CCDN 271

Assignment 3

"Make A Claim And Substantiate It"

As the generation of teenagers and adults grow, so does the material world among us. We are offered with an increasingly higher number of “branded” everyday things today, than we ever have been before. Our desires are not that of a simple everyday object. We do not seek for cheap and economical products, but would rather pursue the likes of an expensive branded trademark. My research will explore the psychology of teenagers when buying and selling, in order to discover how simple everyday things need to be “labelled” to bring satisfaction to this day and age. I will argue that in looking at my generation’s needs, rather than wants, expensive and branded everyday things are requirements in this generation. Beginning with Alissa Quart’s book Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers, this study will provide me an overview of the “brand” design movement critiquing the initial periods when trademarks evolved. 
I nominate Design Sociology and Anthropology - Youth as my intersecting theme as I feel that the evolution of the trademarks on everyday design has influenced the behavior of teenagers and adults to this day. The initial texts I will use for this is Creating Powerful Brands by Leslie de Chernatony (2011) and Quart’s Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers (2003). 

“...the blue jeans with the prominent Levi’s rivets, the watch with the hey-this-certifies-I-made-it icon on the face, your fountain pen with the makers symbol crafted into the end...Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding.” (Peters, 1997). 

Both of my claims are revolved around the everyday things that we as consumers buy. My claim is that in this generation, we do not seek cheap and economical products and that branded things are requirements in our everyday lives, regardless of the object. Alissa Quart states that “Todays teens are victims of the contemporary luxury economy. They have grown up in the age of the brand, bombarded and defined by name products and intrusive and clever advertising strategies.” (2003, pg.xvi). This is the main idea in her book “Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers” giving us an outline of her experiences with the evolution of the brand industry. 
In Chernatony’s book “Creating Powerful Brands”, he writes about why it is crucial to have powerful brands worldwide and states that brands are and “estimated to represent at least 20% of the intangible value of businesses on the major world stock markets.” (2001, pg 8). Due to marketingcharts.com, they conducted a research with 1000+ kids aged between 13 and 19 of mixed genders with a survey about brands. It resulted that 46% say “they are loyal to the brands they really like” (2007). The study consisted of brands such as Apple which resulted in Apple’s iPod is the brand “absolutely essential to teens.”

Chernatony, L. D. (2011). Creating Powerful Brands (4th ed.).

Oxford, UK: Butterworth-Heinemann. 

Quart, A. (2003). Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers.

New York, NY: Basic Books. 

Peters, T. (1997). The Brand Called You.

Retrieved from http://www.fastcompany.com/28905/brand-called-you

Attfield, J. (2000). Wild Things: The Material Culture Of Everyday Life.

New York, NY: Berg.

Teens Both Fickle about and Obsessed with Brands. (2007). Retrieved from

http://www.marketingcharts.com/television/teens-both-fickle-about-and-obsessed-with-brands-698/

Palmer, J. (2012). The balinghou.

Retrieved from http://www.aeonmagazine.com/living-together/james-palmer-chinese-youth/