THE NATION’S NEWSPAPER
Collegiate
Case
Study
www.usatodayeducation.com
World of politics,
comedy converge
By Peter Johnson
4-6
By year's end, regular
size will have to do
By Bruce Horovitz
7-8
Geek chic
By Susan Wloszczyna and
Ann Oldenburg
By Jefferson Graham
12
Stewart's image is
tarnished, but for how
long?
By Maria Puente
13-14
Students’ TV habits
Percentage of secondary school students who say
they watch three or more hours of television on an
average school day:
11th graders
12th graders
The media play a critical role in informing citizens, influencing attitudes and
even touting the latest trends. Candidates who run for office are well aware
of the impact the media have on the public opinion and, ultimately, how
citizens choose to vote. Political candidates' success is not based solely on
their stance on the major issues, nor their ability to generate enough
revenue to mount a formidable campaign — though both are critical aspects
of a campaign. Without the media, most people would know little about the
people who run for office, much less those who are actually elected.
Just as the media influence opinions about candidates, they also help shape
the latest trends in fashion, music, entertainment, nutrition and other facets
of daily life. The media's role in our everyday lives is critical because often
the information they provide shapes public opinion and influences our
choices — from what music we choose to purchase to the candidates we
elect. This case study will explore the media and the impact on American
pop culture.
Cover Story
USA TODAY Snapshots®
9th graders
Media's Influence
on Pop Culture
9-11
Pepsi, Apple team to tout
music downloads
10th graders
BS2004-01
45.3%
39.2%
34.7%
31.3%
'Everything is so
5 minutes ago'
Suddenly, the heat's on
to stay cool
By Olivia Barker
USA TODAY
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “Youth
Risk Behavior Surveillance, 2001”
By Keith Simmons, USA TODAY
A year or so ago, mesh trucker caps,
the kind with the peaked foam facade
screaming "John Deere" and other
never-in-New York logos, perched on
the pates of intrepid hipsters in such
edgy haunts as Williamsburg, a
Brooklyn neighborhood.
Now, Ashton Kutcher, the kind of
guy who graces the cover of YM
magazine, wears them.
In other words, now they're not
exactly cool.
"As soon as Ashton Kutcher adopts
a trend, that's when you know it's
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY LIFE SECTION, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 2003, PAGE 1D
over," says Robert Lanham,
Williamsburg denizen and author of
the recently published Hipster
Handbook. Ditto Kutcher's female
counterpoint, Avril Lavigne, she of the
erstwhile-edgy studded leather cuffs.
Out in a mall store in Massapequa,
N.Y., a mere 30 miles from his
neighborhood, Lanham spies a succinct
illustration of his point: a red-andwhite trucker hat with "Dork" slapped
across the front in fuzzy black letters.
When it makes it out to Massapequa
— Jerry Seinfeld says it's Indian for
"near the mall" — the irony of
appropriating something so antifashion as a scratchy nylon hat gets
lost along the Long Island Expressway.
And guess who becomes the
real dork.
The cool continuum — that twisty
trajectory that traces pop culture from
cultish to trendy to mainstream to soover-it's-embarrassing to, finally,
kitsch — is being compressed. What
used to require years to migrate to the
mall, MTV and, yes, USA TODAY now
takes only a matter of months.
Which is making hipsters nervous:
How can they stay ahead when the
Massapequa knockoff is as predictable
as an episode of Punk'd?
"The way culture is these days,
everything is so five minutes ago," says
Jon Hein, creator of Jumptheshark.com
and author of the book by the same
name, which refers to an actual, utterly
hokey moment in the long life of the
TV show Happy Days when fans knew
Fonzie had growled his last "Ayyy!"
with any dignity.
"There's a lot more available to us in
a much shorter period of time," Hein
says, from scores of cable channels to
thousands of Web sites. "So these
cycles keep churning and churning,"
faster and faster, until the suburbs can
almost catch up to the cities.
Soon the formerly subversive —
tattoos, belly piercings and fauxhawks
— turn up at the prom.
"The very nature of cool is that not
everybody's in on it, so once people
know about it, it's hard to stay cool,"
Hein says. "The shelf life shrinks."
Consider The Osbournes, which
returned Tuesday for its third season.
Sure, it's on MTV, but originally it held
all the trappings of a hipster hit: a selfparodying patriarch named Ozzy
Osbourne who happened to have been
the lead singer of Black Sabbath, the
bedrock of many a hipster music
library. And it riffs on '50s kitsch, with
its Ozzie and Harriet vs. Ozzy and
Sharon dichotomy.
But then came Kelly's album, the
Pepsi Twist ads and Sharon's imminent
talk show. "When it becomes so massmarketed, it loses something," Hein
says. "It reeks, and things go downhill
from there."
When the original Matrix was
released in 1999, it proved that rare
crossover hit: innovative action
sequences hooked the heartland; sleek
black outfits and a postmodern
structure appealed to those with
alternative tastes.
Now with The Matrix Reloaded, those
stunts look stale, and the tag line, "Free
your mind," sounds trite. Hein had a
feeling the franchise had jumped the
shark "when you saw everyone in the
neighborhood wearing those Keanu
shades." Not that a sequel spells
inevitable doom: At least a couple of
the Star Wars movies held up to, if not
surpassed, the original.
But part of what's changing is that
huge, historically mainstream
companies feel they need to tap into
an edgy aesthetic in order to sell their
product, with sometimes disastrous
results. Witness Levi's: Targeting
hipsters has cost the jeans giant 50% of
its market share over the past five
years, according to the Zandl Group, a
New York-based trend-analysis firm.
Instead of promoting their tried-andtrue styles, Levi's pushed belly-baring
cuts that few of their traditional
customers could pull off.
Another example is Ford, which
launched the Focus four years ago with
an eye toward the scenesters. "I don't
know of a single young teen or young
adult who finds that aspirational,"
sniffs Irma Zandl, president of Zandl
Group. "What self-respecting DJ would
want to drive a Focus? Please!" The PT
Cruiser had early cool buzz until
Chrysler capitalized on it — and Cher
bought one.
"If you have to tell someone it's cool,
it's not," Hein says.
The mainstream success of trucker
hats notwithstanding, Zandl says it's
"very, very hard" to find examples
where cool has translated to corporate
cash. A couple of exceptions: M.A.C.
cosmetics were a West Village secret
during the early '90s; now they're in
stores from Arkansas to Arizona. Red
Bull was a curious European elixir a
few years ago; now it's as common
as Corona.
And then there's the trickle-up
phenomenon. Just as runways and
fashion magazines stole the safetypinned look from late-'70s punks, posh
stores from Barneys New York to Fred
Segal in Los Angeles are peddling
pricey versions of such heretofore
hipster chestnuts as plastic floral
mules, Vans slip-on sneakers and, yes,
trucker hats.
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Page 2
Pop Culture Case Study
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY LIFE SECTION, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 2003, PAGE 1D
Being cool means being the first to
yank something out of context and
layer on the contradictions. Having
money, for instance, is OK if you cloak
it in Salvation Army apparel and a shift
waiting tables at the local (nonStarbucks) coffee shop. Desk jobs are
verboten. The goal? A career in
dilettantism.
Cool is to style yourself as a burly
blue-collar working man with a
penchant for Pabst Blue Ribbon when
your only calluses come courtesy of
joystick jockeying — with the so-lowtech-it's-camp Atari 2600, naturally.
But then the masses discover a
hipster staple — as they did bluegrass
music, thanks to the movie O Brother,
Where Art Thou? — and the cool refrain
becomes, "Yeah, but I've been listening
to that since (insert long-ago date)."
At Wet Seal, a chain store in
Massapequa's Sunrise Mall, the '80s
new-wave look trotted out by hipsters
over the past few years is in full revival
mode: low-slung belts, black rubber
bracelets and silver-dollar-size
hoop earrings.
Lanham shakes his subtly
sideburned head. "That should tell you
something," he says, pointing to the
stacks of Teen People and Rolling Stone
positioned by the register.
Oh, how the mighty have famously
fallen: Once an arbiter of edge, Rolling
Stone has devolved into the Tiger Beat
for the 18- to 30-year-old set,
according to some sneering types.
What's taken its place? Arty titles like
Black Book and The Fader.
At a store called Tees Me, T-shirts
emblazoned with shiny (read: not
vintage) Rainbow Brite and Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles decals hang on
the racks. A few doors away, Hot Topic
features a Strawberry Shortcake beach
towel in the window. Again, it's new —
and that's a big no-no: Hipsters taking
an arch look at icons from their
childhoods would insist on authentic
relics from the era, not mass-marketed
reproductions.
But cool is also "about finding
something extremely underground,
like, I don't know, Thundercats,"
Lanham says, referring to the '80s
animated TV show.
To Diana Kramer, wandering the
mall in dark-rimmed eyes and a bellybaring tank, cool is more elusive. "You
can't define it. It's what you like. It runs
differently in everyone's mind," she
says. "You can be trendy or you can
choose to have your own style." The
rapper 50 Cent, the clothing line Phat
Farm and the rock group Good
Charlotte? Trendy. "They're what's in,
what people want to believe is in,"
says Diana, 14.
Her friend, Allison Monfort, bemoans
"all that preppy stuff" at H&M and
Abercrombie & Fitch, precisely because
it's contrived cool. Hot Topic, too, is
patronized largely by "poseurs," says
Allison, 13, a padlocked chain around
her neck and chipped red polish on her
fingernails. She's partial to thrift stores
in the East Village.
She should check out Beacon's Closet
in Williamsburg, a hipster emporium
of Johnny Cash records, ratty roller
skates and shrunken polyester shirts.
"Ooh, this is cool. This is rad,"
marvels Jordon Davis, holding up a
crimson leather jacket with a healthy
pair of lapels. Lanham's internal
hipster barometer detects little trace
of irony.
Davis, 19, an aspiring model and
artist, is an Angeleno on his inaugural
visit to New York. "I get a Silver Lake
vibe out here," he says, referring to
L.A.'s Williamsburg analog.
Clad in black cowboy boots, tight
blue jeans and the studiously shaggy
haircut Lanham dubs the Casablanca,
Davis is "more classic," says his friend
Roz Dunn, 24, a real estate agent/party
promoter/bartender who lives in
nearby Fort Greene. "I'm crazier."
Dunn's uniform includes black
motorcycle boots, light blue jeans
secured by a ribbon belt and a white
acrylic sweater capped by puffy
sleeves and lace trim — the kind your
mother forced you to wear in
fourth grade.
In Williamsburg, separated from
Manhattan by the East River, those
who dwell north of 42nd Street are
frowned upon as B and T (bridge and
tunnel) opportunists.
Lanham has an epithet to describe
this completely uncool crowd:
midtown.
And Bianca Casady is the antithesis
of midtown. Strolling cellphone in
hand along Bedford Avenue,
Williamsburg's main catwalk — er,
street — she's wearing a houndstooth
jacket over a tunic that looks like it
was swiped from a candy striper (a
friend made it), piled on top of some
blue sweatpants featuring a faint
camouflage print. On her feet: white
sneakers from the Air Jordans heyday.
"My influence is really tacky street
fashion. I'm really into gold, cheap
gold," says Casady, 21, a writer/
clothing designer/singer/filmmaker.
"Oh, and I cut hair, too," including
the bleached blond electromullet
(Lanham's term) she's currently
sporting.
Lanham just beams.
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Page 3
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY LIFE SECTION, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2004, PAGE 1D
Worlds of politics, comedy converge
politicians and entertainers are
finding that when they join forces,
people love it: Politics and
comedy sell.
Candidates and
entertainers 'don't
compete; they
complement'
By Peter Johnson
USA TODAY
It's no coincidence that when
comedian Dennis Miller kicks off his
CNBC talk show tonight (9 ET/6 PT),
his three guests will be Republican
politicians: California Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger, Arizona Sen. John
McCain and former New York mayor
Rudy Giuliani.
There are serious problems facing
us, but Miller, who is a conservative,
says viewers need breaks from
"avuncular newscasters and their
steely demeanors."
So he'll kick around issues with
three men he admires — with the
accent on laughs.
"These days people are sitting in
their living rooms thinking, 'The
world has gone mad,' " Miller says.
"I'm not Edward R. Murrow on a roof
in London."
Politics and politicians have been
comic fodder since long before Will
Rogers was born. But as the line
between news and entertainment
blurs, and with younger viewers
drifting away from traditional news
coverage, the two worlds are moving
closer together.
Nowhere is this clearer than in this
election year. More than ever,
The most recent example came last
week, when Democratic presidential
hopeful Howard Dean practiced
damage control after virtually every
TV outlet in the nation had turned
him into a poster child for an
imploding campaign following his
ranting, post-Iowa speech.
In a nod to traditional media, Dean
talked first to a broadcast journalist,
ABC's Diane Sawyer on PrimeTime
Thursday, bringing along a no-show in
his campaign so far: his media- and
campaign-shy physician wife,
Judith Steinberg.
Yet within a half hour, Dean was
doing a self-deprecatory "Top Ten"
list on David Letterman's Late Show
on CBS. "The former newsmagazine cover boy ate crow," New
York Times columnist Maureen Dowd
wrote Sunday.
But it was a smart move, most
observers agreed, and a funny video
clip of it was featured on many
morning shows the next day.
For presidential candidates, comedy
shows "have become the proving
ground and also a place of
forgiveness," says Jon Wiener, a
history professor at the University of
California-Irvine.
"If you can show that you can make
fun of yourself, have a sense of humor
and be a regular guy, you can
be president."
Shelley Ross, producer of ABC's
Good Morning America, says the
success of cable's Fox News Channel
might have something to do with a
general drift toward a more
lighthearted look at politics. "Fox
came along and said news can be fun
and it doesn't have to be cookiecutter commentary."
With comedy outlets, "you're really
reaching people in a more relaxed
setting, when they're more open to
liking what you have to present," HBO
executive Craig Minassian told CNN's
Wolf Blitzer during a discussion on
the topic last week. "If a candidate can
go on the show and successfully poke
fun at himself, people tend to like
that person."
Let's be clear: Despite their
increasing clout, entertainers are
hardly close to replacing hard-news
journalists in the political process.
"These comedy shows don't
compete with what I do; they
complement," NBC Meet the Press host
Tim Russert says. "But the
information spectrum is exploding,
and politicians are in the business of
reaching people and using any
available outlet."
The convergence of politics and
comedy has its pluses and minuses,
Wiener says. "The good part is it's a
break from the patriotic cliches — the
boilerplate. The bad part is we still
have serious issues and problems to
be addressed. If comedy gives
politicians a way of avoiding or
ignoring those issues, then that's bad."
Russert sees nothing wrong with
politicians hitting the comedy circuit.
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Page 4
Pop Culture Case Study
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY LIFE SECTION, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2004, PAGE 1D
Comedy can help a candidate
repair or improve image
"I want a candidate for president with
a sense of humor. I want somebody
who can laugh at himself. I think it's
healthy. But I also want somebody
who can go beyond the Henny
Youngman shtick and talk about
Social Security and Medicare."
There has long been a connection
between pop culture and politics: To
get elected, candidates routinely
make nice to entertainers, often to
make themselves look hipper than
they really are.
That's why John F. Kennedy
appeared on The Tonight Show in the
'60s. Likewise Richard Nixon's "sock it
to me" cameo on Laugh-In. Bill
Clinton famously played his
saxophone on Arsenio Hall in 1992.
But it's also why Democratic
contender Wesley Clark hasn't turned
down endorsements by Madonna or
filmmaker Michael Moore: If people
like her music or his flicks, maybe
they'll follow their lead and support
Clark. Similarly, if you're a devout
Letterman fan and you see him joking
around with Dean, perhaps you'll
rethink Dean's antics in Iowa. Don't
rule out Miller's clout, either: He's a
big fan of President Bush.
Bill Maher, the HBO talk show host
and political pundit, says that
politicians are increasingly gravitating
toward comedy shows, not because
they enjoy them but because "they
have to, just like they have to sling
pancakes and milk cows. Doing a 'Top
Ten' list has nothing to do with being
qualified to be commander in chief.
Running for office is a horrible
Politics at the touch of
a remote
process. That's why so many people
who are qualified don't do it."
The latest round of mutual
infatuation started in August, when
action hero Schwarzenegger
announced his candidacy not at a
rally, but on NBC's Tonight Show,
hosted by Jay Leno.
Robert Lichter, who in 1989
pioneered the study of late-night
political humor on TV, credits Leno
with making it hip: The 983 political
jokes Leno did between 1989 and
1991 rose to 1,733 between 2001 and
2003 — far ahead of any competitors.
That has not been lost on politicians,
Lichter notes. "For at least a decade,
they have been trying to find ways
around traditional journalists to get
their message out. They see
comedians as an alternative. And if
they're going to beat up on you
anyway, you might as well
join them."
"We throw softballs," Leno says.
"Politicians get to show their lighter
side, and we have a big audience."
In November, Leno's 6 million
Tonight Show viewers saw
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry,
fighting a perception at the time that
he was a bit stiff, ride a motorcycle
onto the set. "I think it's all about
numbers, isn't it?" Leno asks.
Sure, but it's also about politicians
reaching a traditionally hard-to-reach
audience: young people.
That's
why
a
month
after
THE DENNIS MILLER SHOW
v Premiere: 9 ET/6 PT tonight,
CNBC
v Format: News, interviews and
panel discussions
v Miller's resume: Saturday Night
Live (Weekend Update), 1985-91;
Dennis Miller Live, HBO weekly
series, 1994-2002; ABC Monday
Night Football, 2000-2002.
THE DAILY SHOW
v Host: Jon Stewart, 1999-present
(Craig Kilborn, 1996-99)
v Airs: Comedy Central, MondayThursday, 11 p.m. ET/PT
v Format: Newscast satire
v Notable guests: Bob Dole, Sen.
John Edwards; Sen. Hillary Rodham
Clinton
v Average viewers: 900,000
REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER
v Airs: HBO, Fridays, 11:30 ET/PT;
premiered February 2003
v Format: Live L.A. talk show with
a rotating panel
v Notable guests: Gen. Wesley
Clark; former Calif. governor Gray
Davis; the Rev. Jesse Jackson; former CIA director R. James Woolsey
v Average viewers: 2.9 million
Schwarzenegger's announcement,
North Carolina Sen. John Edwards
announced
his
Democratic
presidential run on Jon Stewart's The
Daily Show on cable's Comedy Central.
Stewart may only reach 900,000
viewers, but he beats programming
on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC among
young adults.
A recent Pew poll of 1,506 adults
found that one in five young people
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Page 5
Pop Culture Case Study
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY LIFE SECTION, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2004, PAGE 1D
now turn to comedy shows such as The Daily Show and
NBC's Saturday Night Live for their political news. The poll
also found that those who learn from late-night shows
don't know much about the current campaign.
Stewart, in typical form after hearing Bush talk about his
push to end performance-enhancing drugs in sports, joked
that he wished Bush had gone the next step and come out
against "instant replay and artificial turf."
The study also found 23% of 18- to 29-year-olds look to
broadcast evening news for politics, down from 39% in
2000. Not a great sign, Stewart recently told TV critics. "I
don't know if you know this, but the children are
our future."
"We asked him to join us not only because he's funny
but because his comedy is based on a smart and serious
interest in politics," NBC political chief Mark Lukasiewicz
says. "He has a healthy skepticism about all of the players
in the political process — including us. His satire engages a
large audience that might not otherwise know or care
about the political process.
Jokes aside, Stewart's emerging clout is clear: Newsweek
featured him on its cover Dec. 29. Last week, after Bush's
State of the Union address, Stewart, who often reminds
people that he does a fake news show, was a featured
commentator on NBC News.
"And at the heart of good satire, often, is good sense."
Behind the Story: A Reporter's Notebook
The reason I decided to do this
story is because media and
politics are becoming a big story
in the media world today and I
and my editors thought it would
be worth looking into. We think
this is possibly one of the
biggest trends to come along in
recent years and other papers
have come up with that as well.
Clearly comedy and politics
Peter Johnson
have merged in the last year Reporter, Life
based on Jay leno, David
Letterman and John Stewart who has become a new cult
figure with his barbs about politicians.
One of the surprising things is how much ordinary
Americans get their news from late night comics as
opposed to actual newscasters. Various studies have
shown that viewers, and especially younger viewers, are
pretty much getting their news from late night comics.
And, late night comics have never professed that they tell
the truth. That is troubling because it shows where young
people are finding out about politics. The place to find out
about what's going on in politics is in newspapers, primetime newscasts and on cable TV. I'm sure all of these
comics would agree since they are all voracious readers of
traditional news. That's where they get their material!"
Peter has been with USA TODAY since 1983 with
Gannett, Inc., USA TODAY's parent company, since 1976.
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Page 6
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY MONEY SECTION, THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2004, PAGE 3B
By year's end, regular size will have to do
McDonald's drops super stuff
By Bruce Horovitz
USA TODAY
Supersizing at McDonald's didn't die from lack of
interest. It died from, well, supersized interest.
Late Tuesday, McDonald's announced it was eliminating
its lucrative Super Size french fry and soft drink option by
the end of the year. Industry executives say supersizing
became too costly for the most critical of reasons — it was
damaging McDonald's image because of:
vToo much interest from consumers. One in 10 request
the extra-calorie-laden upgrade. The very name became a
pop-culture term for any and all things sized XXL.
vToo much interest from outspoken nutritionists
and doctors. It became a lightning rod for America's
obesity concerns.
vToo much interest from advocacy groups and lawyers.
It was being targeted as the fast-food world's nearequivalent of nicotine.
v Too much interest from filmmakers. A comic
documentary to open in May, Super Size Me, is about a guy
whose health deteriorates as he gains 24 pounds while
eating all of his meals at McDonald's for an entire month.
vToo much interest from the media. They've published
reams of articles about the ill effects of overeating by the
nation's youth.
"The target was right on (McDonald's) chest," says Ron
Paul, president of Technomic, a restaurant consulting firm.
"Now, there's one less argument that the other side can
use against McDonald's. The company has just put itself
ahead of the curve."
Even some longtime critics of McDonald's are giving
begrudging approval to the move.
John Banzhaf III, the George Washington University law
professor who has played a key role in consumer lawsuits
against McDonald's, calls it "a small step in the
right direction."
Sizing up the fries
McDonald's large fries vs. the Super Size portion:
Serving size (oz.)
Calories
Total fat (g)
Sodium (mg)
Carbohydrates (g)
Dietary fiber (g)
Protein (g)
Large
6.2
540
26
350
68
6
8
Super
Size
7.0
610
29
390
77
7
9
Source: McDonald's
More impressed is Morgan Spurlock, the 33-year-old
New York resident who produced and stars in the
upcoming documentary Super Size Me. "I applaud
McDonald's — this is a tremendous achievement,"
Spurlock says. He believes that McDonald's fear of public
humiliation from his film was a key motivation.
McDonald's officials scoff at that. And they are
downplaying the action. It was part of a "menu
simplification" process, says Walt Riker, a McDonald's
spokesman. But, he adds, "It certainly is consistent with
and on a parallel path with our ongoing commitment to a
balanced lifestyle."
Welcome to the brave new world of fast food. Following
Wendy's lead, McDonald's added entree salads — which
have been a huge hit. It changed the content of its Chicken
McNuggets from various chicken parts to all white meat.
And it's in the process of adding Happy Meal options to
include vegetables and juice in place of fries and
soft drinks.
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Page 7
Pop Culture Case Study
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY MONEY SECTION, THURSDAY MARCH 4, 2004, PAGE 3B
Officials at Wendy's and Burger King say they have no
immediate plans to change their extra-large meals. But
industry executives say they'll almost have to follow
McDonald's lead.
"They don't want to be seen as less responsive,"
Paul says.
Banzhaf says the effect could spread well beyond
fast food.
By seeing a reduction in the size of fast-food meals,
many consumers may ultimately reduce the size of the
meals they eat at home. "People got used to 7 oz. fries
being normal," Banzhaf says.
Spurlock, whose film is almost certain to get a PR boost
from McDonald's latest action, can hardly contain his glee.
"Is this incredible?" he asks. "Or what?"
USA TODAY Snapshots®
Food for thought at Daytona 500
Fans in attendance for Sunday’s Daytona 500
will have their choice of snacks to munch on
while watching NASCAR’s premier race.
Amount of food and drinks
being consumed:
8,000 pounds
of hot dogs
5,000 pounds
of burgers
30,000
slices of pizza
2,500 pounds
of french fries
Source: Americrown Service Corporation
7,100 gallons
of soda
200 tons
of ice
21,900
brownies
By Ellen J. Horrow and Marcy E. Mullins, USA TODAY
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Page 8
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY LIFE SECTION, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2003, PAGE 1D
Geek chic
even -- they pulled ahead of the rest
of us. And they didn't even have to
stop wearing flood pants to do it.
Nerd is the word
for popularity in
a wired world
By Susan Wloszczyna and
Ann Oldenburg
USA TODAY
We used to shun them, mock them,
give them wedgies and snicker when
they played Dungeons & Dragons.
Those loser days, however, are as over
as Dumb and Dumber prequels.
Knowledge is power and geek is
chic. If you're a cyber whiz who is
plugged into the pop-culture world of
sci-fi, fantasy, comic books and cult
horror, maybe even the master of a
Web shrine devoted to such oncearcane matters, you don't just rule.
You rock.
Consider a scene in the hit movie
School of Rock when a geeky fifthgrader who can tickle the ivories like
a one-man Ferrante & Teicher says he
can't join his class rock band because
"I'm not cool. . . . Nobody ever talks to
me." Counters his teacher, played by
that fount of rock geek trivia known
as Jack Black: "Those days are over,
buddy. 'Cause you could be the ugliest
sad sack on the planet, but if you're in
a rocking band, you're the cat's
pajamas, man."
"It has a lot to do with the computer
revolution, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs,"
says Lynn Bartholome of the Popular
Culture Association. "Those guys were
quote-unquote geeks, and for baby
boomers, they've now got what's
important:
prestige,
money
and power."
She defines a geek as "someone
who is inquisitive, thinks on his or her
own, who is a little bit off-center, who
doesn't follow the crowd." The
Internet, with its personalized sites
and chat forums, is the geek's best
friend. "It has promoted geekdom
because people are expressing
themselves
more
so
than
ever before."
The entertainment industry has
simply wised up and pushed geekfriendly fare into the mainstream.
v The monsters of genre. What are
the big movie franchises of the new
century? The sci-fi of The Matrix, the
fantasy of The Lord of the Rings and
comic-book-spun Spider-Man, which
have pulled in a total $1.5 billion at
the box office.
What was once the obsessive
domain of geek fans has achieved
mass-media popularity.
"Irony is over, feeling is in," says
Dave Poland of Web site Movie City
News and offshoot Movie City Geek.
"The geek stuff that has been
successful allows audiences to
connect personally."
Let's put it this way: If 1984's
Revenge of the Nerds was made today,
it would have to be titled Triumph of
the Geeks. They haven't just gotten
v Digital doodling. Hot animation?
The 3-D creations from Pixar (Finding
Nemo), led by 'toon geek supreme
John Lasseter.
v Page-turner. Who has made
reading cool? Wizard geek Harry
Potter, whose books have sold 200
million copies worldwide.
v Cult scares. What's the No. 1
movie? The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,
a remake of the horror-geek cult
classic from 1974 that almost took in
as much in its first weekend ($28.1
million) as the original has made in
29 years.
"We never thought we were
making a low-budget horror film that
could be cool," says Jessica Biel, star of
the new Massacre, who acknowledges
being a geek. "I was kind of nerdy in
school, and I loved horror films. "
v High note. Who has the No. 1
album this week? American Idol's Clay
Aiken, a self-proclaimed nerd and
proud of it.
v Prime timer. Who is one of the
most popular characters on Fox's hot
teen-aimed soap? Seth on The O.C.,
the high school misfit who
attends the geek summit known as
Comic-Con.
"There are a lot of kids who feel like
Seth," O.C. creator Josh Schwartz says.
"When you're not accepted,
that doesn't mean you do what
everyone wants."
Actually, what everyone wants
these days is a geek of his very own to
explain The Matrix or share rare
Marvel comics. Don't be surprised if
some enterprising Bill Gates type
opens a Date-a-Geek agency. Online,
of course.
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Page 9
Pop Culture Case Study
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY LIFE SECTION, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2003, PAGE 1D
These geeks are at their peak
The geeks may not inherit the Earth, but they definitely are infiltrating mainstream entertainment.
USA TODAY's Ann Oldenburg and Susan Wloszczyna check out the geek class of 2003.
BLUE-COLLAR GEEKS
Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner
Who are they? He's a nebbishy
Clevelander who finds unlikely fame
by turning his mundane life into a
popular comic book titled American
Splendor. His wife is his eccentric
female equal.
Why they're cool geeks: Pekar is not
just a comic-book hero anymore.
Now his curmudgeonly worldview
has been celebrated in the film version of American Splendor. And onscreen, Joyce (played by Hope Davis)
is the essence of a feminist geek.
be a sub at a prep school and transforms his fifth-grade class into kickbutt rock musicians.
Why he's a cool geek: Black has been
painted as heir to the John BelushiChris Farley slob school of comedy.
But Black is more than a beer-guzzling, good-time dude as he tutors
his charges in the ABC's of rock. He's
a true Einstein when it comes to '70s
power chords.
By Dan MacMedan, USA TODAY
opening ever ($22.1 million). Even
more impressive, he didn't have to
compromise his excesses to draw a
mass audience.
HUNK GEEK
George Clooney
Who is he? Cagey divorce lawyer
Miles Massey in Intolerable Cruelty.
The Coen brothers turn their dashing
leading man into a goofball with a
fetish for teeth cleaning — in other
words, a geek.
Why he's a cool geek: Clooney is finger-snappingly swell in such classy
capers as Ocean's Eleven. But team
him with the Coens, film giants to the
geek faithful, and he is one of them.
Cruelty has earned him some of his
best notices as the architect of an
ironclad pre-nup who drops Trivial
Pursuit-worthy names like mountain
climber Tenzing Norgay.
HEADBANGER GEEK
Jack Black
Who is he? In School of Rock, he's a
guitar-god wannabe who pretends to
WEB GEEK
Harry Knowles
By Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY
B-MOVIE GEEK
Quentin Tarantino
Who is he? Video-store clerk turned
twitchy auteur (Pulp Fiction) who
has concocted some tasty, violent
hash out of cinematic fast food:
crime thrillers, pulp noir, kung fu,
blaxploitation, gangster kitsch and
spaghetti
Westerns.
Namely,
geek fiction.
Why he's a cool geek: After a sixyear break, Tarantino strikes back in
fine blood-drenched form with Kill
Bill Vol. 1, collecting his biggest
Who is he? Since '96, the Buddhasized, red-haired founder of the
influential genre-heavy Web site
Ain't It Cool News has built a sizable
following with early film buzz and
juicy scoops.
Why he's a cool geek: Knowles began
as a Texas-based outlaw who's fast
on the keyboard when it comes to
zinging studios. But Hollywood soon
courted the big guy, and it was just
announced he will work as a producer at Joe Roth's Revolution Studios.
SENSITIVE SINGER/SONGWRITER
GEEK
John Mayer
Who is he? Soulful, pop-rock music
darling, who burst on the scene in
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Page 10
Pop Culture Case Study
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY LIFE SECTION, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2003, PAGE 1D
2001 with triple-platinum album
Room for Squares. His second album,
Heavier Things, entered charts at No.
1 in September.
Why he's a cool geek: Mayer says he
was too nerdy to go to his prom. And
now look at him. When he sings
"your body is a wonderland," you
want to take it personally. Mayer
beat out Elton John, Sting and James
Taylor for the male pop performance
Grammy this year.
IDOL GEEK
Clay Aiken
Who is he? No. 2 in the American
Idol contest; No. 1 in our hearts, and
on the charts.
Why he's a cool geek: Aiken says
he's proud to carry the banner for all
nerds. But that only makes him cooler — true to himself, not ashamed to
declare he's a virgin. Since Idol, he
has gotten all spiffed up but has
remained loyal to his mom and his
fans. And his records are selling like
geek-fried griddle cakes.
MAGICAL GEEK
Harry Potter (actor Daniel Radcliffe)
Who is he? Bespectacled book boy
turned movie hero, selling millions of
copies in the publishing world and
millions of tickets at the box office.
RICH-KID GEEK
Seth Cohen (Adam Brody) on Fox's
hit The O.C.
Who is he? Buddy and new "brother"
to the cool lead character, Ryan, and
never intended as the hot guy on
the show.
Why he's a cool geek: He's a little bit
goofy and a little too outspoken. Cool
guys are usually men of few words.
But when Seth tells his dad he's
going to the geek-hot Comic-Con
gathering and instead drives all the
popular kids to Tijuana to party,
that's totally cool. For once, the nerd
is the sexy guy in an ultra-hip, primetime soap. As Newsweek observed,
he's just plain "adorkable."
SECRET-AGENT GEEK
Jake Foley (Christopher Gorham) on
UPN's Jake 2.0
Who is he? An endearing spy who
constantly doubts himself on a new
show aimed at a young audience.
Why he's a cool geek: Just as Clark
Kent was nerdy until he slipped on
the Superman suit, Jake Foley is a
nerdy computer technician until he
slips into being a secret agent. The
appeal comes from the fact that he's
still geeky. He can't believe he has
super powers, and he's sure he isn't
suave enough to score.
Why he's a cool geek: He may be a
misfit, with Muggle foster parents
and the gift of wizardry making him
not quite of either world. But he's
smart, he's brave and he has turned
kids on to reading in a big way. Now,
round black glasses and, well, thinking are really cool, thanks to him.
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Page 11
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY LIFE SECTION, THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2004, PAGE 5B
Pepsi, Apple team to tout
music downloads
By Jefferson Graham
USA TODAY
numerical code for a free download in
the bottle caps can type it into the
iTunes program for a free download.
Digital music goes prime time
during this weekend's Super Bowl.
Pepsi-Cola's launch Sunday of the
highest-profile ad campaign yet for
online music is expected to
dramatically broaden its reach.
"Parents who maybe didn't pay
much attention before will sit up and
take notice when they see it on the
Super Bowl," says Phil Leigh,
an analyst at research firm Inside
Digital Media.
Pepsi is promoting a contest to offer
100 million free downloads at Apple's
iTunes Music Store.
The Super Bowl spot, before an
expected audience of 90 million, "gets
the subject of digital music to people
who haven't considered it before,"
says Ted Cohen, senior vice president
at EMI, home of Norah Jones and
Janet Jackson.
Already, marketers are following
Pepsi. Coca-Cola Wednesday said it
will join with download service
Musicmatch Jukebox to offer free
songs later this year with Sprite.
Pepsi this week shipped 300 million
specially marked 20-ounce bottles of
Pepsi, Diet Pepsi and Sierra Mist to
convenience stores and other
retailers. Consumers who find a
Winners
get
immediate
gratification, says Apple CEO Steve
Jobs. "There's nothing to mail in,
nothing to take back to the store,"
he says.
Pepsi expects redemption rates of
10% to 20%. Apple and Pepsi would
not discuss financial details.
Analysts expect Apple will reap
huge rewards from the contest.
Analyst Charles Wolf of Wall Street
research firm Needham & Co.
estimates the firm is selling 2 million
songs per week. "This campaign will
get them to 5-10 million per week by
summer, or 200 million songs for the
year," he says.
The launch of iTunes last April
revitalized the digital music business,
which hadn't found much consumer
success with initial alternatives to
unauthorized sites like Kazaa. Apple
has sold 30 million downloads at
99 cents each. It claims 70%
market share.
Besides Coke, other companies are
joining online music sellers in
marketing deals — although on
smaller scales. RealNetworks is
hooking up with Heineken. Roxio's
Napster is linking with Miller
Brewing. BuyMusic.com. is associating
with South Beach Beverage, maker of
SoBe. Sony's Connect service this
summer will work with United
Airlines to use frequent-flier miles for
free songs.
That so many companies are
interested in online music is a natural,
says Dave Burwick, Pepsi's chief
marketing officer. It's "one of the
most-talked-about subjects in pop
culture today," he says.
Music is what's on the mind of
young soft-drink consumers, and
Coke has always tried to reach them
in the past, via concert tours, radio
promotions and music-oriented
advertising, says Geoff Cottrill,
director
of
Coke's
music
marketing division.
"This is just another way to get to
them," he says.
USA TODAY Snapshots®
1 in 4 have at least 2 computers
The average number of working computers
Americans have at home:
0
1
47%
29%
9%
3+
15%
2
Source: UCLA Center for Communication Policy;
2,000 national households surveyed in 2002
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
By Sam Ward, USA TODAY
Page 12
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY LIFE SECTION, MONDAY, MARCH 8, 2004, PAGE 5D
Stewart's image is tarnished,
but for how long?
Even critics say legacy
will live on
By Maria Puente
USA TODAY
Soon, we won't have Martha
Stewart to kick around anymore.
Convicted of lying about a stock
transaction and almost certainly
headed for prison, Stewart will be less
ubiquitous for at least a while. But if
she's going away, her legacy won't.
And don't count her sheets and towels
out, either.
Even her harshest critics
acknowledge that Stewart changed
American culture, one of the few
people in any generation who can say
that. She made homemaking
worthwhile. She taught the masses
about design, made it seem attainable
even on a budget. She set standards of
perfection, for which she was
resented and admired. She said even
small things are worth doing well.
And she built a billion-dollar business
on sheer strength of will and vision.
Her federal trial in New York
magnified long-perceived flaws —
that she's mean, arrogant, a control
freak — but it doesn't invalidate what
she stands for, observers say.
Before Stewart, discount stores were
depressing places to buy cheap stuff,
not sources of style. Before Stewart,
no one was on TV promoting gracious
living. Before Stewart, there were no
Michael Graves teapots in Target, no
newsstands stuffed with how-to
shelter magazines, no Queer Eye for
the Straight Guy. Who, before Stewart,
could be called a domestic diva?
"Her legacy will last for centuries,"
says Sarah Susanka, an architect and
best-selling author of the Not So Big
House series of books on home design.
"It's going to continue the awareness
of design as critical to quality of life.
She has done things for the home and
how people think about living that
have been enormously valuable."
Will Stewart's standard of
perfection prevail? Laura Newman of
Bridgeport, Conn., a fan of Stewart's
aesthetic — if not of the commitment,
and money, it takes to realize it —
says the desire for domestic
excellence is "entrenched. She's really
set a precedent. I don't think it's going
to go away."
Even Stewart's many heirs apparent,
who can be expected to benefit from
her exit, aren't dancing on her grave.
"She created this whole genre," says
Katie Brown, the Stewart-in-waiting
on cable's A&E. "We all have to pay
her homage. Without her, there
would be no me. She got the ball
rolling."
Years from now, when we look back
on the Stewart era, it will be as
identifiable as art deco or mid-century
modern, says Brini Maxwell, the Style
network's drag-queen Martha for
budget living. "This period of time will
be defined by her visually," Maxwell
says. "She created such an amazing
aesthetic and packaged it so
beautifully that it is one of the most
recognizable aspects of the '90s, the
Aughts and beyond."
Natalie Warady, style editor of
Budget Living, the successful new
magazine that owes a lot to Stewart,
says Stewart's influence now
percolates through the economy,
especially in the way Target, Sears, J.C.
Penney and other retailers are
imitating her. "The biggest problem
with her empire is that it rested solely
on her," Warady says.
Will consumers turn away as a
result? "If I like something and the
quality of something, I am going to
buy it," says Caroline Little of Easton,
Pa., interviewed in a Kmart. Stewart's
products are good quality, "and they
are adorable." Darlene Webber, who
works in retailing, says Stewart's
name doesn't matter to her buying
decisions. "I don't really look to see if
her name is even on it," she says as
she holds several items from the
Martha collection at the same Kmart.
But there could be an impact on
sales if Stewart has to don an orange
jumpsuit, Brown says. " 'Guilty' is
going to sway some people's
pocketbooks," Brown says. "But she's
a huge fighter and a smart woman, so
I wouldn't count her out yet, or the
enthusiasm of her fans or the
movement."
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Page 13
Pop Culture Case Study
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY LIFE SECTION, MONDAY, MARCH 8, 2004, PAGE 5D
Still, whatever else Stewart
spawned, ambivalence would have to
be at the top of the list.
"She changed the culture a lot, not
to say that she actually improved the
culture," cracks Dan Ho, editor of
Rescue, the anti-Martha magazine
that proclaims itself as "Relief from
house, food and garden perfection."
But "she made tending to your
belongings noble," he says. "Until she
came along, we weren't obsessed to
the extent we are now about
possessions, and she had the idea that
you have a house, you make it clean."
Jerry Oppenheimer, author of a
critical biography of Stewart, Just
Desserts, says Stewart changed things
for good and bad. "She introduced
people to style, to gourmet food, to a
way of life they may not have seen
before," he says. "But many people felt
they couldn't live up to the high bar
that she raised for them."
Now her message may be
somewhat diluted. Her magazines and
books could continue even if she's in
jail, thanks to her large staff. And her
products for Kmart could still sell,
assuming Kmart sticks around. But
she can't do her TV and radio shows
from prison, so she'll disappear from
there for a while.
Foster Winans, the former Wall
Street Journal reporter who went to
jail after being convicted of insider
trading, thinks Stewart's credibility
may be permanently damaged.
"Anyone who goes into a Kmart and
sees Martha Stewart is going to think
'Liar,' " he says. "It may not mean
they'll stop buying, but it's a pretty
odd mixture of good taste and bad
judgment."
Oppenheimer says flatly that
Stewart is finished. "The symbol of the
domestic icon is now going to be the
symbol of Martha behind bars, Martha
the convicted felon," he says. "The
image is just so tarnished, it's going to
be hard for her to ever make a
comeback, even if she should win an
appeal."
Public reaction
But maybe not, says Rob Stearns,
who teaches in the business school at
Arizona State University and, after a
series of his own entrepreneurial
setbacks, wrote the book Winning
Smart After Losing Big.
"She made it by doing something that a man considers
woman's work. And then
proceeded to every year
come up with something
fresh. Wow! . . . I admire
Martha Stewart and I hope
she continues to fight."
"I don't think she's going away, and I
think she can win again," Stearns says.
"Americans will forgive high crimes
and misdemeanors and impeachable
offenses, but they won't forgive
arrogance.
"For her to recover, she has to calm
down the rhetoric and not be
arrogant. And being remorseful and
contrite wouldn't be a bad idea,
either."Some Stewart fans had other
suggestions. "I admire her for building
an empire from something that hasn't
been given a lot of respect — making
a home," says Margaret Morris of
Johnstown, Pa. Rather than prison,
Morris suggests, she should get
community service. "Running a soup
kitchen would be appropriate, and I'll
bet it would be the prettiest, most
efficient one in history."
"I don't condone lying, but
we all lie. Martha Stewart's
perfection hurt her."
— Jan Brady
Fletcher, N.C.
— Alexandra Edwards
Danbury, Conn.
"Like so many prominent
CEOs, entertainers, athletes,
politicians and celebrities,
Martha Stewart thought that
following the rules was
beneath her."
— Debbie Sanville
West Chester, Pa.
Contributing: Olivia Barker, Meghan
A.T.B. Reese
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Page 14
For discussion
1. Why are politicians willingly putting
themselves on the comedy circuit? How can
their appearance on such shows help or hurt their
campaign?
5. How has media contributed to the growth and
success of Martha Stewart's company? Has
media contributed to her downfall? What affect
will Martha Stewart's image as a convicted
criminal have on her product line and her
2. How will serious political issues be affected if a empire? What advice would you give Martha
candidate is only seen on comedy shows? What Stewart or her company to help her improve her
is the target audience for these political comedy image while she is isolated from the public?
commentaries?
6. What constitutes geek/nerd status? Who are a
3. Can "too much" interest in a product or idea few famous geeks and why do you think they
have a negative impact on a company? What have brought a new level of appreciation to the
part does image play in whether an idea or term geek?
product continues? What role does the media
play in the successful branding of a product or 7. How can digital downloading of music
company?
successfully create a situation that reaches the
same audience for two different companies?
4. What is motivating McDonald's to change its What two companies would you pair up to
menu to a "healthier" alternative? Has the media promote a successful campaign in this type of
played a role in establishing healthier lifestyles? venture? Outline the strategies these companies
If so, how? Has media contributed in any way to should use to market this idea.
unhealthy lifestyles? If so, how? What
alternative menu options would you suggest to
the fast food franchises?
About the Expert:
Terre Carson-Jones
Terre graduated with a communications
education degree from Ohio University and is
currently finishing her masters in Education at
George Mason University. She has had a variety
of teaching experiences in Ohio, California and
Virginia; and in teaching non-traditional
students.
Future implications
What is media's role in pop culture? What effects
do media have on the future of what is "cool" and
what is passé? What part does media play in
reviving trends from past decades? Identify the
different types of media that have an impact on
pop culture and compare and contrast their
effectiveness.
As an experienced teacher of high school and
middle school students and as parent of four
teenagers Terre is very familiar with all aspects
of pop culture!
For more information, log on to www.usatodaycollege.com
Page 15