Product Details

• Actors: Douglas Rushkoff, Shaggy 2 Dope, Christina Aguilera, Greg Berlanti, Bob Bibb
• Directors: Barak Goodman
• Writers: Rachel Dretzin
• Producers: Douglas Rushkoff, Barak Goodman, David Fanning, Kimberly Tabor, Lisel Banker
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: PBS
• DVD Release Date: October 4, 2005
• Run Time: 55 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000B0WO44
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #44,311 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • #30 in Movies & TV > DVD > TV News Programming
• For more information about "Frontline: The Merchants of Cool" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Pbs Release Date: 05/04/2009 Run time: 60 minutes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Show this to any teenager you can., February 28, 2006

By 

lighten_up_already2 "lighten_up_already2" (Kirkland, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Frontline: The Merchants of Cool (DVD)

If you are a parent of a teenager, a teacher, or a youth minister, or anyone else who works with teens, somehow get them to watch this. I found it downright chilling and I watched it again right before I wrote this review.

This documentary isn't about bashing teens. It's about exposing a very small number of huge media corporate conglomerates (just seeing who ownes who is fascinating) who work around the clock to determine the next "cool" trend among teens. They study the teens who are on the cutting edge to determine what the next cool thing is and then they package whatever it is and mass market it to the general teen audience. Of course, once whatever-it-is goes mainstream, it isn't cool anymore.

They also study the strictly average teen, not the super gifted or the overachievers, to determine how to reach this population with their marketing. Teens then conform to what they've been sold. They buy products with money often given to them by their parents. The media moguls pocket the money, and then try to figure out the next "cool" thing, and the never ending cycle continues.

I could go on, but I can't really do justice to what is my favorite episode of Frontline. I've leant my copy to several friends and they've all been enlightened to things that they never suspected were happening. Truth is often stranger than fiction. This might have been sci-fi fifty years ago.

The take home lesson to me is that being cool sucks. It sucks your brain out of your head and your money out of your wallet. This is true particularly if you're trying to buy coolness. It's best to be who you are and let others decide how cool that is.

If you are a parent of teens, pull the TV cable out of the wall and stop giving teens money. Make them earn it.

Finally, be sure to get the movie "Josie and the Pussycats" to see the same subject dealt with in a fun and satirical way.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Marketing to kids., June 14, 2008

By 

Preston C. Enright (Denver, CO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Frontline: The Merchants of Cool (DVD)

This film exposes some of the marketing techniques used on young people.
I'm glad to read that another reviewer shows it to his students each year.
Another teacher who showed it to her class was less impressed with the response it received from some students who thought it was dated. There are some more recent documentaries on this issue from the Media Education Foundation, but this Frontline presentation is a good place to start.

I learned in the film The Corporation that some psychologists hired by the corporate world work to achieve a high "nag factor," that is an intense pressuring from kids on parents to purchase particular items for them. The techniques are many, and are constantly used on adults as well. Another related field to marketing is public relations. PR's founder, Edward Bernays, wrote a book called Propaganda, that was utilized by Joseph Goebbels during the rise of fascism. Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud, boasted that "If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, it is now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing it."

To counter all of this propaganda, I'd suggest the following resources:
Adbusters - Adbusters also offers items for teachers to use in the classroom.
Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel
So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids
New Moon: the Magazine for Girls & Their Dreams This commercial free magazine written by and for girls, includes a lot of insightful comments on media manipulation from the girls.
Teen Voices This magazine is for young women.
Hopefully there will someday be magazines that aren't manipulating boys and young men in the service of corporate interests.
Manufacturing Consent - Noam Chomsky and the Media This documentary has become something of a movement, inspiring a new level of media criticism and countless efforts to create grassroots media.
Chomsky's work has been a big influence on Amy Goodman of the independent news hour, "Democracy Now!." Standing Up to the Madness: Ordinary Heroes in Extraordinary Times

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing, which um, disturbs some people..., November 2, 2010

By 

Ben - See all my reviews

This review is from: Frontline: The Merchants of Cool (DVD)

I love how the teenagers come to Amazon to defend themselves against this Documentary.
"I AM MY OWN PERSON!!!! I AM NOT CONTROLLED BY MTV DAMN YE!" Hahahahahhaa.

Anyways, this thing here gave me nightmares.
You can watch it for free online through several sites.
Definitely worth the time...ONLY FOR THOSE WITH A STRONG STOMACH.
IT'S TRULY DISTURBING AND INFURIATING.