By Cathal Hannan (Headliners)
Consumerism and Clothes
No young person living in modern day society could honestly turn round and say that the media, the catwalks and fashion columns haven’t influenced them to some degree. Two of the most common forms of pressure on the my generation are by peers and the media. One feeds off the other. The big advertisers try and sell us their products with biblical Recommended Retail Prices, modelled by famously anorexic/bulimic women. Everything from sportswear on Beckham, rap-star bling to sunglasses are modelled as "must-have" essentials for cool.
Young female models look fresh and apparently happy (apart from the grimacing inability to support that smile) whilst wearing these high-quality designer labels, with absurdly prominent logos emblazoned across their chests just in case we don’t get the message- buy our clothes and be wanted.
Take for instance; Nike, Levi, Gap and Ben Sherman - all competing for a slice of the consumer cake, and a big tasty one of that raking in billions per annum. The young people from well-off backgrounds purchase these fashion items automatically without financial bother, yet other kids are expected to have them and suffer to get these items.
Young people from a poorer socio-economic background are normally unable to afford the extravagant prices until half-price sale time (by that time, nobody is wearing it anymore) but that doesn’t stop them pestering their parents for money, especially around Capitalist Consumer Christmas. The parent’s job is hard enough slaving to the system, without having terrible teenagers turning robotically to temper-tantrums for labels that they can’t even afford never mind their kids. This causes extra stress for the parents and may even lead to family break-up in the most extreme cases.
So this obviously begs the question, who is to blame? Is it the advertisers and marketers that spend over £6.5 billion annually on product placement? How much of the £60 Recommended Retail Price is manufacturing cost, how much marketing and how much pure profit?
Of all the crime committed in the UK last year 262,570 crimes were committed by young people and 160,897 offences involved shoplifting or vandalism. Of course there are no figures on how many were influenced by peer pressure or by the media and the subject’s inability to buy but I would think that if there were numbers they would be very high indeed.
Surely it can’t be the absolute fault of these young people. After all, they are watching the advertisements and reading the fashion columns that show 6ft blonde models draped with the ‘in fashion.’ It may not be so bad for the poor families if fashion didn’t change so regularly. In brands like Gucci, Armani and other items that parade the catwalk like money-grabbing vultures and alluring snakes, they are split into ‘seasons.’ However, with sporty/denim wear, the fashion changes ever so regularly that even contemporary fashion magazines find it difficult to snap up quick enough. It is the ultimate way to make money.
Walk into a sport's superstore in Belfast, say Lifestyle or JJB and you will find floors dedicated to footwear, head wear, tops and bottoms– fashion accessories for the spendthrift and money-lax. Why would a young person want to buy five sets of trainers in a year? The brands owners who are releasing these must expect people to be showy enough to buy five sets of trainers in just a few months, to get that additional Nike 'tick' or new colour line.
Personally, I stick to less known brands that don’t cost as much but I wish my friends would do the same. Friends should keep clothes to themselves. I keep mine to myself and who should care what I wear? To me, a shirt is a shirt and a pair of shoes is a pair of shoes. But of course I would say that wouldn’t I? So you may all say well if I can criticize every body: the rich kids; the shops, the manufacturers and the advertisers what is my answer to all this ?
Ban all clothes advertising geared towards young people and let them make their own minds up about what clothes they want to buy. This already exists in Sweden why shouldn’t it exist here!
Young female models look fresh and apparently happy (apart from the grimacing inability to support that smile) whilst wearing these high-quality designer labels, with absurdly prominent logos emblazoned across their chests just in case we don’t get the message- buy our clothes and be wanted.
Take for instance; Nike, Levi, Gap and Ben Sherman - all competing for a slice of the consumer cake, and a big tasty one of that raking in billions per annum. The young people from well-off backgrounds purchase these fashion items automatically without financial bother, yet other kids are expected to have them and suffer to get these items.
Young people from a poorer socio-economic background are normally unable to afford the extravagant prices until half-price sale time (by that time, nobody is wearing it anymore) but that doesn’t stop them pestering their parents for money, especially around Capitalist Consumer Christmas. The parent’s job is hard enough slaving to the system, without having terrible teenagers turning robotically to temper-tantrums for labels that they can’t even afford never mind their kids. This causes extra stress for the parents and may even lead to family break-up in the most extreme cases.
So this obviously begs the question, who is to blame? Is it the advertisers and marketers that spend over £6.5 billion annually on product placement? How much of the £60 Recommended Retail Price is manufacturing cost, how much marketing and how much pure profit?
Of all the crime committed in the UK last year 262,570 crimes were committed by young people and 160,897 offences involved shoplifting or vandalism. Of course there are no figures on how many were influenced by peer pressure or by the media and the subject’s inability to buy but I would think that if there were numbers they would be very high indeed.
Surely it can’t be the absolute fault of these young people. After all, they are watching the advertisements and reading the fashion columns that show 6ft blonde models draped with the ‘in fashion.’ It may not be so bad for the poor families if fashion didn’t change so regularly. In brands like Gucci, Armani and other items that parade the catwalk like money-grabbing vultures and alluring snakes, they are split into ‘seasons.’ However, with sporty/denim wear, the fashion changes ever so regularly that even contemporary fashion magazines find it difficult to snap up quick enough. It is the ultimate way to make money.
Walk into a sport's superstore in Belfast, say Lifestyle or JJB and you will find floors dedicated to footwear, head wear, tops and bottoms– fashion accessories for the spendthrift and money-lax. Why would a young person want to buy five sets of trainers in a year? The brands owners who are releasing these must expect people to be showy enough to buy five sets of trainers in just a few months, to get that additional Nike 'tick' or new colour line.
Personally, I stick to less known brands that don’t cost as much but I wish my friends would do the same. Friends should keep clothes to themselves. I keep mine to myself and who should care what I wear? To me, a shirt is a shirt and a pair of shoes is a pair of shoes. But of course I would say that wouldn’t I? So you may all say well if I can criticize every body: the rich kids; the shops, the manufacturers and the advertisers what is my answer to all this ?
Ban all clothes advertising geared towards young people and let them make their own minds up about what clothes they want to buy. This already exists in Sweden why shouldn’t it exist here!
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