- ISBN13: 9780738208626
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
An incisive exposŽ of the underhanded advertising initiatives that target teens-and an exploration of their disturbing consequences. Generation Y has grown up in an age of the brand, bombarded by name products. In Branded, Alissa Quart illuminates the unsettling new reality of marketing to teenagers, as well as the quieter but no less worrisome forms of teen branding: the teen consultants who work for corporations in exchange for product; the girls obsessed with cosmetic surgery who will do anything to look like women on TV; and those teens simply obsessed with admission into a name-brand college. We also meet the pockets of kids attempting to turn the tables on the cocksure corporations that so cynically st… More >>
Branded: The Buying And Selling Of Teenagers
Comments
I have worked in the marketing world for many years, and specialize in marketing to the youth culture. I have a hard time reading a book that was written purely upon opinion (there is an entire chapter dedicated to “Media” and the author ends up discussing her favorite and least favorite moves of the 80′s??). Let take a moment and asks this generation what it thinks about companies marketing to them. I have a feeling you will find that most appreciate that fact that their thoughts and creative ideas really matter. It appears this author has been hurt in the past by people who were more popular than her, and this is her way of lashing out (woe is me, woe is me, I won’t give into being branded, seems to be her only point)
Might I remind the author that if it was not for large companies taking the time to listen to Teens and Tweens our economy and country would be in a far different place?
Overall the book is shallow, and a waste of time, I would recommend not wasting your money.
Rating: 1 / 5
There are two different ways in which this book may be rated: firstly, from the perspective of its contents, ideas, and accuracy – secondly, from the perspective of being an interesting read. On both accounts, the books scores one star at best.
As far as content is concerned, the main idea of this book revolves around the frustration the author has carried from her teenage years into adulthood in terms of her lack of financial resources to have what other teenagers had. Throughout the first chapters, the author vomits her anger for not being able to have and wear the labels her cool friends had and wore. This can only be described as resentment – she was not making a choice; rather, she could not access what she wanted. The rest of the book is dedicated to criticizing what marketing does, which is undertanding the needs and wants of consumers. From this perspective, we may also argue that businesses are trying to satisfy a demand, and that consumers are willing to pay a premium for having such demands met. However, the author pushes a left-wind agenda and interprets such a marketing approach as “exploiting” consumers. From then on, the books delves into a never ending tirade.
The second perspective this books may be analysed from is one of entertaining value. The books also scores a “fail” – in the pursuit of relent criticism, the topics are analysed in a very boring fashion.
Prospective readers trying to read some sensasionalistic, tabloid-style discourse are better served by getting Noami Klein, of Germaine Greer, or any other left-wing, socialist writer – at least, those authors write more stylish and fashionable nonsensical garbage.
Rating: 1 / 5
“Branded” definitely supplies a great deal of information, but Quart seems to fail in synthesizing this information for the reader. Granted, it is fairly easy to understand the points she is trying to make, but she fails to coherently state these points in a memorable fashion. The book is filled with endless examples and statistics, but it is lacking in overal argumentation. She seems to allow the facts and the stats to speak for themselves, without using them to prove specific points. The book is an endless supply of premises, with very few conclusions.
However, I did learn much from this book, and the chapter on teenage plastic surgery was quite shocking and disturbing to me.
Overall, I do recommend this book, if you are able to draw your own conclusions from the facts provided.
Rating: 3 / 5
What I’m lovin’is books like this. The message that consumerism is attacking the younglings of this country and turning them into faux-yuppies who end up broke or depressed couldn’t be more true. Ms. Quart gives a much needed “shout-out” to all the nerds out there who’s skin is tough enough to resist the marketing machines that permeate the all important kingdom of youth. This woman is one smart cookie and is able to give us delightful jaunt into part of our culture that many of us try to avoid. Some people will drive past a dead cat lying in the road and think, “Hey, it wasn’t me that hit that dead cat…”
Alissa Quart tells us,”Hey THERE IS A DEAD CAT IN THE ROAD! SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING!”
Great book.
Rating: 5 / 5
Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers by Alissa Quart is a quick and fascinating read on the current and constructed intersections between young people, the media and popular culture, corporate agencies, and consumer culture.
What struck me most about Quart’s analysis is how RELEVANT it is. Unlike many books published today, the research, reference, and anecdotal material in Branded (published in 2003) is very recent and does not rely too much, or at all really, on the 1990s.
Two shortcomings of the book were the chapter on Self-Branding (I felt Quart could have done more with body piercing, for example) and the last few pages (her final analysis could have been stronger). Despite these weak spots, Quart clearly did her research.
Branded is an interesting and even fun read suitable for parents, teenagers, and educators alike. As a teacher myself, I will definitely refer to it in the future.
Rating: 5 / 5