Merchants of Cool

As I have gone from school to school growing up I have seen the way trends change. Mostly it happens with clothes, but changes also happen in electronics, habits, even physical features of a person.
People try to stay on trend but when most people finally have the ideas down, society has moved on to some other waste of money. This topic was brought up in the documentary "Merchants of Cool" where they talked about how big companies try to sell a lifestyle to kids and teens, most of the time making what is edgy and out there cool. Unfortunately, doing this makes the idea not cool anymore and completely ruin the trend much faster than it would have gone out had it not been publicized.
People like to be different. That is one reason teens rebel. It makes them stand out and get attention. Its why teens are so caught up in social media: attention.
As brands go on to take over these trends they will continue to trash them while making some bank in the midst.