Since that initial ‘identity crisis’ in the 1980s, brands consistently targeted young people, their trends and sub-cultures as a goldmine of potential profit. Some trends lent themselves to this commercialisation more than others. Hip-Hop kids, as I have said, took pride in consuming and displaying affiliation with brands. It was therefore easy for brands like Nike and Adidias to target this audience.
The term Generation X, although previously alluding to those born after WWII, came to represent the 80s generation of young people who consumed with a sense of ‘ironic detachment’. For independently minded young people, it had got to a point where it was no longer possible to defy mainstream consumerism the way previous generations like the Teddy Boys, Mods and Hippies had done. Those sub-cultures grew from a desire for independence and self-created style. Now however, every new youth movement was picked up, remarketed and sold back to the consumer by major corporate brands. So instead, perhaps as the only method of defiance, young people began consuming with abandon but doing it ‘ironically’.
“…The tentacles of branding [reach] into every crevice of youth culture, leaching brand-image content not only out of street styles like hip-hop but psychological attitudes like ironic detachment…” (No Logo, 2000)
When Grunge came around in the 90s, the young followers were far more reticent, choosing to adopt vintage clothes and thrift store finds as a means to evade contemporary fashion and consumerism. Their blasé disregard for branding and advertising meant that from a brands perspective, they were an incredibly difficult audience to target.
Generation X
Since that initial ‘identity crisis’ in the 1980s, brands consistently targeted young people, their trends and sub-cultures as a goldmine of potential profit. Some trends lent themselves to this commercialisation more than others. Hip-Hop kids, as I have said, took pride in consuming and displaying affiliation with brands. It was therefore easy for brands like Nike and Adidias to target this audience.
The term Generation X, although previously alluding to those born after WWII, came to represent the 80s generation of young people who consumed with a sense of ‘ironic detachment’. For independently minded young people, it had got to a point where it was no longer possible to defy mainstream consumerism the way previous generations like the Teddy Boys, Mods and Hippies had done. Those sub-cultures grew from a desire for independence and self-created style. Now however, every new youth movement was picked up, remarketed and sold back to the consumer by major corporate brands. So instead, perhaps as the only method of defiance, young people began consuming with abandon but doing it ‘ironically’.
“…The tentacles of branding [reach] into every crevice of youth culture, leaching brand-image content not only out of street styles like hip-hop but psychological attitudes like ironic detachment…” (No Logo, 2000)
When Grunge came around in the 90s, the young followers were far more reticent, choosing to adopt vintage clothes and thrift store finds as a means to evade contemporary fashion and consumerism. Their blasé disregard for branding and advertising meant that from a brands perspective, they were an incredibly difficult audience to target.