Branded: The Buying And Selling Of Teenagers [Hardcover]

Alissa Quart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 7, 2003

In Branded, Alissa Quart takes us to the dark side of marketing to teens, showing readers a disturbingly fast-paced world in which adults shamelessly insinuate themselves into "friendships" with young people in order to monitor what they wear, eat, listen to, and buy. We travel to a conference on advertising to teenagers and witness the breathless and insensitive pronouncements of lecturers there. We meet the unofficial teen "sales force" for a new girls' perfume (the unpaid daughters of the company's saleswomen) and observe the attempts of mega-corporations to purchase the time and space for product-placement in schools. We witness the aggressive and potentially emotionally damaging ways in which adults seek to control vulnerable young minds and wallets. But we also witness the bravery of isolated and increasingly Internet-linked kids who attempt to turn the tables on the cocksure corporations that so cynically strive to manipulate them.Eye-opening and urgent, Branded exposes and condemns a segment of American business whose high-paid job it is to reduce teens to their lowest common denominator, to systematically sap youth of individuality and creativity. Engaging and thought provoking, Branded ensures that consumers will never look at the American way of doing business in the same way again.In Branded, author Alissa Quart spotlights the most nefarious of youth marketing techniques, revealing eye-opening facts about the commercialization of today's teens, including:--31 million teens now spend upwards of $153 billion on leisure expenses- clothing, CDs, and makeup-a year. 55% of American high-school seniors work more than three hours a day to earn the money to fulfill their need for stuff.--A growing number of high schools are sponsored by corporations. Textbooks regularly mention Oreo cookies and math problems contain Nike logos. Teenagers not only play ball in gyms rimmed with logos but also spend their English classes coming up with advertising slogans for sponsors, all under the auspices of their so-called public schools.--In the last two years, cosmetic surgery rates for teens have gone from 1% to 3% of the total 4.6 million surgeries performed each year. Teen liposcution has doubled; breast augmentation has increased by almost a third in the last five years.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For the readers still waiting for a substantive follow-up to Naomi Klein's No Logo, this is the book. Quart, a former media columnist for the Independent, follows the bread-crumb trail from the Fourth Annual Advertising and Promotion to Kids conference (no joke, unfortunately) to the mechanics of "peer-to-peer marketing," product placement in video games and the ever-escalating parties of the "bar mitzvah showcase." She hones in on teens' delicate self-fashioning and how it's manipulated for profit by adult "teen trendspotters" who insinuate themselves into the lives of "Influencer" teens in order to cop "youth buzz." Quart is brilliant on the world in which teens "obsessed with brand names feel they have a lack that only superbranding will cover over." She gets great quotes in her first-person encounters with her mostly female subjects, giving the book real voice. And Quart's analyses-of teen movies, SAT tutoring (to improve scores and pose college choices as brands), teen SUV ownership and the role of parents-are sharp and funny. Her exploration of how teens internalize and express market logic-through a process of "self-branding" that can include teen boob jobs and kid-produced anorexia Weblogs-is original and striking. The book lacks a broad cultural perspective: most interviewees are white, middle class and female, so it's difficult for Quart to generalize about how American teens and tweens as a whole use money and products to define themselves. Nevertheless, by the end, readers should be able to spot certain youth demographics and deconstruct their branded worlds instantaneously-and with empathy and anger.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Branded plumbs the depths of contemporary marketing to teens." -- Mother Jones March / April 2003

"A cogent wake-up call." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review 3/23/03

"A fascinating and provocative study of modern-day consumerism...effectively capture[s] the almost-arcane realities of modern-day teenage life." -- Bookpage March 2003

"An empowering work...a tough-minded call to arms." -- Boston Globe 2/16/03

"Deserves to command wide attention among millions of families...Quart makes a brilliant case." -- New York Times 1/26/03

"Quart makes a solid case that marketers have honed their approach to teens." -- Harvard Business Review February, 2003

"Quart seamlessly weaves within her cultural criticism and warnings an extremely insightful analysis of the transformation of youth social movements." -- The Nation 2/24/03

"Quart's style is smart and sassy...a frightening and important book." -- Women's Review of Books May 2003

"This is an extremely important topic for anyone interested in understanding the modern American teenager." -- The Seattle TimesMarch 09, 2003

"[A] very good book that parents should read...keenly raises your awareness...Quart's style is clean and well-paced. And it simmers." -- Winnipeg Free Press 3/2/03

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (January 7, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738206644
• ISBN-13: 978-0738206646
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)

More About the Author

I am the author of "Hothouse Kids: The Dilemma of the Gifted Child," published by Penguin Press in 2006, and "Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers," published by Basic Books in 2003. I also write opinion pieces and book reviews for The New York Times and I've written for The New York Times Magazine and The Atlantic Monthly. I have a master's degree from the Columbia University School of Journalism and a bachelor's degree from Brown University.