There’s a new dress-code ruling the young urban woman today: low-hung jeans, skimpy body-hugging tops, mostly unkempt hair, a sense of abandonment. Vocabulary is more explicit. Drinking and smoking on the rise. Sexual activity, more frequent. Who or what is responsible for this?
There’s a constant influx of messages, images and information on youth channels like MTV and Channel [V] which promote this new culture. Not just the music videos. The presentation format has a lot to contribute. And, the advertising as well. In fact, much of the advertising on satellite television is targeted at the urban youth, telling them “this is who you are… this is what you should be doing.”
As a generation, are these women asking for more explicit material? Or, are the brands and advertisers ‘pushing’ a culture of a different set of morals?
“I don’t think you can escape it... It’s very hard to escape all the advertising,” confessed a girl to me, sporting a pair of low-cut Levi’s, a pink top, Nike shoes and the latest Samsung mobilephone. Her friend, looking gorgeous in the trendiest upmarket labels, told me, “Ads don’t make me buy something… They’re more for name recognition.” Later, she added with confidence, “Ads don’t sell me a product, only the name… And whether I go out and buy that or not doesn’t really matter. What I do… It’s my own choice still.”
“Do you ever think that maybe it’s not your choice? That maybe you’re just being programmed in some way?” I asked.
“No, no way,” came the straight answer. “We’re independent girls… forward-thinking. We have a mind of our own.”
“But I can see that whatever you’re wearing now is a well-known brand… a brand that is constantly advertised,” I pursued. “Why don’t you buy something without a known brand name?”
“What’s the point,” another girl answered, who was quiet all this while. “There are so many branded products to choose from. Why should I buy something without a name?”
Good point.
“We can buy whatever we want to,” the first girl added. “Do things that our parents haven’t done.”
“And, isn’t that the way to go?” asked the gorgeous one. “People want to see new things.”
Of course. At least, I knew, my years in advertising and marketing hadn’t been wasted.
2 comments:
welcome to Generation X!
i've tried to fathom, failed and given-up!!
"There’s a new dress-code ruling the young urban woman today...unkempt hair, a sense of abandonment. Vocabulary is more explicit. Drinking and smoking on the rise. Sexual activity, more frequent. Who or what is responsible for this?"
Haven't people been saying the above, in one form or another, since at least the 1950s, if not before? It's a generational issue: every generation thinks their "morals", music, manners and taste is better than the generation that follows it. Really nothing to do with Gen X or today's times...
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