Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers

Rating:
Summary: Good concept, but not totally engaging
Review: Alissa Quart tackles an admirable and potentially fascinating subject in Branded, yet I was left feeling a bit disappointed after finishing the book. I personally found her writing style a bit stilted, and it seems like there is a lot of information and many observations, yet not so much in-depth analysis. The book itself is not extremely long, so there is definitely room for more expansion. There are countless examples of teen branding in movies, fashion, magazines, advertisements, etc., and the author touches on all of these and more, but somehow the book felt more like a bombardment of information than a nuanced analysis. I had pretty high expectations when I read this book (especially from the many positive editorial reviews available), but it was ultimately not as satisfying an experience as I would have hoped.

Rating:
Summary: Seduction of the Innocent
Review: Alissa Quart's "Branded" explores how America's youth are increasingly subjected to sophisticated but ultimately predatory forms of corporate marketing and branding. While the social reproduction of labor has been defined by capitalist requirements for many years, Ms. Quart amply demonstrates that the co-optation of today's youth has deepened and intensified. For many, the immersion in consumerism is so all-encompassing that it threatens to corrupt and corrode their mental self-images and possibly inhibit their ability to function as enlightened citizens.

Ms. Quart shows that the marketing tactics used are often invasive and unscrupulous, amounting to a sort of "corporate pedophilia" whose aim is to grow the corporate bottom line at the expense of childhood itself. Indeed, the author explains that whole classes of products (such as sexually-provocative undergarments designed for pre-teen girls) are unapologetically marketed to ever-younger children, thereby accelerating the pace at which children develop, perceive and interact with their surroundings. Ms. Quart blasts the justifications used by marketers to defend such indefensible actions and alerts us to the moral vacuousness that lies at the heart of the corporate agenda.

Ms. Quart argues that our children bear unmistakable psychological, physical and financial scars from this assault. Media-induced anxiety leads boys to steroid abuse and girls to anorexia; social acceptance is garnered by the flaunting of expensive designer clothes and accessories; class status is predicated by admission to brand-name colleges; and so on. The end result is a hyper-competitive, anxious and debt-ridden generation of youths who collectively are getting locked into the cycle of labor and consumption at a significantly earlier age than their predecessors.

It may be true that Ms. Quart's work depends heavilly on observations drawn from the ranks of upper middle-class society, but she has impressively succeeded in describing a phenomenon that has largely eluded others. The reader is impressed by the author's ability to synthesize scholarly research, pop culture, business information, anecdotes and first-person interviews to make her case. In short, this is original and cutting-edge research that should give inquisitive readers much to ponder.

I recommend this book to parents of teenagers (like myself) who want to understand more about the brave new world their children are inhabiting as well as to teenagers who want to critically deconstruct and reclaim their branded selves.

Rating:
Summary: Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers
Review: Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers by Alissa Quart is a disturbing expose over how the market has totally hogtied teens into buying expensive brands that they have no real need for. I am all for free eneterprize. However, there has to be some morals involved with this as well. To sell to children (teens are big kids) is revolting and very cheap.

Rating:
Summary: Fresh and Disturbing Take on a Rather Tired Argument
Review: I found it to be an excellent read, and I'm considering using some excerpts from it to spark writing and discussion in a basic writing class that I teach--a class where I'm always concerned that the readings I use are immediate, accessable and read well.

Although the book's subject is the way that companies market to teenagers, in a sense this is only a subset of the author's larger concern with capitalism and consumer culture. She obviously has a left wing take on this subject, although I disagree with earlier reviewers that her presentation is manipulative or unfair. The issue isn't whether or not companies fill a demand (obviously, they do), but about the lengths to which they go to create that demand. How you feel about this obviously depends on your politics, but Quart's viewpoint seems to me to be reasonable and valid.

My problem is that this argument is just sort of tired. I'm just bored of hearing the same critique of "consumer culture" over and over again. What sets this book apart, though is its focus on marketing to children, and, in particular, the passages where Quart presents the kids' lives through their own words. It's pretty disturbing to hear how closely they identify their own self-worth with the products that they use. I'm not just talking about the idea that they have to conform to a certain image in order to be beautiful--again, this is old news. But about how the almost BECOME the brand that they use. When a teenager named Carrie, a fan of MTV's "Total Request Live" describes her loyalty to that show and to the marketing she does for The Backstreet Boys by saying, "I like the Boys as much as my friends and family"--well, there's something really disturbing about that.

Rating:
Summary: Good examination of consumer culture
Review: Quart does an excellent job of disecting the corporate world's exploitation of children and teenagers. This book could have been just another indictment against advertising, but Quart examines multiple aspects of brand-mania. I especially liked how she includes a chapter on "brand-name" colleges and universities (this is not just about sneakers and jeans, folks). I do have a few criticisms. As some other reviewers pointed out, she mostly interviews upper class teens. Young folks who can't afford to buy Gucci and Prada won't see themselves in this book. Quart also engages in some handwringing over the poor innocent children (see the chapter on teen authors), which I think was a little insulting. Overall though, I recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Anti-business propaganda desguised as sociology
Review: 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 contents is concerned, the may 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 do and have what other teenagers did and had. Throughout the first chapters, the author vomits the anger at not being able to have and wear the labels that what she regarded as 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 perspcetive this books may be analysed is one of its 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 dicourse are better served by getting Noami Klein, of Germaine Greer, or any other left-wing, socialist writer - at least, they read garbage that may be enjoyed.



Rating:
Summary: Interesting examination of consumer culture
Review: 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:
Summary: In the words Mickey-D s- "I'm Lovin It!"
Review: 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:
Summary: only half the issue is examined
Review: While this book has a lot of sound principles about how youth are bombarded with messages to buy buy buy particular status-laden brands, I felt a lot of the data was manipulated to support the author's theory.

For instance, she cites Katherine Newsome's book No Shame in My Game, about how teens take low-paying jobs in fast-food industries to pay for these status symbols. However, the rest of that book (which I highly recommend, by the way) goes on to say that a lot of people chose to work at those jobs rather than go on welfare --- even though they would have gotten more money from welfare - because it gave them self-esteem to work for their money, a positive social network among their coworkers, job experience, and, for some, a chance to break away from their gangs.

She tells how schools have contracts with Pepsi and Coca Cola, so that their drinks are sold in vending machines and ads are put up in the hallways. This is not done primarily to brainwash kids about the product, but to raise money for the school for basic supplies and repairs. Believe it or not, a lot of schools don't have everything they need to adequately teach a growing number of students. I once spoke with a board member for a school in DC whose windows were sealed with duct tape (as well as problems with the boiler) and the city did not reply to their complaints till they had a news crew come film it.

Maybe Branded could have done itself one better by examining more how the obsession with objects stems from loneliness and disconnectedness (hence the need to brand oneself and create an identity through labels). She speaks of teenaged girls and guys wanting plastic surgery and being accompanied to the plastic surgeon's office with parents. But what is the real dynamic behind all that? Why have the girls been asking for implants since age 13? We know they have seen Britney and crew forever, but why haven't parents, other relatives, counselors, teachers, etc - people they actually know --- helped them see beyond all that and have a stronger sense of self? THAT was the book I thought I was going to read. I feel this book did only half the job of looking at why things are worse than ever in terms of materialism.

Brands have been and always will be out there - it's the degree of importance that we attach to them that is the real issue. Is it appropriate or is it taking over our lives? You can only answer that for yourself, I guess.