The Anatomy of Cool

Level: Grades 4 to 7

Overview

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This lesson helps students become more aware of the media's role in determining what, and who, are perceived as being cool. Through class discussion and activities, students explore the differences between superficial and real "coolness," how marketers use cool to sell products, and how their own attitudes and perceptions are affected by media messages that reinforce specific messages about what coolness is.

Outcomes

Students will:

understand the influences of the media in defining society's standards regarding who is successful and what is desirable
understand the transience and superficiality of media images and messages regarding who and what is cool
understand how they themselves are influenced by these media images and messages

Preparation and Materials

a large roll of paper, markers, paints.
2 boxes of Smarties
photocopy Anatomy of Cool Questionnaire and Kids World Survey Results.
students collect pictures of their favorite celebrities - rock stars, movie stars, athletes, models, etc.
students bring in photographs of themselves.

The Lesson

Introduction

Both boys and girls need to recognize that popular concepts of what is cool can be artificial - that in many cases they are determined by advertisers, who use 'coolness' as a way of marketing goods. They also need to understand that not everyone can, or needs to, look or act like people in the media. In this lesson, students will explore the relationship between coolness, marketing, and the media and how they respond to media messages about what is - and isn't - cool. They will be encouraged to discuss how these images have influenced their lives, from their perception of what defines cool, to their feelings about their own bodies.

Marketers are well aware of a child's need to be cool. Gene Del Vecchio, in his book Creating Ever-Cool: A Marketer's Guide to a Kid's Heart, identifies a child's reference group as a major influence on his or her perceptions of what is cool. This group includes:

friends, who are a child's closest point of reference (but who may come and go)
kids who are slightly older (age reference)
and those kids who are considered to be more popular (popularity reference)

Del Vecchio notes that one thing each of these reference groups share, is the desire to be cool. He states the simple fact that "cool is whatever a kid likes and wants. If he does not like or want something, it is not cool." Yet, despite its elusiveness, Del Vecchio sees coolness as sharing common elements: it's what the psyche wants (i.e. beauty, strength, fame, popularity); it's what you aspire towards (to be older, more independent, etc.); it's exclusive (you have it, while others don't); it's "forbidden" (this is especially significant to teens); and it's to-the-minute. In other words, in order for marketers to create "cool" products, they must "brilliantly address the child's psyche" - which they often do. By helping young people understand how marketers play on these desires, we can better help them think critically about the manufactured nature of cool.

Guided Discussion

It is impossible to ignore the media's influence on how we view ourselves. Though big-name athletes, musicians, film stars, models and celebrities represent only a small percentage of the population, their images are so consistent and pervasive that they define the standards by which the rest of us measure ourselves and others. Children, who are just beginning to form their own identities, are particularly susceptible to the often unrealistic standards of cool as dictated by the media.

Ask students to brainstorm definitions of the word 'cool' as it might apply to things such as clothing or toys. Write their suggestions on the board.

Next, ask students to identify what makes a person 'cool.'

Is it external - the way they look, or the way they dress; or is it internal - the way they act?
As a class, come up with a list of traits that define 'cool,' making sure to include personality traits like independence, strength of character, being a good friend, along with the more obvious external traits such as 'wears the latest fashions' or 'looks good.'

Reinforce the idea that we tend to think of cool as an external thing, but the best kind of cool comes from inside.

Ask students to think of their friends
Without naming their friend, have students write a description of their coolest friend, explaining what makes them cool.
Remind students that they are looking for 'internal' cool, not just how a person looks.
Have students share what they have written with the rest of the class.
Collect descriptions.

Explain to your students that there can be two different types of cool people - those who are cool because they are famous or fashionable, and those who are cool because of how they act.

The truth is that very few people look like those you see in the media. In fact, some of the people we see in the media don't look anything like their media images in real life, because their photographs are touched up to make them look more attractive, or they are filmed using lots of make-up and special lighting. There are even software programs that can take a picture of someone and give them longer legs, or make them thinner! Yet despite knowing this, many of us are still influenced by images we see in magazines and on television.

Statistically, the people that we see in the media represent only 5 per cent of the population. That means that 95 per cent of us are being told that we should look the same way as a very small percentage of people.

To make your point, get two boxes of Smarties and take out all of the blue Smarties.

Count out 95 regular Smarties and toss in 5 blue ones.
Explain that the 95 regular Smarties are regular people, and the 5 blue Smarties are the types of people who the media say we should be.
Ask students: What is wrong with this picture?
Is it possible for the other colours to turn blue? (You might point out that the colours that are closer to blue, like purple, might be able to pass for blue, but what about the yellows, and reds? It is just as impossible for them to become blue as it is for many of us to conform to the standards of beauty and cool that we see in the media.)
How will the Smarties feel, not being able to live up to the image dictated by the media?
(Share the Smarties with your class and remind them that statistics can be fun!)

Cool Hunters

How important is "coolness" to marketers? Marketing companies who want to attract kids and teens will hire people to act as "cool hunters." These cool hunters go to places where young people hang out (school yards, basketball courts, skateboard parks, clubs etc.) in order to identify and interview "trend setters" - those really cool kids and teens who are more avant-garde than their peers, but whose tastes might eventually be adopted by the general population. Other versions of cool hunting include:

Online communities that have been created by marketers for kids and teens on the Internet, where they can determine the hottest trends by asking kids who visit the site to fill out online questionnaires and surveys.
Reverse cool hunting, where instead of looking for kids who are setting trends, marketers target popular kids and give them free merchandise in order to influence their peers.

Ask students:

If you were a cool hunter, what personality traits would you look for in a trend setter?
Just because you are "ordinary" and not a trend setter, does that make you any less cool as an individual?

Activity 1

To help students understand how their perceptions about coolness are affected by the media, have them complete their Anatomy of Cool Questionnaire. Once they have completed the questionnaires, review their answers and tally class results.

Who do students consider to have the greatest influence on their perceptions of coolness?
Compare the brands they chose to the actual Kids World Survey Results. This survey was conducted in 1996. Which brands are still considered to be cool? Which brands are no longer cool? What new brands emerged in the class results?
Review Gene Del Vecchio's comments about what makes a product cool (it's what the psyche wants; it's what you aspire to; it's exclusive; it's "forbidden;" it's to-the-minute) and ask students how these elements apply to the products or brands that they consider to be cool.

Activity 2

Ask students to brainstorm media images of cool. Most of these images will be connected to having something: the right sneakers, the right look, the right music.
Who are the most influential people in determining what is cool? (E.g., television/movie celebrities, hip hop artists, models in magazines, athletes.)
Do we make any assumptions about the lives of people who are cool? What assumptions do we make?
Ask students how many of them think that they are influenced by media images of what's cool.
Tell them to look at what they are wearing and the way that they look. (Did they buy those sneakers because they are considered cool? Are they wearing their hair a certain way because they saw the style on someone they consider to be cool?)
What do advertisers say we must have in order to be cool?

Divide students into groups.

Have each group elect one member to lie on the floor and let himself/herself be traced onto paper.
Tell groups that they are going to create a "Media Kid," a kid who is totally influenced by what the media says you have to have in order to be cool.
Have students "dress" their media kid in the latest fashions with hand drawn clothing and accessories, or with real items pinned on. Have them create a cartoon character's "sound bubble" or make a tape demonstrating how this cool person would talk.
When students have finished, they can present their "cool kids" to the rest of the class and display them around the classroom.

Activity 3

Have students look at the celebrity pictures that they have brought in.
How are these people different from themselves, their friends, and their families?
Stage real life freezes, in which students imitate the poses of these celebrities (especially facial expressions). Do they feel cool, or silly? Are these poses natural, or contrived?
Remind students of the two definitions of cool. Which of these celebrities are cool because of their looks or what they own, and which are cool because of what they do?

Tell students to take out their photos and, on a bulletin board, post the categories: Real Cool and Media Cool.

On the Real Cool side of the board, have students create a collage out of the photos of themselves and their 'Cool Friend' descriptions. This section can also include celebrity images if students have agreed that they are more than just externally cool.
On the Media Cool side of the board, have students create a collage of media images.

Evaluation

Class participation
Written work
Media Kids