American Families After World War 2

After World War II ended, America focused on the importance of family and economic growth. Americans began to find new ways to improve their quality of life. New innovations such as televisions and appliances soared as the economy began to skyrocket. The advertisements shown in this essay represent this advancement of society and importance of family within the U.S. after World War II. They both demonstrate the importance of convenience by advertising improvements that made life easier for families. These ads brought traditional American families together, who were able to afford these products at the time. They also show the importance in quality of the brand General Electric (GE) and how this brand provided a wide range of options and improvements

General Electric targets wealthy, traditional, white families by advertising and selling products that these families specifically used, such as the television and refrigerator. The GE Television ad has a man and woman displayed watching the television. The woman has a ring on her left hand, therefore, the audience can infer that this couple is married. Both the man and woman’s body language shows them facing towards each other, also making a relationship between the two apparent. In the GE Refrigerator ad, there is presumably a husband and wife, but in this ad, they are both in their pajamas. Viewers can assume that they are married due to the fact that they have recently woken up together, and now making breakfast. Both ads show the families placed within a house where these products would typically be used, such as the television in a living room and the refrigerator in a kitchen. During this era, family was envisioned as a more significant aspect than as it is today. Families came together at the end of the day to sit down and watch television for a relief of entertainment; families also traditionally ate breakfast together in the morning. Both televisions and refrigerators played an important role in these family customs. Thus, General Electric made this clear in both of their

The GE Television ad shows cost and options, while the GE Refrigerator ad shows improvements from pre-existent versions. In the GE Television ad, three different televisions are advertised. The bottom left television priced at $329.95 has a much larger mahogany cabinet, requiring no table for the television to sit on. This model acted as an all-in-one television as it stood by itself, therefore, providing both a television and a cabinet for those consumers that did not want to place their television on a table. The bottom right television for $239.95 is meant to be compact at only 11 ½” wide, making it easier to be moved from room-to-room. This model was meant to be easily moved and placed wherever families wanted it, targeting the consumers who did not want a large television and cabinet in one unit. The television in the top of the ad has a 10” tube, or screen and priced at $279.95. This model acted as both of both worlds, providing a large screen, or tube, while also being small enough to be moved from one room to another. While all three are brighter Daylight Televisions, each model offers different features at different prices to appeal to every