Just Focus » youth

Posts Tagged ‘youth’

Identity and advertising

Thursday, January 26th, 2006

Eva Lawrence

Identity — it’s so hot right now! No, but really, it’s huge, especially in the teen years as you develop a sense of who you are, what is important and where you belong.

But what is identity?
Identity is what makes you the fabulous unique person that you are! It’s the combination of lots of influences like: cultural and national identity, friends and whanau, values and religion, discrimination and stereotyping; gender and sexual preference and the influences of society, the media and advertising.

Most of these influences make sense, but one that we don’t often think about is how the media and advertising influence global youth culture’.

Branded Identity

While situations for young people around the world are very different, there is one dominant youth culture. That culture is created, presented and sold to us every day. It’s the one you see in ads, music clips and in heaps of images.

This is a culture presented by marketers. It is inaccurate, it is often negative and it keeps changing. You need to keep your finger on the pulse, keep doing new things and buying new things to keep up with it.

Ponder these stats:
US teens spend US$100B a year, and their parents spend another US$50B a year on them.

The average young person in Aotearoa New Zealand sees 20,000 TV ads a year!

That means youth markets are worth big bucks and companies need to be able to see to you. But that’s hard! You are so damn cool and what is cool changes all the time.

An effective technique used by advertisers is to combine products with image so you are not just buying a drink or phone, you’re buying an identity.
“Boost understands that brands are an integral part of today’s youth identity. Boost customers purchase more than pay-as-you-go mobile phones and services; they buy an experience. Everything we do is purposeful, meaningful and consistent with the aspirations of young people.” — from Boost Mobile site:
Brands are mentioned by artists in heaps of songs — to show wealth or poverty or just to express the things that are part of people’s everyday reality or desires.
According to US company American Brandstand there has been a rise in the mention of not only clothing labels but cars, soft drinks and weapons.
The winner of most brand-dropping in 2004 was Kayne West, who mentioned 19 brands in his 4 singles of 2004. He beat 2003 winner 50 CENT.
Record labels often charge to have brands appear in Music Clips but up til now artists haven’t been paid when they mention a product in the lyrics of their songs. That has changed though.
In 2005, McDonalds offered to pay MCs between US$1-$5 each time a song which mentions Big Macs is on the radio!

Seagrams Gin got put into 5 raps in 2004 the same way. This included Petey Pablo’s “Freek-a-leek” with the lyrics: “Now I got to give a shout out to Seagram’s Gin/Cause I’m drinkin’ it and they payin’ me for it.”

So, what impact does it have?
Scary but true: brands and advertising help to define us. While it’s not the only thing that affects us, it does affect us all.

Advertising is based on the desire to be something you are not and something that is probably not real. These false images can cause:

Low self esteem
Eating disorders
Extreme stereotypes
Confused images of people in different countries
Spending cash you just don’t have!
Being defined by someone else!

What Can I do?
We have a responsibility to look critically and redefine ourselves.
You don’t have to reject everything that is cool and buy everything from the op-shop to fight against this influence.

You can start by being aware: of what is being pushed and of your own consumption. See the image of youth that is being packaged and sold to you and choose for yourself how you define your identity: individually, as a community and globally…

LEARN MORE

Adbusters
Media Watch
Merchants of Cool (online doco)

No Logo — Naomi Klein
Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers — Alissa Quart

This article was originally published in Jet Magazine’s World View column and is published here with their permission.

Tags: consumerism, corporations, identity, Media, music, tv, youth
Posted in Articles, Culture & Society, Media | No Comments »

Banking with minutes

Monday, November 14th, 2005

Omar Hamed

A young minor offender being sentenced by his peers, an American insurance company being paid for in time, a peer tutoring system that rewards students with recycled computers and Glasgow residents paying for tarot card readings by doing gardening. Four very different applications of one simple idea. Time as currency.

Across 12 countries, over 500 Time Banks are working towards what many see as the “Third Economy”. From Ghana to Japan there are now community organisations structured not around money but around time. It’s not charity, it’s community; it does not value dollars, it values time. Time Banks trade hours of voluntary work, work done for the community and for individuals. It does not create an economy, it creates a society.

It works simply, you give up one hour of your time to voluntary work and you gain one time dollar. You can spend that tax free dollar on local services and other people’s time volunteered by other participating individuals and organisations. And it does not matter if you are a corporate lawyer doing community legal work or a sixteen year old tutoring your neighbour’s children, everyone’s hour is worth the same. A computer system calculates how many time dollars you have and sends you an account based on your earnings and spending.

In London you can spend that time dollar on drama classes or gaining IT skills. There are no longer recipients of charity or what the creator of this system, American Civil Rights Lawyer, Edgar Cahn, calls “the throw away people”.

Time Banks are based on four principles; Assets, that every human being is one, Redefining Work, no more taking women’s, children’s, or volunteers’ work for granted, Reciprocity, replacing one way acts with two way ones, and Social Capital, what British PM Tony Blair calls the “magic ingredient”, the work done that benefits the community and through ongoing investments of which we can turn social breakdown into social cohesion.

Surprisingly, Time Banks have been incredibly successful. In London alone there are 31 Time Banks that have clocked up over 28 000 hours in voluntary work. In Chicago refurbished computers were given out to 4800 students, in up to 50 problem schools, who did one hundred hours of peer tutoring and whose parents also did eight hours of community work. Academic results went up, bullying went down.

The crime ridden and notoriously poverty stricken housing development Benning Terrace in Washington DC now clocks up enough hours to buy four tons of food per month at the local food bank.

Law firm Holland and Knight billed the Shaw community in Washington for $230 000 in time dollars after they closed crack houses, made frozen government money available for a local playground, cleaned up local police corruption and kept the neighbourhood school open. The community repaid this by helping with the local clean up, school tutoring, a night escort service for elderly and by phoning in license plate numbers of drug dealers’ cars.

The benefit to the community does not end with the deed. With each payment and repayment bonds within the community strengthen and those people who have been told that they have no value; the unemployed, immigrants, the young and the elderly discover that they can in fact be an asset to the community. One participant of the scheme said it was “impossible not to make friends”.

In the UK, participation in Time Banks by those earning less than ’£10 000 is double that of the same demographic group participating in traditional volunteer work. Time Banks are redefining the responsible democratic citizen. A Californian law firm receives payment for legal advice by clients turning up to demonstrate outside the workplaces of bad employers.

Time as money schemes have the potential to revitalise the public sector by turning it from resource-stretched to resource-rich. With the expansion of the Time Bank scheme long waiting lists of mental health patients will be a thing of the past.

British doctors are already referring patients with long term depression to local Time Banks. What about New Zealand’s over stretched parole service and high rates of reoffending? In San Diego ex-prisoners pay for aftercare services in time dollars earned by being part of a support group.

In Washington D.C. volunteer youth jurors on a special Youth Court jury are paid in time dollars for their work. The youth offenders go before the court and are given community service sentences, Lifeskills training, they must make an apology to the victims and become a youth juror themselves.

The Youth Court is helping break down the cycle of reoffending which many justice systems encourage. In this way youth suddenly become responsible for participating in their community and finding alternatives to crime. One youth who was sentenced at the Youth Court later became a volunteer juror, helping other youth like himself.

What of Auckland’s growing traffic problem caused by low rates of public transport use? Plans have already been made in London for a “Tutor Commuter” program. You will be able to learn French on the Underground or teach English to new immigrants on the bus on your way to work.

In the 21st century Time Banks will have their day. Cahn’s goal, “To create a society where decency and caring are rewarded automatically” is becoming a reality in London, Washington and many other cities. How long before New Zealand joins this global movement? It is only a matter of time.

LEARN MORE

Time Dollar USA

Time Banks UK

Tags: banks, community development, economy, justice, local, microenterprise, resources, social networking, youth
Posted in Articles, Culture & Society, Economics & Trade | No Comments »

Rage for the machine — the corporatisation of youth

Tuesday, August 9th, 2005

I see two major problems with the corporatisation of youth — the effect it has on youth, and how it reduces the potential of youth rebellion to create real change.

Corporations target the teenage market
Corporations target teenagers to sell products. This is no surprise: in the year 2000 teenagers spent 100 billion dollars — a huge amount of money.(1) The scrabble to sell to teenagers has corporatised youth - brands and labels often sell identities or attitudes rather than products. Corporations spend big money trying to keep up with trends - some people have full time work figuring out what’s cool! (such as 18tracker, which is a youth market research company)

There is nowhere that advertisers cannot get you. One high school in America once held “Coke Day”. Coke were offering prizes for being the most effective school at promoting Coke.(2)

Anti-corporate rebellion has even been sold! The (now dissolved) rock band Rage Against The Machine advertised T-shirts for sale in the lyric sheets of their albums! Pictures of Argentinian guerilla revolutionary Che Guevara have sold everything from T-Shirts to soap powder.

Building branded youth stereotypes
Labels and cosmetic companies exploit teenagers deepest fears and insecurities to sell products. Perhaps you have heard this on Clearasil adverts. “your skin’s so unpredictable, if it was a guy, you’d dump him” and “you want the girl, but you have oily skin, so you can’t get the girl”. Huge sections of NZ youth live in poverty, yet spend ridiculous amounts of money on labels and cosmetics. If they don’t, they face exclusion and bullying.

The ugly side of branding
As far as I’m concerned, this is, plainly and simply, a form of terrorism. It isn’t hard to imagine how this type of marketing contributes to teenage suicide and depression. We all know how corporate-funded supermodels — used to sell labels — cause low self esteem which can lead to anorexia, bulimia and other health problems. Corporations terrify teenagers into going to insane lengths to conform to fashions and body images, and then sell them the products to do it with.

Cool T-Shirt Rebellion as fashion
Even youth rebellion has become a fashion trend. Think of all the products you own which have a rebellious image. It could be a T-Shirt, or a CD, or a haircut or anything. Now, ask yourself the question “How really rebellious is this?” There’s a reasonable chance some of these rebellious pieces of clothing were produced in sweatshops. Many musicians are choked and controlled by their record labels — remember how Shihad had to change their name for America because it sounded like Jihad? Buying commercial rebellious’ CDs does little to help independent voices. Rebellion is more about the sale of an attitude than global justice.

Keeping rebellion about the real issues
One of the most intensely covered protest movements I read about on an independent news site(3) was J-Day (A.K.A international marijuana day). In the midst of huge global issues, why did protestors and independent journalists care so much about cannabis and pot smoking?

Rebellion is often a trend and subculture, not a push for change. Lets use George Bush as an example. Bush and America are fun to ridicule(4) — but how many anti-Bush’ people really care about anything more than a laugh? One person at an anti-war protest had leaflets supporting Iraqi insurgents.(5) O.K, Bush is bad. So is war. However, supporting terrorists that blow up civilians, threaten democratic elections and support a dictatorship is just as stupid. Another person yelled “hooray for us!” This suggests a group of people out for an event and a laugh, and to look rebellious — not a group genuinely fighting for global peace and justice.

Taking the power back
But how can consumerism be fought when rebellion is a product for sale? I don’t know, but here’s an idea: teenagers spent approximately $150 billion in 2001 - about twice the GDP of New Zealand! (6) This power of the consumer is power over corporations in the fight for global justice. Imagine the impact if, for instance, a multibillion dollar demographic suddenly decided to boycott everything that wasn’t fair trade

As to how to rebel authentically, I don’t know. However, shouldn’t there be some actual push for change involved? It shouldn’t just be about smoking pot, and certainly not about buying into a corporate terror state.

“When we hang the capitalists they will sell us the rope we use” — Joseph Stalin

***Or am I completely wrong? Please feel free to disagree with and discuss everything I say in the forum.

References:
(1) Transcript of documentary about similar topic
(2) This story is from the book Stupid White Men, by Michael Moore.
(3)Indymedia , Independent news site which is very informative about lots of things
(4) This is a good example of anti-Bush /America comedy.
(5) Article in student magazine about contemporary Anti-Americanism
(6) Global stats site. Teen $150 billion spending stat from reference (2)

LEARN MORE

Article about market researching teens in New Zealand

TAKE ACTION!

Ethical Consumer - Good advice on boycotting

Otherwise, be creative.
This illustration was first published in Tearaway magazine and is reprinted here with their permission

Illustrator: Rebecca Ter Borg
Photographer Eva Lawrence

Tags: Activism, consumerism, corporations, health, Media, poverty, sweat shops, youth
Posted in Activism, Articles, Culture & Society, Economics & Trade, Media, Take Action | No Comments »

Globalisation — what are the negative impacts?

Tuesday, August 9th, 2005

Andrew Colgan

What is Globalisation?
Globalisation is the buzz word on everybody’s lips in the 21st century. But what does it mean? It basically means the world is getting smaller in just about every sense, except for geographically. Exchange is becoming more rapid, travel more feasible, communication faster and more accessible, advertising and media more widespread and movement of money more free-flowing.

Globalisation’s winners and losers
But globalisation is causing huge problems. Those who appear to be in control of the process (transnational corporations (TNCs), multilateral institutions and governments of wealthy industrialised nations) don’t seem to have the interests of everybody in mind. Consequently, economic and financial globalisation is happening at a rate disproportionate to all other developments. Economists and world leaders speak in terms of revenue, exchange, capital movement, structural adjustment and interest. Such concepts as emotion, cultural identity equality, environmental protection and social benefit seem to be foreign and are left out of the equation.

Some problems caused by Globalisation
The resulting problems are huge, and hit women, children and those on the periphery (especially in poorer countries) the hardest. These problems include:

Exploitation in employment — as well as appalling wages and working conditions, in many cases women and children are abducted and forced to work in oppressive factories or as sex workers.
The rise of the HIV / AIDS pandemic, displacement and longer working hours resulting in the orphaning and abandonment of children.
Neglect of the sick, illiterate, disabled and elderly as governments’ priorities shift towards economic growth and servicing of public debt.

The role of International institutions
The fate of many poorer or “developing” nations lies in the hands of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Claims that Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) are in the best interest of those poorer nations, and not simply for the benefit of the wealthy creditors of these International Financial Institutions (IFIs), are dubious at best. The liberalisation of trade by the WTO has meant a removal of tariffs. Now only governments which can afford to pay subsidies can protect their producers. The complexity of international trade often makes it difficult to understand how huge disparities come about. Some excellent examples are given in a Christian Aid video called “Nuts”.

The problems with Transnational Corporations
Transnational corporations (TNCs) are quietly gaining dangerously unaccountable political power in both rich and poor countries. For example:

Finland is home of the mobile phone company Nokia. This company is so big that it accounts for 2/3 of the stock exchange, 1/5 of all exports, a significant proportion of the country’s tax revenue and employs over 22,00 Finns. By threatening to remove production to another country, Nokia effectively holds the Finnish government to ransom and so has a great influence in its political decision making.
Wal-mart is a huge American department store. Its clothing range is produced in factories in Bangladesh, taking advantage of the fact that there are no minimum wage laws there. Wal-mart is 55 times the size of the entire Bangladesh economy. By threatening to remove production to another impoverished (and therefore cheap) country, it has negotiated a deal with the government so it no longer pays a single cent of taxes.

The widening gap between the rich and poor
Despite extensive plundering of the world’s natural resources, this wealth has been shared less and less equally and extreme poverty remains. The gap between rich and poor is growing on a local and an international level:

The richest 20% of the world’s population enjoy 86% of its resources while the poorest 20% must survive with a little over 1%.
The 225 richest people in the world have the equivalent income to the poorest 2.25 billion.
The world’s 3 richest people have fortunes equivalent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the world’s poorest 36 countries.
200 million children never start school (3/4 of these are girls). The amount needed to send these children to school each year is less than the amount spent on cosmetics in the USA and less than half the amount spent on ice-cream in Europe.

The Homogenisation of a Global Youth Culture
The growth of advertising and the entertainment media is contributing to the rising of a homogenous global youth culture. In New Zealand it is now estimated that we see on average over 3000 advertisements every day. Young people are made to feel insecure through “image advertising” and then told consumption is the answer to their insecurities. The result is a rise in individualism and a lack of compassion and care for others. People are encouraged to care more about money and image than family and community. Perhaps this plays a part in the high youth suicide rate in New Zealand. The other adverse effect of this global youth culture is that we are seeing people all around lose their unique cultural identities in pursuit of a branded western culture. In many ways, diversity is fighting a losing battle against globalisation.

LEARN MORE

Try googling any of these subjects and you’ll find heaps of articles and discussion — but here’s a selection to start you off…

Sweatshops
Corporation Watch — exposing sweatshops
Article in A World Connected
The feminist perspective

Child labour
Human Rights Watch
UNICEF

Trafficking
Human Rights Watch
United Nations

HIV and AIDS — stats, info, aid agencies etc
Young People and AIDS
UN Report (June 2005) on the impact on young people

International Financial Institutions (IFIs)
Watching the IFIs
US Network for Economic Justice

Debt
Jubilee Debt Campaign
Article in Global Issues on Debt

Corporations
Corporation Watch — holding corporations accountable
Corporate Watch

TAKE ACTION!

Read an article on this by the same author, Andrew Colgan : Youth Response to Globalisation

Tags: Aotearoa New Zealand, banks, children, consumerism, corporations, free trade, gender, globalisation, HIV/AIDS, labour legislation, Media, poverty, schools, trafficking, youth
Posted in Articles, Culture & Society, Economics & Trade, Global Headlines, Human Rights & Social Justice, Media, News, Politics, Take Action | No Comments »

Travellin around Peru

Tuesday, August 9th, 2005

Mariana Gledhill from Wellington, N.Z. spent 7 months, in 2005, in Peru doing voluntary work. She shares her experiences.

Sorry about the absence of messages. I have been travelling and I have not had much time to write, but I am back in Chincha now, so I have lots of time to write. I had better tell you about Chincha and what it’s like. Chincha is not exactly a city that is going to win beauty contests. Garbage litters all of its roads and there are pot holes everywhere. there are lots of dogs in the streets too, I think more than people. Some of them bark at you like they are going to bite you. I have learned that the best way to combat this is to lean down like you are going to pick up a stone, then they usually back away.

Activities in Chincha are limited. Walking around the plaza de armas is the only thing to do on weekdays. Then you buy food. Lots of exchange students who go to Chincha get much heavier as their time elapses. There are 2 discos in the weekend too. However, if you want to avoid anyone, walking in the plaza and going to the discos are not reccomended as everyone is usually there.

Yeah, Chincha is pretty boring, but I love my work. Seeing my girls after so long was wonderful. There are so many new girls that I am just getting to know as well. One of the Aurora is a 14 year old with a 2 month old baby. I help her out a bit with the baby. I cannot imagine having that responsibility at 14. She seems grounded though. We had Fiestas Patrias competitions as well…. there are 3 zones of Peru and everyone divided into these zones- coast, highlands and jungle. They did dances and singing related to these zones. It was fun helping them prepare and watching them.

I guess I should tell you all about my travels. I went alone, mainly because everyone left Lima before I could get to them. Email is not reliable for that. I went to Huancayo, a very beautiful place. I got free accommodation from friends in return for ‘teaching English.’ I really enjoyed staying with my friends, such nice people. As its in the highlands, I got a bit of altitude sickness but after drinking mate de coca, I was fine. The rio manon valle is just stunning as are the inca ruins at chupaca. It was wonderful.

After that I went to Ayacucho and saw the Wari capital. the wari civilisation was pre Inca and the capital is buried near Ayacucho. The walls are freakeshly high. They know more about construction than modern Peruvians. I also went to the battle of Ayacucho battle field. this battle was fought on my birthday, and the view from the field are stunning.

After that, I made my way to Arequipa to stay with lovely relatives of my family in Lima. They were so nice and I got to drink fresh milk for the first time in God knows how long. I also went to the caà±on del colca, an amazing caà±on that is the second highest in the world. I saw condors and some amazing views that I could just not capture on my camera.

Basically, I had a wonderful time travelling. I am half sorry to be back, but I am enjoying seeing my ‘hijas’ (daughters) again and spending time with them. I cannot believe that I have only 3 weeks left of being here with AFS. It seems like time has gone by so fast, despite the ups and downs. I am now dreaming in Spanish and my English is getting worse. I said ‘conversandering’ the other day. How much more Spanglish can you get? My spelling in English is going down the drain as I am learning the logical Spanish way. People here now say i speak Spansih well. It doesn’´t feel like it, but I know that I am better than I was.

I hope all of you are having a good time at home.

Love
Mariana

Photographer: Mariana Gledhill
Photo: the jungle settlement of Tarzan in the central jungle of Peru

Tags: cultures, dance, development, language, Latin America, Peru, poverty, projects, travel, volunteer, youth
Posted in Aid & Development, Articles, Culture & Society, Human Rights & Social Justice, Your Stories | No Comments »

Branded Identity

Thursday, March 3rd, 2005

Jenah Shaw

Hoodies or miniskirts, ugg boots or sport shoes — whatever your wardrobe looks like, there’s no denying that we carry a sense of self-expression in our clothes, something to give the world a sense of “us”.

If you’re looking for that defining look you can find it in any number of retail clothes shops, and in the world of branded clothing.

Brands and labels are no longer just a name to accompany a purchase, but are an integral part of identity. Which ones you associate with (or don’t for the non-conformists out there), which are the trendiest as of five minutes ago, and the kind of status they represent — it’s all part of the image.

It can seem somewhat fake to just ride the trends — to buy pre-ripped clothes for that vintage look, or to dress punk with no understanding of the culture or music — but in a generation dominated by image and appearance, imitating what is seen in magazines and on TV has become second nature.

With so much importance placed on looks and style, it’s hardly surprising corporations and their market researchers have latched onto the connection between image and identity. And are milking it for all it’s worth.

“Yeah, but is it me’?”
Today’s marketers and retailers are selling ideas, subcultures and attitudes as much as they are selling products. The reality is: these subcultures, ideas and attitudes are invented in boardrooms. And once created, we’ll happily pay huge prices to become part of them.

We aren’t so naive that we don’t know this, but we still buy into it. Why? It might be to flaunt how much we can afford to pay for a single item of clothing, but much more likely is the comfort of associating with a brand, and what’s essentially a pre-packaged identity.

They’re identities which have been created by marketers, who, through various advertising techniques, try to capture that identity people will want to buy into.

Anti-cool is the new cool
Slogans and brand identities capture feelings and attitudes, wants and desires — the sort of thing (they hope) will be desirable among their target audiences. The fact is, in many cases, the target audience in the crosshairs is us — that 12-19 year old consumer group with all the disposable cash.
Glassons has “Wear It Your Way”, suggesting control is with the buyer, who wears it “their way”, thus creating their own identity and gaining self-empowerment — with a little help from their friends at the local Glassons outlet that is (who, by the by, are happily making the profit).

Nike has “Just Do It”, encouraging ideas of independence and spontaneity, and Adidas’s “All Day I Dream about Sport” is all about passion and athleticism.

Then there’s the suburban princess of darkness, Emily Strange, whose character has spawned a line of clothing and merchandise ranging from t-shirts to Thin Lizzy dolls. She is “anti-cool” her website claims, “a subculture of one, and a follower of no-one but herself. She is the anti-hero for the Do It Yourself movement!”

Yeah, and you can be a part of it by buying one of a million or so mass-produced t-shirts. Every slogan and brand identity — with the help of advertising and merchandising — creates a look and attitude that we’re encouraged to be part of.

Take your Mum’s advice — be yourself.
So much more is being sold than just a product, and brands of increasing expense (although not necessarily quality) come with increasing exclusiveness and reputation.

It’s easy to see how brands and labels can become status symbols for whoever wears them, indications of wealth and style — something, society tells us, we all want. So they’re attractive, these carefully planned and strategised illusions, but real identity is much, much more.

Whatever feeling is created, the important thing to remember is brands are in it for the money.
Besides, style is not what you wear, but how you wear it.

FIND OUT MORE

No Logo, Naomi Klein (book)
Branded: The buying and selling of teenagers, Alissa Quart (book)
The New Rulers of the World, John Pilger (video)
antipreneur.org
Adbusters
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
Trade Aid
Global Issues

TAKE ACTION!

Go op shopping. Ah, the thrill of the find and the pride of a bargain. Because a lot of op shop items have been sitting in grandpa’s wardrobe for forty years, much of it precedes the move toward cheap and nasty labour. And more often than not, it’s one of a kind. Cheap too!
Make your own stuff. Who knows, it could be the beginning of a career in fashion design. Not only do you have complete control over what goes on your t-shirts/pants/hoodies, you know exactly who was exploited in the making. And I hear knitting is hip again.
Go Black Spot. This is a new anti-brand movement started by US magazine and anti-The Man force Adbusters. Their mission appears to be to take down Converse founder Phil Knight, and their first action is their Black Spot sneakers. They look just like Converse sneakers, but instead of the Converse symbol have a black spot representing their rejection of brands. SEE: adbusters.org
Seek out fresh talent. If the sewing machine is a bit intimidating for ya, try hunting down an up and coming designer. There are heaps of new boutique fashion stores opening up in the cities with young designers begging to see their work on the frames of hip young things like yerselves. The clothing is generally made in bedrooms and home workshops for the love of it.

This article was written as part of Global Focus a collaborative project of Tearaway Magazine and the Global Education Centre. It was first published in Tearaway magazine and is reprinted here with their permission

Illustrator; Rebecca ter Borg

Tags: consumerism, fair trade, identity, Media, recycling, tv, youth
Posted in Articles, Culture & Society, Media, Take Action | No Comments »

A letter to the Future

Saturday, July 3rd, 2004

Blaise Ramage

To my great, great niece,

I wish I had a bigger voice when I was 16. I would have shouted at everyone to stop and slow down and to look around at what they were killing.

Technology got away on us. We developed too soon and at the end of it, you, our future generation, are the ones that have to pay.

I wish you didn’t have to learn through our mistakes but now you’re stuck with our mess.

Treasure every breath of fresh air you take, every step you walk on green grass. Make shapes out of clouds and love birds, insects and animals as if they were your family.

Love everything around you and speak out loud!

Be the voice that we tried to be.

This article was written as part of the Global Focus a collaborative project of Tearaway Magazine and the Global Education Centre. It was first published in Tearaway magazine and is reprinted here with their permission

Tags: communication, Environment, technology, youth
Posted in Articles, Culture & Society, Environment, Your Stories | No Comments »