Post-post-modern.
Not conforming - having your values sold back to you so in effect you conform to something else instead.
Nobody want’s to be labelled a hipster because the whole idea of the moment is not to fall under a certain category.
If you have to ask what it means to be hip, you are not hip.
‘Hip-ness’ was relevant in post-war america, it was against materialism, a way of expressing yourself and refusing to conform. It was a term used in jazz, then became a term used to describe white bohemians following black jazz culture.
It’s not longer cool - it became a middle class thing.
Adbusters describe hipsters as the dead end of civilisation.
NO CORE? - what is it based on? There is no clear connection between ‘hipsters’.
Authenticity, craft movement, cottage industry.
‘Cool hunters’ spot new trends and see potential… hipster culture had potential.
Culture, neighbourhood, authentic, organic, local, sustainable - this can be marketable.
It’s a belief system - virtue signalling (showing everyone else that you are doing the right thing).
Authenticity - simplicity, true essence, expressing individuality.
Meaning and values become attached to products.
You demonstrate your commitment when you buy into these instead of other brands.
You buy the products but you are buying its story too - storytelling is what people seek.
MAST Chocolate Example…
‘Story, education, experience.’
Battling against major confectionary companies, disrupting the norm.
Collecting cocoa beans from the dominican republic in a traditional sailing boat. It’s about finding what is new, what is rare, what is hard to produce?
SCANDAL - lies about production methods, a sense of being un-authentic.
The story behind them makes these products luxury goods. Micro-conniseur.
Hipster culture gets put under the microscope in the marketing world.
Interesting, eccentric, etc. Examine the principles of hipster culture and find things that would fit in with this.
FAKES - Pret a Manger, Harris + Hoole (owned by Tesco) - mass produced to create an authentic feeling place to eat and drink.
It’s a nice life, a modern day utopian lifestyle. Hipsters have worked out what is pleasant and they can afford it so they like it.
Estate agents follow artists and follow trends to make money from up and coming areas. Example: Shoreditch.
Counter culture / subculture / consumer culture ??
It becomes consumer culture when it is oriented around products.
Hipster culture cares about origins of products and has a sense of consumer guilt.
They have made spaces less bland and have a sense of social space and community.
The idea go ‘cool’ will always evolve.
Further Research
Harris + Hoole - artisan coffee shop owned by / in partnership with Tesco... TESCO
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| An attempt at a backstory... |
- Hipster culture was originally against materialism but the current state of it shows that consumer culture has even found a way to make this concept marketable. THIS SHOWS ANYTHING IS MARKETABLE.
- Virtue signalling - buying things to show/prove what you stand for and believe in. An unnecessary gesture that we are led to believe is totally necessary.
- STORYTELLING - a key method for selling. People attach the meaning of the story to the product, they are contributing to consumer culture but they still feel like they are battling against it.
- Hipster culture has gone from being anti-consumerism to a lifestyle revolving around luxury goods. Consumerism will always find a way to draw you in to buying things.
- There is a sense of consumer guilt in hipster culture - companies play on their sense of social responsibility to get them to buy their products over the most common brands, but in the process they become part of the gimmick.
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