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Assignment Ideas

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"Introduction" (xv-xviii) - "I was eleven years old when I had my first brush with brand consciousness" (xv). What is your first memory of brand consciousness? How old were you? What was it? What did that brand seem to offer you?

"Unbranding" (165-232) - What "unbranding" alternatives does Quart present? How viable are they?

Where is the "outside" of consumer culture?

A Thought Experiment: Envisioning a World UnBranded - Try to imagine an existence in which consumerism and branding plays no part. Imagine the places that you live, your transportation, your appearance, your activities. (Many people find this extremely difficult to do. Why might that be?) What is this world? Who are you there? What do you do? What's the difference?

Brand Commonplace Book - Keep a book in which you record all the Branded items that you observe. What brands do you notice? How many brands are in your view in any given day, at any given moment? How do you recognize brands? If there is too much information, take note of what you observe about one specific type of item, such as clothing or cars. What do you notice? How do you know what you know? And what does this information mean to you? How do you make judgments on the basis of this information?

Evaluate the Evidence - In order to construct an argument about the effects of branding on American teenagers, Branded relies on interviews with some of these teenagers. The teenagers that appear in the book and whose stories support Quart's argument are remarkably homogenous in terms of their race, ethnicity, geographic locations and socio-economic status. Whom does this picture of teenagers miss? How do their lives intersect with "branding"? How might stories and experiences from these missing groups affect the book's argument?

What is a Teenager? - It can be very useful for first-year students to investigate key terms in an argument. In Branded, Quart focuses on "teenagers" and "adolescents," two terms that have only recently come into being. By understanding that words have histories and that words have formative power to shape our perceptions, beliefs and behaviors, students can enhance their critical thinking skills.

What is a "teenager"? Where does the term come from? When did it come into use? What about the term adolescence? Why did these concepts emerge? What does it mean that people are categorized in these ways? What are the strengths and limitations of these ways of defining and categorizing people?

What T-Shirts Teach Us - Thanks to Michele James Deramo, who wrote this assignment.


"Branded" (3-16) - "Of course, all of this intrusive marketing would be fine--just the way the shilling game is played at this late date--if it didn't deeply affect teens themselves. The personae, self-images, ambitions, and values of young people in the United States have been seriously distorted by the commercial frenzy surrounding them..." (13).
According to Quart, how are young people affected by the marketing directed toward them? What are the specific symptoms of being "seriously distorted"? How, according to Quart, is marketing responsible for them? According to Quart, what is the role of "young people" in this transaction? What kind of power do they have? Do you agree?


"From the Mall to the Fall: The Teen Consultants" (17-35) - "Amy tells me stories of girls checking the labels on a Kate Spade bag to make sure it was not a knock-off and teasing the girl carrying it when it was deemed to be a fake" (31).
Here, and throughout the book, branding is often tied to authenticity. What is "real" about Branded items? What kind of authenticity do they seem to confer on their owners? Why?

What are teen consultants? (Do you know of any people who have done such work?) What are they selling to the companies that employ their services? What is their compensation? What is Quart's analysis of this phenomenon? What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of this analysis? (See, for example, page 31, where Quart writes: "When Amy uses the term hip, it has no adversarial, alienated overtones--it's a synonym for 'latest product.' Kids who call themselves hip tend to trumpet rather than bury their corporate ties; in this way, they show that they know what color will be in next spring" (31).)


Peer-To-Peer Marketing (37-45) - "Kids do peer-to-peer for the same reasons they volunteer as consultants and shoppers: They mistake brand names for identity, or they believe that their marketing puts them in closer contact with the bands, cosmetics, film stars or Web sites they are hawking...Being an unpaid salesperson is not a chore, it's a high complement. In a sense, it provides these kids with a sense of selfhood before many of them have even recognized that they have a self" (45).

Quart's critique here--one echoed throughout the book--focuses on the ways that brands have interfered with, or even replaced, some other way of thinking about oneself and one's identity. Just what is Quart saying here? What are the strengths and limitations of this argument?In what ways do you see and experience peer-to-peer marketing in your own experiences?


"The Golden Marbles: Inside a Marketing Conference" (47-62) - What are the strengths and limitations of the protests and critiques leveled at those who strategically market to children?

See Also: Golden Marbles Article


"The Great Tween Marketing Machine" (63-75) - What are significant rites of passage during adolescence? How did you celebrate them? What pressures might bear on the kinds of celebrations that one has, and why?

See also: http://www.mtv.com/onair/dyn/sweet_16/series.jhtml


"Cinema of the In-Crowd" (77-95) - Must "rebels"--in the movies and, perhaps, in life--be outsiders? What does it mean to be an outsider? What counts as "outside behavior?" What are the advantages and disadvantages of being "outside" of particular social groups and institutions? According to Quart, how were teenage outsiders portrayed in the movies previously and how are they portrayed now? What messages are you being given--by your friends, parents, teachers--about outside thinking, behavior and action?


"More Than a (Video) Game" (97-109) - "Games, like so many other products, aim to harness teens' desire for an ideal--a 'true' world--and give them a Branded one instead" (109).
Here is a theme that Quart returns to again and again in Branded. What is this desire for a "true" world? Is this a desire that you recognize? How, according to Quart, is a "Branded" world an inadequate alternative? And how, according to Quart, is that desire exploited? Do you accept this dichotomy between the "true" and the "Branded"?


"Body Branding: Cosmetic Surgery" (113-127) - Do you think that plastic surgery is, as Mara puts it, "totally common"? (115) What does your experience tell you? What about the statistical evidence? Consider the updated statistics from the industry: The American Society of Plastic Surgeons Procedural Statistics can be found at.


"X-Large and X-Small" (129-142) - "Weightlifting, enthusiasts say, is a form of self-construction. For the teen weightlifters, however--boys shooting steroids and eating egg whites for breakfast; shaving their chests and backs and legs--the line between self-betterment and a morphic pathology is a blurry one" (135).
What is that "line"?

"For the large subcultures of teens who self-brand into look-alikes with tiny waistlines, bulging biceps, deracinated noses, and copious breasts, the supposed freedom of self-creation is not a freedom at all. What that have is consumer choice, no substitute for free will" (142).
How, according to Quart, is the shaping of one's body according to strict standards a form of "consumer choice" rather than "free will"?


"Logo U" (143-163) - Why do colleges and universities use the SAT in admissions? How and why did SAT's gain the significance that they now have?

How did you "package" yourself for college admissions? Who is this person that you presented?