Should the Media Pander to Teens

By now, you’ve probably heard of The Emoji Movie, the Sony Pictures Animation film about a sentient Emoji who sets out to find his place in the world. Well, the film ended up being a complete failure. The Emoji Movie shattered records as one of the worst films of the summer, with overwhelmingly negative reviews and a rating of zero percent on the film critiquing site Rotten Tomatoes. The film left a large stain on Sony Pictures Animations’ record, and isn’t likely to be forgotten anytime soon, though we would like it to be.

The Emoji Movie is just another failed attempt by the media to attract a larger teenage audience. It has become more and more common for television shows, films, and even large social media platforms like Twitter or Instagram to try to appeal to “millennials” by incorporating the latest trends into their marketing. And more often than not, this ends up failing. It seems that these companies don’t know how to properly use these trends, and their attempts come off as forced or “cringy”. The majority of the time, their bad marketing ends up driving teens away rather than reeling them in. Think of it like when parents try to act cool. It doesn’t work because they’re not the target audience and often force it. It is because of this that most teens agree this kind of marketing should not be used.  

However, this kind of marketing doesn’t always end badly. When done right, this kind of marketing ploy can actually work and attract the teens it wants. Advertisements that don’t overuse the trend, or apply it to irrelevant situations will most likely succeed. The ads that don’t scream “hey, look how cool and trendy we are!” will reach higher recognition than those who do. The trick is all in the execution of the ad. As long as it isn’t overdone or forced, it can work out okay. Companies need to learn that they don’t need to oversaturate these trends in order to catch attention. Using trends and slang can work out in their favor, but not if they don’t execute it properly. So, the media can continue to pander, and there will be mixed results, but it isn’t solely good or bad. In the end, we should let the media pander, even if it annoys us.