Youth Culture influence(d) on/by advertising strategies

4 
INTRODUCTION 
 
The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the connections between the 
language of advertising with its range of strategies and the cultural models of young 
people, here conceived as both a social community and a target group of consumers. 
It is my intention to first analyse which factors have contributed to shape this 
relationship, which is anthropological before than commercial. For this reason, I will 
focus on the “rise of youth”, that is, the moment when youngsters started being 
recognized as a social group with specific desires which could turn them into a 
potential target of specific advertising circuits. Consequently, I will deal with the 
main European subcultural phenomena, in order to stress the close relationship 
between youth culture and advertising strategies, as they have always influenced 
each other. I will return to this argument at the close of the dissertation. However, it 
is not my intention to enter the historical and sociological debate about whether 
advertising for the youth is a consequence of their emergence as a social group or the 
youth, as we conceive it today, is itself a product of the market’s appetite for new 
targets and new models to commodify. This dissertation is rather meant to explore 
the mechanisms of such a strong connection. Specifically, it aims to demonstrate the 
existence of strategies employed by advertising companies and aimed at young 
people in order to determine their main resources; this is argued to be the case, 
because, in opposition to the traditional expectations and beliefs, young people as a 
social group appear to be very hard to seduce and persuade. In fact, as asserted by J. 
O' Shaughnessy and N. J. O' Shaughnessy: 
 
Youth is probably the most difficult demographic group to interact with. 
Not only do they always pretend the best, they are also elusive in most 
products consumption, inconstant in brand preference, and simply 
challenging to engage and entertain.
1
 
 
For this reason, specific strategies are expected to rely on resources different from 
the traditional ones. 
                                                 
1
 J. O' Shaughnessy, & N. J. O' Shaughnessy. Persuasion in advertising (New York: Routledge, 2004) 
19.
5 
Among traditional resources, several fall into the so-called “alternative set” 
and are characterized by tactics which entail polemical and transgressive behaviour. 
In this regard, advertisements sometimes give an impolite image to people who have 
not, - any a priori -, affinity with the product. Indeed, for instance, a person who is 
not familiar with some brands' slogans may misunderstand the message intended. A 
telling example can be a recent campaign called “Be stupid”, launched by ‘Diesel’ 
(Italian designer clothing company), that “Encourages consumers to take risks and 
move beyond the smart and sensible track for life”
2
. Thus, the persons who do not 
appreciate nor are interested in this kind of brand style may feel insulted by this 
strategy which exalts foolishness and recklessness to the detriment of responsibility 
and intelligence skills. 
As a starting hypothesis, it is considered that young people want and pretend 
to be called into question in this kind of advertising, even though this may appear to 
be too artificial and strange for most adult receptors, being these stuck in past habits, 
and consequently used to more traditional and common strategies. It is not necessary 
to mention the fact that the young have to understand that this kind of advertising 
addresses them directly. That is why for advertising companies it is so important to 
build and maintain a strong relationship with the youth, since they represent a more 
attentive and loyal target. In fact, as M. V . Romero argued: 
 
The young are usually regarded to be especially alluring customers in 
most sectors due to their potential. A brand’s future share of the market 
will depend on its ability to fulfil the youth market and consider young 
people as clients. Therefore, by alluring young customers, marketers can 
turn more profit on the one hand; and on the other, they can benefit from 
these faithful clients in the future by establishing a customer relationship 
with the opportunity for cross-selling.
3
 
 
One further point may be made about the wide range of strategies through 
which advertising expresses its messages. In fact, these specific messages may be 
associated with the pure essence of youth, because if there is anything that 
                                                 
2
 http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2010/diesel-be-stupid/  
3 
My translation from Maria Victoria Romero, Lenguaje publicitario: La seducción permanente 
  (Barcelona: Ariel, 2005) 31.
6 
characterizes young people universally is probably their heterogeneity. As previously 
stated, young people are a very demanding target for advertisers, as they are never 
indifferent to the media being employed. In fact, it is not any news that youngsters 
pay a lot of attention to some specific media and neglect others. As it can be easily 
assumed, internet and television still have the absolute prevalence; however, the 
reader will presumably be astounded by the results of a research investigating how 
media affect their target, as it will be further discussed in Chapter Four.  
It is moreover my intention to focus on the positive, optimistic and beautiful 
world drawn by advertising. In this respect I will analyse the predominant values and 
habits of today’s youth, in order to highlight the evolution of the so called 
“individualism process”, which occurred during the latest forty years.  
Another part of the dissertation will focus on the main strategies employed by 
advertisers to catch the attention of the youth. For instance, one of the means used to 
enhance the desire to possess the object is by increasing the value of the product. 
This is often achieved by associating it with an idealized subject that the recipient 
wants to identify with, such as the best soccer player or the most beautiful model of 
the moment. That is why the refrain: “Advertising does not sell only objects, but 
identities” is commonly accepted. According to G. Marrone who applied to 
advertising the mythical model of the narrative and discursive semiotics of the 
Lithuanian linguist, A. J. Greimas, the recipient of the advertisement can be attracted 
by the following opportunities: “From the must-dos he or she feels intimidated or 
provoked by; from the want-dos he is tempted or seduced by".
4 
Generally speaking, 
there certainly are more persuasive tactics using temptation of seduction because 
they construe positive representations of both the "image brand" and the idealized 
image of the consumer. Intimidation and provocation are the most effective 
manipulative strategies. And yet, Greimas also observed in this respect: 
 
It should be clear that when there are arguments that deprive objects of 
certain positive predicates, they are not applications directed to the 
advertised products. In fact the subject receives the intimidation not 
because of the nominated product, but because of competing objects or 
                                                 
4
 My translation from Gianfranco Marrone, Corpi sociali. Processi comunicativi e semiotica del testo 
   (Torino: Einaudi, 2001) 27.
7 
simply for the absence of the decision to consume. 
5
 
 
Through the selection of our vocabulary we can yet carry a certain interpretation of 
reality, that is why it can be stated that “[i]n the words that we have chosen it already 
exists a remarkable argumentative burden”.
6
 Unlike descriptive texts, advertising is 
characterized by a high frequency in the use of evaluative terms, subjective or 
connotative, and, as pointed out by Romero: "V ocabulary of ads highlights the values 
and the arguments that underpin stereotypes or brand images. This is a topical 
vocabulary that can be grouped largely around opposite poles”.
7
 
To sum up briefly, what this dissertation is mainly concerned with, is the 
strong connection between youth with their dominant social values, lifestyles and 
fashion habits on one hand, and, on the other, advertising with its main persuasive 
strategies. It may indeed be argued that they necessarily need each other in order to 
exist and develop, as they can be considered as a process of mutual influence and 
interdependence.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
5
 Quoted in G. Marrone, 29. 
6
 M. V . Romero, 41. 
7
 M. V . Romero, 42.
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CHAPTER I: Youth as a new social and economic class 
 
1.1 The rise of Youth Rebellion  
 
 In this first chapter I will focus on the phenomenon “youth rebellion”, one 
that has involved both past and current youth generations. This phenomenon will be 
approached through the analysis of turmoil, dynamics, and movements which gave 
rise to it.  
 The first changes which may be argued to relate to the youth rebellion took 
place in the United States, and across Europe. More precisely, after the Word World 
II, in England, exactly in London an innovation of this kind can be observed. In fact, 
for the very first time the young became a self-conscious category able to assert their 
right to exist, to choose what they thought was best for them. Their tastes seemed to 
be completely new and transgressive, when compared to the traditional ones. 
 The purpose of this chapter is, therefore, to consider and discover the 
peculiarities of the teenagers' world and their presumed “independence”, from the 
burden of the financial, political, cultural and also spiritual world of adults. For these 
reasons, in order to better understand and analyse these themes, I have decided to 
rely on one of the most successful best sellers of the '60s, entitled Absolute 
beginners
8
. The novel is an autobiographical book and was written by Colin 
MacInnes. The author described the capital of England before becoming the Beatles' 
and the Stones' “swinging London”. The “absolute beginners” here are teenagers that 
assert their rights to decide autonomously, against any kind of old tradition. For this 
chapter I have also taken into consideration the works of the British theorist A. 
Sinfields
9
 and of the British lecturer N. Bentley
10
. Both dealt with the theme of youth 
rebellion as a benchmark and considered MacInnes as a real pioneer, being his novel 
the original manifest of this movement. 
 Bentleys argued that all over the world the adolescents acquired a central role 
during the postwar period. The reasons were primarily economical, since the money 
available for boys and girls grew in proportion to the increasing total wealth. 
                                                 
8
 Colin MacInnes, Absolute beginners (London: MacGibbon & Kees, 1959). 
9
 Alan Sinfields, Literature, politics and culture in postwar Britain (Los Angeles: University of  
  California press, 1989). 
10 
Nick Bentley, The young ones: A reassessment of the British new left’s representation of 1950s 
    youth subcultures, (London: Routledge, 2005).
9 
MacInnes was the first to realize it and, in 1958 he wrote an article in Twentieth 
Century Literature
11
 where he focused on this phenomenon. He elaborated his 
argument beginning with a statistical observation:  
 
In this country there are at least two million children who have a weekly 
average amount in their pocket to spend on entertainment for about three 
pounds. If in the U.S. the weekly average availability of teenagers 
increased from two dollars in 1945 to ten dollars in 1960, in England 
things were more or less the same. This means that every year they 
determine the movement of three hundreds and twelve million pounds, 
and that their needs and demands regarding clothes, discs and movies are 
fully taken into account by this field operators.
12
 
 
In general terms, MacIness stated that:  
 
We all have to take cognizance of the fact that the great revolution of the 
last fifteen years could be not the one that has redistributed the 
wealthiness among adults with the Welfare State, but rather the one that 
has given teenagers a real economical power.
13
 
 
 The protagonist of Absolute beginners, strangely enough named Colin, or also 
the “teen hero”, is a young photographer, nearly nineteen, and so approaching his last 
teenage year. He is a freelance, working for himself, which is a necessary component 
in the author's vision of teenage independence. With regard to this point, Sinfield 
maintained: 
 
As his business is hand-to-mouth, he can’t be too fussy about where the 
next fiver comes from; thus the teenager will photograph anything, and 
anyone doing anything, as long as it is for cash or an uncrossed cheque. 
Fashion, portraiture and even pornographic poses are all grist to his 
Rolleiflex. His camera and his Vespa – a gift from a South American 
                                                 
11
A quarterly journal of scholarly literary criticism publishing refereed papers on all aspects of 
twentieth-century literature, including English-language essays on literature in other languages.  
12
 Quoted in A. Sinfields, 125. 
13
 Quoted in A. Sinfield, 126.