Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Last week, in my Television Studies class (that’s right), we watched a Frontline documentary about how television markets to kids and teenagers.
The documentary was a decade old, and yet it was still highly relevant; nearly all of the techniques are still used today in order to capitalize on trends and create new ones.
What really dated the documentary, however, were the things being marketed.
Of all the music, television and film mentioned, the only act still relevant today is, improbably, the Insane Clown Posse.
This made me think about the fleeting nature of popularity, particularly among the youngsters. Sure, at the time it may have seemed like Limp Bizkit would rule the world forever, but they faded into obscurity just as quickly as they entered the spotlight. Same goes with James van der Beek and Furby.
But there is a recent fad so perfectly and bizarrely simple, that it stretches across age groups and may have significant staying power. I’m speaking, of course, about Silly Bandz.
I first noticed the proliferation of Silly Bandz at my summer job. I work as a TA for a summer day camp, and it seemed as if every single kindergartener in my class had a wristful of these colorful rubber bands that, when laid flat, took a particular shape. Name just about any noun and there’s probably a Silly Band of it.
I figured it was just a little kid trend until my high school sister told me her classmates loved them, too. She works at a large department store and said people would come in just to buy bags of Silly Bandz. Then, when I came back to Lawrence, I found that even college kids were getting in on the fun. One even had a Jayhawk Silly Band.
Just from an economic standpoint, Silly Bandz are brilliant. A whole store’s worth of silly bands probably costs about a dollar to make, and they are sold at what has to be an insane profit. A 24 pack can go for as high as $6.
But what is particularly intriguing about Silly Bandz is just how simple the concept is. There’s not really a flashy gimmick to them (other than the funky-fresh use of the plural “z”), which is what most kid trends seem to need to attract consumers. They don’t talk. They don’t tell you your mood. They don’t encourage kids to train clearly sentient creatures to fight each other to the death.
They’re just bright, colorful rubber bands. It would be like if sticks or rubber balls or cardboard boxes suddenly became all the rage.
They can also teach kids lessons. In trading Silly Bandz, kids may learn how to barter, negotiate and avoid being swindled. Also, in my very limited experience with Silly Bandz, I have found that it is incredibly easy for them to simply disappear from your wrist without you noticing them. From this, kids might develop a Buddhist appreciation for the beauty of impermanence and the impermanence of beauty. Or maybe they’ll just buy some more.
Silly Bandz are just fun enough to get kids interested while at the same time being passive enough to avoid over-exposure.
Nobody is going to be annoyed by a few rubber bands resting innocently around your wrist. The only thing that could ruin Silly Bandz’ unique shot at longevity is the development of a Silly Bandz media empire. We don’t need a Silly Bandz cartoon with an gratingly catchy jingle.
That being said, if a television executive feels that we do need such a cartoon, I am definitely available to write it.
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