Authentic Subculture? Not So Much.

It is hard to say what is authentic about our teen subculture because we are constantly changing our standards about what is socially acceptable. The more we are revealed to on television and through ads, makes us more susceptible to believing its okay. We are constantly building off of other culture items because of the American mindset that nothing is ever good enough. It is because of this that I do not really think we have much that we can call our own, strictly because everything that we have will eventually be transformed into something bigger, better, and or just more ridiculously outrageous so that we as Americans can keep highering our standards for the next big thing. This idea frustrates me because I wish I could be able to talk about what is truly authentic about the culture that I live in, but it is more complex than it seems. Advertisers only listen to us as teenagers to benefit their companies, and develop the next new thing, or build off and advance of something that is already probably fine as it is. All of the authenticity about our subculture just relates back to the standards that we create for society.

A Sad Reality

This is definitely a valid statement to make, and it is sad that they do only listen to us for the better of their product. Advertisers research people just so they can produce items that will sell and be popular. They want to know information about us not because they are interested in our generation as people, but to gather information on whats hot and what they can produce to become a hit. Since teenagers spend so much money, advertisers use us to figure out what their next product should be. In this generation, nothing is ever good enough, something always has to be bigger and better so the validity of this statement is sad, but also comepletely true.