how and why teens want to buy certain items

 how and why teens want to buy certain items

We all have been teenagers at some point in our lives, doing inappropriate things in public, playing a video game for ten hours, going out with friends until three am. And of course, wanting the most expensive gadgets such as the latest smartphone, popular shoes, and fashionable clothing. If you’re wondering how and why teens want to buy certain items, well, it’s all thanks to effective advertising.

In today’s world, teens are, unfortunately, too concerned about the importance of buying a specific brand’s clothing. For example, the brand “Supreme” gained popularity not because they spend millions upon millions of dollars on advertising. They gained popularity because of the uniqueness that the brand has to a worldwide audience. When this brand became popular, teens would buy any item associated with this brand, even if it meant buying a useless brick. The main reason teens purchase these ridiculous high-cost products; it’s to then later brag about “how cool they are” on social media by posting pictures or lengthy writing notes, so then they’ll gain attraction to the image as well to their profiles. Also, if the product serves no use, like a brick, they’ll still buy it anyway just because it has the “supreme” logo attached to it. Supreme will continue to evolve as they Understand their demographics and “use a “high demand, low supply” business model as a means of both creating a garden wall and generating more and more interest from those outsides of it.” (Hawkins)

Another reason why clothing advertisings are effective towards teens; it’s because teens worry too much about their image that they’ll buy any clothing that makes their actual shape a mystery. Teens, when growing up, have “idols” that they follow up due mostly to their unique body shapes or bizarre body parts that stand out that teens, especially girls, would love to have. Here is where advertisers take advantage of, and they contact different celebrities nationwide to promote their newest line of clothing — for example, a teen personality shows off unique clothes that modify a specific body part if you put it on. Adults would check the scientific section behind the product or reviews online before purchasing such a product. Teens, on the other hand, wouldn’t even think twice or go online to check for facts before buying this “special” clothing just because they want to look like the teen in the ad.

Most effective ads appear online, “as 93% of teens ages 12‐17 go online” (Teen Internet Use Graphic), and it helps brands who are trying to reach a higher level of audience that organic ads cannot do these days. There are many types of ads online that do appeal to teens. First, you have interactive advertisements where the teen interacts with the ad by completing an entertaining and fun quiz or a game about the brand’s newest line of clothing. You also have the “futurist” ads where the teen puts details of what type of clothing does the teen enjoys, and you’ll get a free sample or preview of the new upcoming line of clothing the brand will sell in the future. Also, the choice of music and actor portraying in any effective teen ad is a crucial thing if the brand wants teens buying their product.

As talked about earlier, Supreme is a unique brand not because of the way it succeeded, but of its effective different business approach to teens worldwide that isn’t used by other companies yet. However, as effective the brand “supreme” is, this and other nationwide companies aren’t doing an excellent job at keeping advertising ethical. As in for “supreme”, the brand doesn’t give enough information to the consumer about reducing its impact on “Environmental Impact, Labour Conditions, and Animal Welfare.” (Solene Rauturier) Some companies tend to target teens another way, though, by using teens’ critical issues against teens in ads.