endless surveys and focus groups. They comb the streets, the schools, and the malls, hot on the trail of the “next big thing” that will snare the attention of their prey–a market segment worth an estimated $150 billion a year.

They are the merchants of cool: creators and sellers of popular culture who have made teenagers the hottest consumer demographic in America. But are they simply reflecting teen desires or have they begun to manufacture those desires in a bid to secure this lucrative market? And have they gone too far in their attempts to reach the hearts–and wallets–of America’s youth?

FRONTLINE correspondent Douglas Rushkoff examines the tactics, techniques, and cultural ramifications of these marketing moguls in “The Merchants of Cool.” Produced by Barak Goodman and Rachel Dretzin, the program talks with top marketers, media executives and cultural/media critics, and explores the symbiotic relationship between the media and today’s teens, as each looks to the other for their identity.