Popular culture can be expressions, beliefs, attitudes, entertainment, movies, books, interests, and even styles or fads. It is a topic or idea that begins to emerge at a specific time and in a specific group. Popular culture is subject to change and often an initiator of change.
To me, popular culture is something that is trending during a specific period of time. When I think of popular culture I picture the hot clothing styles for the season, the new movie that everyone is talking about, or maybe the current events in the news. There are certain pop culture items or ideas that have been around for many years such as Barbie and there are also some that fade fairly quickly, for example, Silly Bandz. They were the new hot item for the younger generation and stayed around for a year or so before getting replaced by something new. Popular culture is continually changing because the beliefs, attitudes, and taste of society is changing as well.
When I think of popular culture in a business environment I immediately focus on marketing. In order to market your product or service you must know what the current pop culture topics are. It is important for a business to know and understand the trends in the market and learn about their customers. If your business is a service then it is important to be able to stay up to date with pop culture. You don’t want to fall behind with technology or current issues around the community. I currently work for a landscaping company and in order for our business to stay up to date, it is important to learn about our target market and know what the customer wants. There are different styles of landscaping and if you aren’t continually learning and keeping up with trends then you will lose customers because they might not want a look from 20 years ago. It’s also important for us to keep up with technology in order to do our accounting as well as our designing.
I chose the Beats by Dre headphones as my pop culture artifact because this is a newer item that came out a few years ago that continues to be in high demand. The younger generation thinks they are cool if they own them and others love them because of the high quality sound that you get. The idea has been around for many years but this item is said to give you the sound that the artists hear originally and also provides noise cancelling. This is a representation of what famous artists and younger generations are wanting because they have more access to music on iPods and smartphones.
Kristin ~ I remember those Silly Bandz, as I have two daughters who are now ages 13 and 14, but when they were in elementary school, it was ALL they could talk about for about a year. Then as quickly as they came into our lives, they were gone! It's ironic though because when I was in elementary school, they had the jelly bracelets that were just as big of a fad; similar concept, gone just as quick. Beats are also a similar concept from previous years, only better or improved. They are an improved way to listen to music, from what used to be headphones of a walkman, and then an iPod, etc. But as technology advances, it is definitely hard to keep up with the next best thing. I'm finding it was easier as a parent to keep up with the Silly Bandz fad, than it is Dre's Beats!
ReplyDeleteKristin that is a great pop culture artifact. It is funny how the same concept keeps evolving into new more high demand products. Dre's Beats are a major improvement over the walkman I had when I was younger or even the portable cd players. I can't even imagine what my children will be listening to there music on when they are in junior high and high school.
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