P/MD/30. Commercialisation of Music Television (USA) and youth culture

The paper looks at MTV (Music Television) analysing its gaols and practices over the period since 1981 when it first appeared on US cable TV. Its doctrine has been to capture the generation of young consumers (Generation Y) by the spirit of „rebelliousnessŽ and liberalism associated with rock and roll culture. It is now seen as the channel that dictates to teens a ''blurred vision of reality'' with complete disregard for the older generation. The papers claims that the concept of „coolŽ as a commodity is an important part of MTVs advertising making viewers feel incomplete until they purchase a particular product. The author argues that young viewers are not complete victims to MTV advertising: they are simply not creative enough to purchase what is non-commercialized or is outside of pop culture. The conclusion is that MTV began as something revolutionary and unconventional television, has unfortunately become mainstream.