“I've Been Cheated..." ”[Reflections On Book - 100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design Stephen Heller and Veronique Vienne - #80]
“…I’ve been mistreated – when will I be loved?”
So went the song, though now “I’m pushed and shoved”;
I see we were the first to feel the brunt
Of market-teams’ desire to make the punt.First, Seventeen with its market-research stance –
“Not working women (teens) – so here’s our chance
To milk this cash-cow – teenage guidance crap
With target-adds to teenage wallets zap.”Then came Sixteen – to capture the zany fans
With gossip-tripe which mainstream papers banned;
They hit the jackpot – “Teen” became quite real
With bulge in market-Python – what a deal!That Rolling Stone took edgy rebel stance
To catch that sector of the teenage dance;
The British Zoo then pushed the limit to more;
“Youth culture” rose, which social fabric tore.The graphics rode the wave of teenage thrust –
Romance and dreams, with edgy theme of lust;
Not just for people, “things” that people “need” –
Products galore – fuel for the fires of greed.“Young adults” melted from the social scene;
“young people”, “youngsters” once their label’d been,
But now a new phenomena arose –
Those teens have cash – “Yahoo!! Hey guys, let’s go!”So “Pushed and shoved” describes our heady days
As teenage targets to those corporate ways;
There’d always been extremes within that group;
Simplistic now – gone nuance to our troop.Well, Lord, I guess that’s all we ever knew –
Tsunami force which hit, obscured our view;
But on the bright side, out here on the plains,
The “Pioneer” has vanished – few of them remain.And that’s okay – the church had need of that –
Good news for those folks, to us it was crap;
But numbers were what swept the blackboard clean,
And opened up the world which now is seen.Thanks Lord for this.
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