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Enter the Age of Anti-Cool
Fri, 03/5/2010

Shaun White, Glee And The Rise Of The Anti-Cool

by Matt Britton

 

Growing up as a teen in the late '80s and early '90s was much simpler on so many levels. I never remember hearing the words economy, terrorism, war or debt. Instead, my thoughts were left to my dreams and curiosity. Since the library was not the place I aspired to be, and the Internet was far from reach, I was left to my imagination about much of what the world had to offer.

The catalyst for my dreams growing up as a teen were the icons I looked up to and aspired to be like. Long before celebrity scandals were everyday news I, like many of my peers, were left with the innocent feeling of putting my heroes on impenetrable pedestals. Bobby Brown (see: mug shot), Charles Barkley (ditto), and yes, Brandon from Beverly Hills 90210 were at the top of my list.

No matter whom I looked up to as a teen, every icon had one thing in common ... cool. They acted cool, dressed cool, talked cool and walked cool.

Fast forward to 2010, and the headlines are much different as are teens' perceptions of their icons. The Internet, camera phones, and Perez Hilton have exposed those who might otherwise be teens' everyday heroes as frauds or creeps, and there is little left to the imagination. The halo of cool has become blurred and faded with yet another flash from a TMZ photographer.

Enter the "age of anti-cool" for the modern teen. With each new celebrity wart exposed, the notion of hero and idol has virtually disappeared only to be awkwardly replaced by the likes of Michael Cera, Shaun White and Glee. Today's rising teen heroes are largely embraced because of their flaws rather than their airbrushed perfection. We are entering an age that celebrates and promotes imperfection.

Teens are infatuated with Shaun White not only because he is an American teen that is a killer snowboarder but because he is in many ways as relatable as the free-spirited, pimply kid next door. Michael Cera (or Jonah Hill for that matter) is not as easy on the eyes as Jason Priestly once was, but who would you rather spend a night playing Xbox with? Glee celebrates the inner shower singer in all of us that just wants to belt out some "Journey" ... and something about that feels so right.

Social media has made the anti-cool acceptable and widespread. No longer does today's teen need to be a cheerleader or sports jock to fit in. There are meet-ups for Star Wars geeks and tweetups for Circus Freaks and everything in between. Pepsi, long seen as an arbiter of teen pop culture, no longer uses the likes of Britney, MJ, Madonna or Shaq in its ads, but instead a promise for everyday people to make a difference.

Is your brand still hiding behind the bright lights and makeup of a paid celebrity shill to tout your wares? Or are you embracing your warts while becoming more authentic and relatable? The jig is up for fooling teen consumers with a paid endorsement by their heroes. Now you must earn their trust by letting it all out and embracing the anti-cool.

Matt Britton currently serves as founder & CEO of N.Y.-based social marketing agency Mr Youth. 

Taken from Louie Giglio's "How Great is Our God" talk
Wed, 09/23/2009

 

These words came during the last few minutes of this awesome message

 

Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

 

the Lord is the everlasting God

the creator of the ends of the earth

He will not grow tired or weary

and his understanding no-one can fathom

 

He’s huge

He’s a star breather

He’s big

 

But

 

Listen to what He loves to do

 

That God 

That creator of the ends of the earth

That I do not grow tired or weary

That my understanding is to great for you

That God


Here’s what He does

 

He gives strength to the weary

He increases the power of the weak

For even the youths will grow tired and weary

and young man will stumble and fall

but those who hope in the Lord

 

Those who wait upon the Lord


"Wait" in the Hebrew says


Those who stand right in the midst of the craziness 

Those who stand right in the midst of the pain

 

Right in the midst of the chaos

Right in the valley of the shadow of death

 

And they don’t gloss over it

 

They are dealing with the hardest stuff in life

 

But standing in the middle of it — 


They say


You know what?


I don’t see what God is doing

 

I don’t understand what the plan is


But i’ll tell you one thing, 

 

I am not going to give up on God


I’m gonna stand right here in the middle of this moment


I’m gonna trust that God is sitting on a throne


I know that He has a purpose for my life

and a plan for my life


I believe I’m going to see the goodness of God in the land of the living and 

I’m not gonna stop believing that no matter what

 

Here’s the promise

 

Those who wait upon the Lord


Here’s what I promise


I will renew your strength

 

When you think you can’t take one more breath

I’ll give you enough to keep going on

and enough to keep going on 

and enough to keep going on

and to keep going

and to keep going 

and to keep going

 

You keep hoping 

i’ll keep causing strength to rise when you hope


and — you’ll keep going

 

and You will feel like you have been swept up on the wings of eagles

and you will run and not get weary

and walk through it all and ... not ... faint

 

I will hold you

even when you let go of me, 

I’m not gonna let go of you

 

Do you know there are millions and millions and millions of microscopic crosses holding you together right now (Laminum)

 

and one giant glorious cross of Jesus Christ that’s holding everyone of us who has trusted in Him  on to the heavenly Father and 

and holding the heavenly Father on to us

 

and it’s gonna keep holding us on to Him - that cross


for ever and ever and ever and ever

 

We will never not be carried by the strong hand of a universe making God 

and He will bring us through

 

That — is the promise of the everlasting God

 

 

 

 

 

YMNOW Business Policies
Fri, 09/11/2009

 

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