Week 5: Kick off the Culture

Week 5: Kick off the Culture
Grace Petersen
5/26/2019

This week is the second to last of our challenge, and as with the other weeks I was feeling fairly confident about not breaking the agreement to abstain from any purchases. Everything was going just fine, despite the impulses to buy materials for a new costume with a convention next weekend, or the impulse to buy new playing cards, or a new game, or any of the other non-fashion purchases I tend to fall victim to. Yes, everything was going swimmingly, that is, until my running shoes fell apart.

(Photo Credit: GQ)

I don't own many shoes, as I've said before my wardrobe is minimal (but not minimalist!) So you can understand why this required me to break the challenge if I wanted to be able to do my daily run around the block. Somehow, without realizing it, once i went out and bought these new sneakers I found myself making another purchase here and there until I had bought already five things in one day. How could this happen so fast?

In the documentary "Just for Kicks" the filmmakers examine how hip-hop subculture has grown alongside sneakers, creating a 'sneakerhead' community who considers the material itself a relic of culture. As I was watching this I began to make connections to another documentary I had seen previously, "The Merchants of Cool" which investigates how advertising brands work alongside cultural influencers in order to market their product most effectively. In connecting these two, I realized that when brand names are associated strongly with specific celebrities or culture influencers, we attach the same significance to the product itself. While this may not explain exactly why I fell into the purchasing trap, It isn't too far off to say that was a factor, especially since the shoes I had purchased were reminiscent of a pair that one of my favorite Instagram bloggers recently purchased. So even if my own behavior is the result of my own actions, I can't say that It wasn't influenced by the ways that advertisers create an image of a relationship with influencers, even if it is just about the monetary transaction.

Works Cited:
de Longeville, Thibaut, and Lisa Leone. "Just for Kicks" Image Entertainment, 2005.
Goodman, Barak, Director. "The Merchants of Cool." Frontline, PBS, 2001. 
      https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/view/