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Mar. 1st, 2003 03:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
labrujahThis is great like those Chinese T-shirts that say "Best Lucky Brand #1!!"
I just finished reading a pretty good book by Alicia Quant called Branded. She strings together a bunch of articles about advertising placed in schools, DIY shows in Long Island basements, teenage girls getting boob jobs, boys taking growth supplements, etc. to show how much logos, corporations and brands have permeated so much of American culture. And she's not all Adbusters-righteous about it either -- a little more thoughtful, a little bit of a wider vision.
I'm going to send it to my mom to read, although I doubt it will make much of an impression. (Generalization here:) Asian culture puts a special emphasis on fitting in and doing the right, accepted thing, which is probably why my mom is up nights worrying that I'm not going to grad school right now.
I don't know, my stomach turned when my little sister's class went on a trip to Las Vegas (admittedly, not a traditional center of history and culture, unless you mean pop culture, which would be great, if they were looking at the old signs and learning about 50's design trends and atomic testing and all.) And all they did was ride rides in the amusement park and line up at Planet Hollywood to purchase rhinestone-studded t-shirts.
I mean, I did it too (my era was Hard Rock Cafe) and never thought about it until I was thirteen or fourteen and started to put things together and got exposed to the thrift store, the record store, the skate shop...(still places to spend money, but not in the mall at least. My friend Jeff called this moment "When you get the Smiths tape" once). So maybe she will be fine in a few years.
I just finished reading a pretty good book by Alicia Quant called Branded. She strings together a bunch of articles about advertising placed in schools, DIY shows in Long Island basements, teenage girls getting boob jobs, boys taking growth supplements, etc. to show how much logos, corporations and brands have permeated so much of American culture. And she's not all Adbusters-righteous about it either -- a little more thoughtful, a little bit of a wider vision.
I'm going to send it to my mom to read, although I doubt it will make much of an impression. (Generalization here:) Asian culture puts a special emphasis on fitting in and doing the right, accepted thing, which is probably why my mom is up nights worrying that I'm not going to grad school right now.
I don't know, my stomach turned when my little sister's class went on a trip to Las Vegas (admittedly, not a traditional center of history and culture, unless you mean pop culture, which would be great, if they were looking at the old signs and learning about 50's design trends and atomic testing and all.) And all they did was ride rides in the amusement park and line up at Planet Hollywood to purchase rhinestone-studded t-shirts.
I mean, I did it too (my era was Hard Rock Cafe) and never thought about it until I was thirteen or fourteen and started to put things together and got exposed to the thrift store, the record store, the skate shop...(still places to spend money, but not in the mall at least. My friend Jeff called this moment "When you get the Smiths tape" once). So maybe she will be fine in a few years.
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!!!
Date: 2003-03-01 01:16 pm (UTC)"I AM NOT THE CHINESE FOOD DELIVERY GUY!"
brilliant.