In this age of apparent commercialism and over-consumption, the many massive marketing trends that grace our society somehow become painted with the same brush. When the newest toy or marketing gimmick reaches the shelves, we often furrow our collective brows, attempting to understand how these very objects can make our society better.
Yet as we grow older, we develop a bond to these artifacts from our youth, not because of their importance, but likely because of the opposite. Baby-boomers have their Gi-Joe’s and Easy bake ovens, Gen X-ers have their John Hughes films; even Napoleon found himself pinning for some “grapeshot” in his later years. Now, in this increasingly convoluted world where the laws of complex interdependence rule the largest nations and the most insignificant serf, even college students become nostalgic for the carefree days of the early 1990s.
That is why we see a new developing trend, aimed at the slightly over-18 crowd who remember the days of surfer clich
