added by Keely Adler · updated 3mo ago
Everything Is Merch
Some people's idea of merch is Trump’s gold high-tops. Merch as a status symbol. Merch as a subgenre. Merch as a style statement. Merch as an identity marker. Merch as something of waning cultural relevance.
from Everything Is Merch by Ana Andjelic
Keely Adler added 3mo ago
Anything can be turned into merch if infused with enough symbolic value and cultural capital.
from Everything Is Merch by Ana Andjelic
Keely Adler added 3mo ago
Whereas in the past a person wearing a Nirvana t-shirt was probably a fan of the band’s music, today no such guarantee exists (and many more shirts are sold). This often precludes one of the original purposes of merch, a signaling of belonging to a certain (sub)culture.
Still, the meaning-making of merch has not disappeared, but merely shifted. A pe
... See morefrom Everything Is Merch by Ana Andjelic
Keely Adler added 3mo ago
Merch is always a physical object and a symbol
from Everything Is Merch by Ana Andjelic
Keely Adler added 3mo ago
- Commodities are interchangeable (who can tell the difference between a Polo and a Tommy Hilfiger shirt if it wasn’t for the logo?); merch was a unique expression of a specific time, place, community, and context
from Everything Is Merch by Ana Andjelic
Agalia Tan added 4mo ago
Rather than being a retail’s side gig, modern merch has become its main act. Merch has always been a high-margin moneymaker, so a subtle but all-encompassing transformation of retail’s operating principle into merch makes economic sense. Through the process of transubstantiation from a youth culture artifact to a killer business model merch has bee
... See morefrom Everything Is Merch by Ana Andjelic
Keely Adler added 3mo ago
social and cultural capital made merch the opposite of a commodity. Commodities are interchangeable (who can tell the difference between a Polo and a Tommy Hilfiger shirt if it wasn’t for the logo?); merch was a unique expression of a specific time, place, community, and context.
from Everything Is Merch by Ana Andjelic
Keely Adler added 3mo ago