Alissa Quart follows NaomiKlein’s path that she set in her book No Logo, and critisises thecommercializing of life of modern (American) youths with strong opinions.Quart’s book focuses on generation Y teenager (born 1979-85) and describes thephenomenon using more shocking and probably interesting style than Klein in herown book. Structure of the book is logical starting with unscrupulous means ofsales persons and continuing with the feelings of youth, when clad in theirbranded bodies and finally coming to end depicturing teenagers who resistcommercial character. Last chapter is briefer than others, inadvertently or onpurpose giving conviction that resistance is more marginal than the onessupporting it. Book makes quite wellclear the ruthlessness of marketing structure of big enterprises and attemptsto make young people just humble consumers to their products. At some pointreader might feel, that facts laid down are quite black and white. Any way,Quart suggests that commercialism has superseded normal youth. Life of youngones is filled with being teenage marketing consultants, advertising to otherteenagers and hunting for trendy clothes. Everybody want to be like others andmarketing personnel uses this need ruthlessly for their own benefits. EvenJewish Bar Mitzvah celebration has been commercialized and this previouslyplain celebration has turned so big a burden to parents, that it can cost eventens of thousands of dollars. Former even socially awaremovies have been replaced with movies and video games, which have beensubmerged with (tacit) advertising, perfect characters and boring plots.Quart connects branding and commercializing even to young persons’ craze tobeauty operations, because they want to sacrifice their own bodies to thealtars of commercializing.
Young girls start web sites adoring anorexia andstarve themselves to nothing, and boys start lifting weights earlier and usingdubious nutritive additives to gain more muscle weight and to fit torequirements of appearance.Book also counts teenagewriters that are becoming more general as branding one self. Writing itselfdoesn’t seem to be so important to these writers as commercial success andmarketing themselves. If reader doesn’t believe the power of trademarked products, he will believe inthe end, reading about the treatment that teenage groups have got when opposingbrands. They have been carried out of lecture rooms during Coca Colapresentations, ordered to apologize McDonald’s in public after mocking this bigenterprise, just to bring forward some examples. However they haven’t given up,but demand schools free of advertisements and privatising, threatening tofinish their schooling at home. They go to their own organized concerts,islands where all strangling commercializing cannot get.Included in Finnish version of the book, there is also a writing by marketingresearcher Vaula Norrena on how subjects handled by Quart can be seen or aremissing in Finnish society nowadays.