What is "cool"?

For some it is a constant mindset, searching for the something to make them appear cooler to everyone else. This mindset doesn’t even have to be something we are fully conscious of, take choosing a new car for example, are you buying it because of what you like about it or because of what everyone else will think about it? What exactly is ‘cool’?

 Look in the dictionary an you will find it says something about temperature or calmness. Cool is the measure of how socially pleasing something is. However that measurement is constantly changing, what was generally considered cool in the 60’s and 70’s will by most people’s standards be un-cool now.

I worded the previous sentence carefully using ‘generally’ and ‘most people’ because there certainly are people out there who still are of the opinion that bell bottomed trousers are cool, and who am I to say they’re not?

There are the people who choose to go against the majority, the counter cool (see H2G2 - Inverse Cool Theory), the Indie music scene is an example in which people often choose to go against the mainstream idea of cool. So many things that are normally thought of as un-cool will be thought of as cool within the Indie rock culture (Even if it isn’t cool to admit it!).

I think virtually everything about someone can be judged as cool or not (correct me if I’m wrong) here are five things that most determine your ‘coolness’ to someone else.
·    Choice of clothes, hair etc.
·    Musical Tastes
·    Attitude/ Personality
·    What you do as a hobby/ in free time
·    Outlook on life

One thing I haven’t included on the list is job type; despite being the biggest part of most peoples lives jobs are rarely cool anyway. Unless you are a film star I don’t think a job generally effects how cool you are perceived to be.

It’s a personal choice; we have the freedom to choose our own cool. Other people may choose to try to persuade us that one thing or another is cool. Large companies spend millions of pounds on funky adverts and creating a ‘brand image’ to try and persuade us that their stuff is far better than their competitors.

If this is done correctly it can lead to massive profits, take the re-branding of McDonalds, it must have been at least six years ago now when they began modernising their stores. I remember when it used to all ways be cheap looking plastic chairs, cream tiles filled most of the stores.



Now however there is a different feel as you go in, they have used more vibrant colours and darker woods to front the stores. Their underlying business activity is the same but they have managed to keep themselves in the cool category and hence have continued to run a successful business. No mean feat given the amount of bad press fast food has had, and will continue to get.

I want to say here that “I don’t do cool”, “I don’t make decisions in my life based on what other people will think” but at the end of the day we all do, everyday, just the other night I found myself turned the television over from some girly film when someone walks by because it just ain’t cool man!

Watch: www.channel4.com/programmes/the-search-for-cool/4od