What contributed to American consumerism was how it was advertised; the 1950s placed the "Consumer" on a pedestal, making the word "consumer" a synonym of "patriotic". Basically, the more one spent, the more they were contributing to their country and therefore the more patriotic they were towards America.There was no shortage of material though, the 1950s was when many domestic products that we take for granted were developed and more common such as the dishwasher, washing machines and dryer, frozen foods, air conditioners and one of the most important, the television.
Television became the primary source of entertainment, replacing the radio. While we may view this early device as less sophisticated, this was the time when television adverts were the most effective way of convincing people of items they needed. By 1949, 250,000 televisions were being bought in America every month.
Advertisements pandered to their audience by portraying an idealized modern family that was able to enjoy luxuries like cars and family time. This was because they wanted to break away from the dark era before and look towards the futures. Children were even targetted with these adverts through soft drinks (coca cola), clothes and magazines. Automobile purchasing increased greatly with the advertisement portraying that an automobile exuded prosperity. No longer was the car a luxury but a need, with adverts speaking of owning two cars for families. Soon, most families would have one car if not multiple.
Despite this age of advertising, gender roles were used as a method to advertise to their American audience. Often, women were shown as being submissive to men, restricted to their domestic duties. Kellogg's had slogans such as "The Harder A Wife Works, The Cuter She Looks". Some even used domestic violence with the instant coffee company "Chase and Stubborn" with the slogan "If your husband ever finds out you're not "store-testing" for fresher coffee..." and then showed a man mid action of hitting his wife. In Van Heusen tie advertisements, it showed women serving a man breakfast in bed, the words "show her it's a man's world" meant to mean that men were dominant and their Van Heusen ties helped exude that masculinity over them.
Advertisements like these may shock us today at their obvious sexism but during this time of consumerism, even our most popular brands today used these tactics to appeal to their audience.
Sources:
http://www.businessinsider.com/vintage-sexist-and-racist-ads-2011-6
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/caused-advertising-industry-boom-1950s-69115.html
http://adage.com/article/adage-encyclopedia/history-1950s/98701/
http://www.businessinsider.com/26-sexist-ads-of-the-mad-men-era-2014-5/#51-show-her-its-a-mans-world-2
This is a very fascinating post. I was not aware of the extent to which advertisements and slogans of well-known companies were sexist. It is really interesting to think about the similarities and differences between the advertisements of the 1950s and the advertisements we see today. The television has remained an extremely common way for Americans to get information and also see advertisements. However, in recent years, streaming services such as Netflix have become more popular ways to watch television shows. One thing that makes streaming services like Netflix so appealing to many people is that viewers no longer have to sit through commercials. The increasing popularity of these services means that advertisers will have to adapt. The article below discusses some thought-provoking ideas about how advertisers could potentially transform like the television has. One concept that I found particularly interesting was a system in which viewers could have a choice to watch advertisements, and depending on how many they voluntarily watched, they could get credit towards their monthly bill for the streaming service.
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Madison, I really liked how you broke down the word "consumer" and its significance culturally during this time period. It's completely true that this time period was not only an uptick in consumerism, but a basis in happiness with objects rather than people and experiences. In 1962, the Atlantic writer Edward T. Chase wrote an essay entitled "Money Isn't Everything," and he highlighted how society was beginning to make a shift towards to more enlightening activities like reading and visiting museums. However, just fifty six years later, the United States is still somehow more consumer-centric and material-centric than it's ever been, and even when there are more museums than Starbucks and McDonalds combined, most of us would much rather enjoy buying the new iPhone than traveling to learn more about the world.
ReplyDeleteSource: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/07/america-culture-the-sixties/399485/