“The Merchants of Cool” – Let’s Hear the Media’s Side...

In my opinion, I find it daunting how motivating money can be. “The Merchants of Cool” was a documentary aired on Frontline in 2005 and claims that teenagers are the hottest consumer demographic in America who, last year, spent $100 billion (Frontline, 2005).

It is important to note here that, AOL Time Warner, one of the biggest media conglomerates in the world, underwent a $165 billion mega-merger in 2001. The new company promises to offer a “powerhouse of integrated communication, media, and entertainment across all platforms – computer, phone, television, and handheld wireless devices” (Frontline, 2005) and will clearly have a huge impact on how we view mainstream media.

On a slightly smaller level, today’s youth often look to MTV. Through ethnographic studies, MTV literally goes out into the world and follows teens. “We go out and we rifle through their closets,” explains Todd Cunningham, senior vice president of strategy and planning for MTV. “We go through their music collections. We go to nightclubs with them. We shut the door in their bedrooms and talk to them about issues that they feel are really important to them” (Frontline, 2005). In this way, it seems that the media wants to know what youth care about, so that they can base their entertainment features on these topics.

Sounds innocent enough. But according to Miller, “The MTV machine doesn’t listen to the young so that it can make the young happier. It doesn’t listen to the young so it can come up with startling new kinds of music, for example. The MTV machine tunes in so it can figure out how to pitch what Viacom [MTV’s owner] has to sell to those kids…” (Frontline, 2005). Frontline correspondent Douglas Rushkoff sums it up wonderfully, when he stated, “Kids’ culture and media culture are now one and the same, and it becomes impossible to tell which came first – the anger or the marketing of the anger” (Frontline, 2005).