Some More on Cool

Last week we never really got a chance to discuss the readings nor the cool hunt that we all went on, but I have my chance to develop my thoughts here. I think that Jeff Rice's next few chapters in his book about cool and the cool hunt are very interesting and thankfully, enjoyable to read. Never before did I think that cool played such an important part in not only business, but also our culture and Rice does a good job of this by not only laying out the criteria, but also making sure we are aware of it and that we beware of what it can do.

One of the key terms that Rice discusses in Chapter 5 of his book is this idea of interpellation-how we quickly 'identify our own attitudes with a product.' Learning and understanding this process is very important, because it pinpoints what will sell in a market and what won't sell. But as a customer, we must be aware of this, because if we are not we can easily be manipulated and taken advantage of. As Rice puts it on page 37, "they reduce cool to a ploy, a trick to convince youth to purchase items they might not necessarily need or want" ...I've been there before. It is hard to understand what this actually is though, and Rice simply states that it's a process that is very 'subtle.'

The next term that Rice makes important is that of "cultural jamming," which is the appropriation of advertising slogan and images for resistance purposes. This seems like it is a way to fight interpellation. As Rice states, it allows people like us to voice alternative ideas "regarding consumerism and governmental control." I think this is also what Rice was getting at when he used the term subvertise. This term is also a way to demonstrate the sponsors' true intentions of an advertisement. Subvertising can be used as a critique of specific advertising campaigns. Thus, subvertising is the first form of cultural jamming.

A second form of this cultural jamming concerns Adbusters. According to Rice, this site "specializes in spoof ads." (pg 40). Even more importantly, it targets the ad and advertisers who use the concept of cool for "commercial purposes." Some examples of these spoof ads would be those made to critique cigarette ads (like Kools) and other major trademarks.

But what's the point of this cultural jamming? As stated by Rice (and what I got out of the reading), the main point is that cultural jamming allows one to critique the use of cool in our culture and specifically the use of cool in advertising campaigns-those campaigns that are targeted at the most vulnerable age group. By allowing such critique, Rice suggests that this "opens up debate and new opinions can form." In the long run, this can have impacts on media itself and maybe even change the face of advertising.