In Advertisements R Us by Melissa Rubin, she analyzes how advertisements appeal to its audience and how it reflects our society. Rubin describes a specific Coca-Cola ad from the 1950’s that contains a “Sprite Boy”, a large -Cola Coca vending machine, a variety of men, ranging from the working class to members of the army, and the occasional female. She states that this advertisement was very stereotypical of society during that decade and targeted the same demographic: white, working-class males- the same demographic that the Coca-Cola factories employed.
The decades surrounding the 1950’s were marked as the Golden Age of baseball, with New York as the world’s Major League capital. With three teams all competing for the title of world champions, New York was alive with hometown spirit. Between the Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Yankees, and New York Giants, the city brought home the world title seven consecutive years. Baseball was the heart of America and earned the nickname of America’s pastime. Every man, woman, and child knew the big name players of these three teams.
The 1950’s was characterized as a prosperous and conformity for various reasons. One of the main reasons was the development of the suburbs. Since a lot of the black people migrated to the big cities there was rich and middle class families left to live in the suburbs areas to escape the crime of the cities. This mass migration later became known as the “white flight” (Document A). The 1950’s was the times when the American soldiers were coming back home from WWII and many new babies were born.
The consumer revolution that occurred in the 1920s gave Americans prosperous hope for the future of the United States of America. The people became comfortable on how they were living their lives. After the stock market crashes in 1929, people were left jobless and hungry. For those who do not know exactly what happened in the Great Depression and just figure it was a time of famine and unemployment and wasn 't thought of as a big deal, but it sure was. In the text book it talks about the specific effects the Great Depression had on all types of people.
The goal of advertisements was to make the product look glamorous, and ultimately the extreme tactics worked a little too well. Businesses began doing well, and many assumed that because businesses were thriving that the stock market was thriving as well. This assumption was flawed, as the stock market wasn’t an actual reflection of success. The demand for stock became so great that the prices went up, but the value of the companies didn’t actually increase. The true effect that the consumer culture had on Americans during this period is evidenced through a line in a popular song during the time period, “they used to tell me I was building a dream, and so I followed the mob”
1 - Consumerism developed in America during the early twentieth century in large part due to the boom in industry created by Europe 's inability to create goods after World War I. Combined this with American inventions such as Henry Ford’s assembly line and Americans had money to spend (Schultz, 2013). With the advent of an electrical distribution system, Americans had electricity in their homes for the first time, which led to the desire for all types of electrical appliances to make life easier. All these new products meant that companies had to get the word out about their products which ignited the advertising industry, which led to even more consumerism. Mix into this recipe, the growing credit industry, and you had consumerism like
Grace Desrosiers Rutledge US History (H) 4/15/24 Following the tragedies and victories of World War I, America underwent extreme changes. The biggest cause of these changes was the growth and use of promoting products, services, and ideas. The advertising of the “Roaring 20s” caused great cultural, political, and economic change through advertisers changing the way people viewed their lives, new ideas being promoted throughout the country, and increasing consumer culture, thus fundamentally shifting the base of American society during this era of extreme change and innovation. One of the ways advertising changed American society was through advertisers changing and challenging society's views, norms, and behaviors.
During this prosperous decade, the United States became a “consumer culture”- which maintained that customers should be able to buy items not just because of need, but for the sheer pleasure of buying and owning. People generally had more leisure time and more money to spend, thanks to mass production and progressive era reforms (8 hours a day/5 day work week). Many middle-class citizens purchased new “luxuries” such as electric refrigerators, washing machines, and vacuum cleaners. Businesses, in turn, promote their products by creating more and better advertisements. The advertising industry grew tremendously in the 1920s as new techniques and gimmicks were tried out on consumers.
The 1920s were marked by an increase in consumerism due to a booming economy post-World War I (CrashCourse, 2013), the increasing popularity of consumer debt (CrashCourse, 2013) and an increase in the mass production of consumer goods (Osburn, n.d.). Coupled with technological advances, families now had access to mass media (in the form of the radio and television) and modern conveniences, such as household appliances and automobiles. Radio and television broadcasts helped to build a mass culture, where consumers were watching, listening, purchasing and emulating the same things across the nation (Osburn, n.d.). Women’s suffrage granted women the right to vote; some women took this new found voting freedom as license to break from traditional female roles in other areas and began dressing and
During his speech addressed to the UN general Assembly given on September 25,1961, John F. Kennedy stated, “Conformity is the Jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.” In other words, if we all accept the circumstances and go with the flow like dead fish, how can we know what we are capable of accomplishing-how much we can grow, especially as a nation? Conformity can be defined as the compliance with standards, rules, or laws or the moment you willingly chose to fit in when you’re meant to stand out. In the 1950s, a flood of social conformity washed over the country and had people leading similar and stereotypical lives. Many, at the time, strived for the comfort and simplicity depicted in TV shows such as “Father Knows Best” and “Leave it
Consumerism rapidly swept through American Society throughout the 1920’s. This wave of new innovation caused people to buy new and expensive products, such as the washing machine and the radio; however, most did not have the income to afford these devices. So installment plans came about and because of this people began to go into debt. Another huge source of debt came with over speculation, as people who could not afford stock themselves bought it on margin. The 1920’s became all about appearance and throwing caution to the winds when it came to expenses.
As World War II came to an end, the United States entered the 50s. This decade became a major influential time that brought many cultural and societal changes. Categories such as the economy, where a boom in new products increased, the technology world which incorporated new medicines and computers, entertainment when the television became popular and the overall lifestyles that Americans adapted to. All of these topics reshaped and created several advancements throughout society during the 1950s.
Identification and Targeting of Consumer Groups in Advertising Strategies of the 1920s Advertising is critical to building business in a capitalist society like the United States. In fact, today, the U.S. spends over 220 billion dollars annually on internal and external advertising (“Statistics”). A market as large as this has a significant impact on the American population. This impact results from the cultural trends that advertising exposes and highlights to the general public.
A truly unique American mass culture saw its creation in the 1920’s where radio shows and movies could be shared all over the country and more Americans were living in cities than ever before. The creation of mass culture in America could be seen as a side effect of all of these new technologies and societal differences that took place in the 20s. Time space compression also had a large effect on mass culture as well. In the 20s because of the creation of new technologies. people could now communicate throughout the country and develop their own similar culture.
Prior to the 1950’s there were no supermarkets or convenient stores for Italians to shop for all of their necessities in one place. It was not until 1957 that the first supermarket opened up in Milan, Italy, even though in both Europe and the United States supermarkets and department stores were the common practice. Instead it was thousands of small shopkeepers who specialized in a particular area. These small shops were family run shops that did not sell any processed or frozen food. The small neighborhood shops included the butcher, the fruit and vegetable lady, the bakery, the fish vendor, the dry-goods grocery, the delicatessen, the oil and wine concession, the café, the kiosk selling salt, cigarettes, and matches, the tripe stand, the candy shop, the milk outlet, the Sicilian with the flower cart.
