Youth Culture is Dead
Youth culture is extremely manufactured. The clothes we wear, the music we like, and the products we use are all majority products of mainstream media pushers.
For example, the modern mom jean trend has picked up speed in the past year, but these pants were showing up in thrift videos on YouTube and on the runway in 2015. The only reason the trend has become so popular is because all the big name stores brought it to the common folk. Next thing you know, mom jeans are in Pac Sun, Top Shop, Macy's, and Old Navy. The trend that is supposed to be so different and new is sold in almost all the main stores that all sorts of teens shop at. Thus, the mainstream stores have created a norm for our so called "youth culture."
For example, the modern mom jean trend has picked up speed in the past year, but these pants were showing up in thrift videos on YouTube and on the runway in 2015. The only reason the trend has become so popular is because all the big name stores brought it to the common folk. Next thing you know, mom jeans are in Pac Sun, Top Shop, Macy's, and Old Navy. The trend that is supposed to be so different and new is sold in almost all the main stores that all sorts of teens shop at. Thus, the mainstream stores have created a norm for our so called "youth culture."
The radio is also another huge culprit of why there is no such thing as a un-manufactured youth culture. Although it's now illegal, many labels and promoters still pay radio stations to play their songs. This means the ones with the money are paying to have that same annoying song played 42 times a day on one station. The constant repetition is an attempt to make you like, share, and buy the song, all while the record companies are rolling in your dough.
Various brands also use social media influencers to promote their products, taking away any slight chance at originality in the youth culture. For example, many teens and young kids watch YouTubers who start gaining popularity through their own luck with the tides of likes and dislikes of the general public. However, companies swoop in and use these people as tools in order to get more promotion for their products. One beauty vlogger named ilikeWeylie, posted a video at the end of last year about her car, as well as a promo for a Ford hybrid car. Using popular figures as tools for promotion is just one more way that brands can control and have heavy influence in the products we use. If people don't see your product, they don't know it exists and therefore don't use it.
I totally agree. I love watching YouTube videos on my free time. In the last couple of years, every video starts of by saying, "This video was sponsored by..." They then go on to talk about a certain product and the brand for a whole minute or two trying to pitch it to viewers while they have their attention. Like you said, companies know these You Tubers have our attention and get them to work for their company for an amount of profit. They tell us information that is cool and "loved by" the people we watch. We then follow in their footsteps in order to fit in with the teen culture until it changes again. But is there really that teen culture if it is being told to us by others? I don't think so. I like to believe I am an individual with my own style and quirks but when i really look around, I can find the same thing in someone else. We all get our ways from others. We copy and paste whatever is "cool."
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