Making Cents out of Teens

       Another idea that I found intriguing in Frontline's "Merchants of Cool" was the concept of Mooks and Midriffs. Marketers have focused on appealing to teenagers because, in the U.S, they are the hottest consumer demographic. Marketers have created these two stereotypical characters and have used them in different advertisements, in order to appeal to teens. A "Mook" is a crude, obnoxious character, and commonly expressed as the stereotypical daredevils and frat boys, while a "Midriff" is a highly sexualized character used to appeal to teen girls. By using Midriffs in ads, companies are teaching girls to "flaunt their sexuality" and that "[their] body is [their] best asset". I believe that this character is expressing the same sexual stereotypes that have been placed on females for centuries. The concept of a Midriff angers me because younger girls, who are watching shows with Midriffs, are prone to be influenced by what they see. Younger girls start to believe that it is okay to become sexual objects and only focus on outer appearances. Women should not only be known for their bodies, in the face of media. I think that media should focus more so on other attributes of women such as their intelligence; the same also goes for men because not all men are "crude and obnoxious". The Mook and Midriff objectify men and women, and although this video was aired back in 2001, this idea of the Mook and Midriff is still apparent in our media world. For example, one large celebrity, Miley Cyrus, has gone from being on the hit Disney show, Hannah Montana, to exposing and flashing her body on social media. She is one of the many celebrities that has definitely flaunted her sexuality in front of millions of people and fits into the stereotypical "Midriff".
      Frontline has brought my attention to the idea of a feedback loop; I had found this to be quite interesting. The feedback loop is a savage cycle where large companies, such as MTV, examine all sorts of teenagers and show them an image of themselves on media. Even if teenagers do not see themselves as these images, companies believe that it is the image they want to become. This results in teenagers becoming the image of what they see portrayed in media. For example, I know that some of my younger cousins religiously watch Disney Channel, and Disney has definitely influenced them to act a certain way. On a lot of Disney shows, the parents on the shows are irresponsible and are portrayed in a lower light, and the children tend to talk back to their parents or don't respect them. Therefore, my cousins think its okay to act ill-mannered to my aunts/ uncles, and they act like spoiled brats sometimes.

It saddens me that there seems to be no way out of these stereotypes. I think that these strong concepts in media will continue to influence our future generations. Large marketing companies see that these ideas sell to a large crowd, and they will continue to enhance these ideas further, in order to target teenagers and generate money.