The Rebel Sell is a book that explores how counterculture actually fuels consumerism, with companies selling the idea of subversion and individualism. The concept argues that counterculture individuals contribute more to consumerism than the average shopper, and dissects the supposedly cool counterculture. However, the problem is that true individuals who don’t contribute to fast food or coffee shop lifestyles usually pay more for their products, making rebel selling an endless circle.
The Rebel Sell is a concept expounded in a book of the same name by Canadians Andrew Potter and Joseph Heath. The book addresses anti-globalization issues such as consumerism and counterculture politics. While Naomi Klein’s book No Logo rallied for the counterculture political activist, The Rebel Sell takes a tongue-in-cheek approach. The concept shares the view that the counterculture actually fuels consumerism, although the activist may think otherwise.
Counterculture has always been a buzzword for the concept of cool. Great people, or the business world’s idea of great people, are the ones who buy and sell the products. They are the first to spot new trends and new ideas. Usually, when the business world has crept in, the idea is years old. However, now companies are hiring the cool people to predict products in front of the crowd. For a price, you can be cool and a circle of consumers starts from there.
Rebel selling is how companies sell the idea of the counterculture and the subversive. Everyone wants to be an individual; no one wants to be the same, but individualism costs more than your supermarket brand. People pay more to appear individual, although they may say they hate consumerism and the concept of a consumer society. Rebel Selling claims that it is the counterculture individualist who contributes more to consumerism than the average shopper.
This is the main point of the rebel sale. Che Guevara is now just an icon to be sold on T-shirts and necklaces. Who is selling, the businessman making the shirts or the person wearing them? Wearing the shirt defines the wearer’s individuality in the head, but by purchasing the shirt, he or she has just bought into the idea of the counterculture in the consumer business world.
Rebel selling is a dissection of supposedly cool counterculture. For example, some large companies have the power to change the lyrics in a band’s song. The band Nirvana released two versions of an album: one for music stores and one for Wal-Mart stores. Wal-Mart is a family store and wouldn’t stock Nirvana albums unless some of the lyrics were changed. Wal-Mart is so big that failing to change their lyrics could potentially cost the band millions.
One of the theories about Kurt Cobain’s suicide is that he couldn’t stand seeing how his music was marketed. If this were true, sad as it was, his suicide would have made him more of a counterculture rebel. The image of him could therefore be added more effectively to the cycle of The Rebel Sell. In death, the iconic stature is pushed to the max.
The problem with the concept of The Rebel Sell is that there are real people in this world. Kurt Cobain was a true individual. These folks are always one step ahead of the trends and don’t contribute to the fast food or coffee shop lifestyle. The problem is that their free trade coffee usually costs a little more than regular coffee. Rebel selling is an endless circle.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
