Consumerisum in the 1950's

American culture in 1950s and today have numerous similarities “In the 50s, cars were flashier and more luxurious than ever...and used as a symbol of status. Similarly, today, upscale vehicles are still flashy and sleek…and upper-class consumers use them to show the status of their wealth.” Depending on the income that people earn, cars that contain more features are of better quality and class. Secondly, in the 1950s, ads had begun to seek out the attention on marketing for children. The products sold have cartoon characters and bright colors. In the modern era, citizens use similar tactics, using bright colors that are put at eye level. Children appeal to bright colors and characters when a company advertises on T.V. or in stores. Next, huge department stores became popular due to middle class’ increased power on spending. Now, the large chain department stores of Dillard’s and Macy’s are still very popular. People enjoy going out and just spending their money on the inventories that each department store has. “Then in the 50s, fast food became a

The new advertisements focused on creating unique slogan that consumers would remember and that cast products in an optimistic light (N.p. [Page 1]). By the 1880s, advertisement seems to take on a driving aspect of its own, and focused on the creation of “wants” and “needs” in the growing consumer population in order to create a market for certain items, clever businessmen would advertize products in careful language, designed to influence potential buyers into seeing the necessity of owing particular products. Economic effects on society, especially in Americans families, became apparent during the twentieth century. The place of women in the new economy was firmly cemented in the early decades of the twentieth century, with the rise of Progressivism and supply and demand economics (N.p. [Page #]). Progressive reformers and businessmen alike appealed to and propagated the idea of virtuous households, carrying a theme from the culture of sentimentalism in the 1850s that stressed the value of nuclear families with morally upright - if submissive - mothers. Many of the advertisements seen in this collection are clearly directed at women .The foundations of household economy were raised in the early twentieth century and during the World War I era. Home economy, in theory, allowed the housewife to make the most of finances, so that her family could purchase current

The average United States Citizen views about 5000 advertisements a day (Johnson). Advertising is everywhere. Billboards on the way to work, ads on the internet, and paper products such as magazines or newspapers display a sale or a promotion of a good or service. Usually, the ad will give a brand or company name, and uses the product’s merits to draw the consumer closer. This has grown exponentially as advertisements in media in 1970 were estimated to be 500 a day, a ten percent increase in the last 48 years. (Johnson). This is due to the rise of technology, as the computer has become a household gadget within the new millenium. These advertisements are meant to give a synopsis of the product or service’s purpose, quality, and efficiency. If a consumer views 5000 advertisements in a single day and assuming the commercials do not repeat, 5000 goods or services are introduced. With more options to choose from in such little time, the consumer has a harder time differentiating the quality and perhaps necessity of the product. The marketers rely on the quick, impulsive decision making of consumers. With the misleading nature of many infomercials or radio broadcasts, the people of American society are bombarded with constant propaganda, thus making seemingly harmless promotions more potent to filling industries’ pockets and lessening the common population’s

Living the American dream was a part of the road to Suburbia. As soldiers were returning home from the wars, births were reaching record highs known as the baby boom. Just in the year 1957, a total of 4,308,000 babies were born.4 Desiring large families and great economic prosperity, the women’s role as mother and homemaker were built-up in movies and television and magazines. Ultimately, with additional “leisure time” at home, Americans bought televisions, nice record players, lawn mowers and other electronic products. Manufactures and advertising agencies jumped at the opportunity to profit on consumerism. “More and more, ad executives and designers turned to psychology to create new strategies for selling. Advertisers appealed to people’s desire for status and “belongingness” and strived to associate their products with those values.”5 The Baby Boomers that began the consumerism in the mid-1950’s socially altered the United States then and still do

Through the Cold War, America was transitioning in various ways such as the way messages were shared, consumerism, and the constant race against the Soviet Union. During the years 1959-1964, Rod Serling, a New York writer and playwright began using one of the newest inventions, the television, as a way to share his opinion about controversial topics. The rise of the television allowed Serling to access to a larger audience whom he could share his opinion in the form of science fictional episodes in the show The Twilight Zone. Although the show seems ominous and a horror related TV show, it allows us to understand the effects and feeling towards topics such as a possible nuclear war, consumerism, space exploration.

- Homogeneous global products for young and wealthy, and for children => soulless and unethical global consumerism in pursuit of profit

Television was one of the biggest attractions when it came to this idea of consumerism. (I Love Lucy was the #1 show)

The 1920s was a decade filled with prosperity, chaos, and excitement. During the 1920s, many ground breaking inventions were introduced, such as the Model T Ford, the radio, and the television. The discoveries and cultural developments of the 1920s would go on to shape America for decades to come. The 1920s was arguably one of the most important decades in American history, in regards to the impact it had on American culture and way of life. Such an important decade should have a nickname, thus the 1920s were called the “Roaring 20s.” The decade of the 1920s is referred to as “roaring” because it was a time of dramatic social change, as demonstrated by the birth of a consumer society, the rise of a party culture, and the abandonment of long standing morals.

The rise in advertisement played a key role in the rise of consumption. Thanks to well-developed advertisement campaigns, America redefined what a necessity is. Advertisers encouraged Americans to actively work towards maintaining a high social standing. “Advertisers made no secret of their intention to promote novelty for its own sake, in the hope that consumers would exchange perfectly serviceable goods for goods that conformed to the latest fashions” (Lasch, 2000). Consumers devoured this advertisement scheme and began to rapidly increase their spending. Many advertisements for common, household products made claim that they could make the normal appear comparable to the high end. For example, Lux, a soap company, ran an ad in 1920 that depicted two women talking - one of the women complemented on the other on the quantity of sweaters she owned, only to find out that it is not a new sweater, but rather her old sweater that Lux soap made it look brand new (Lux)! Men and women alike began to believe

The 1950s is described as the “‘golden age’ of capitalism,” where a comfortable standard of living became accessible to many new, middle-class Americans (991). According to Foner, “the official poverty rate, 30 percent of all families in 1950, had declined to 22 percent a decade later”(991). The poverty rate declined as more Americans entered white-collared jobs with increased wages. Essentially, the “American standard of living” during the 1950s was characterized by the ability of citizens to participate in the mass consumerist society; this was only possible through an increase in income. Jack Straus, the chairman of the board of Macy’s stated “‘The consumer is the key to our economy...The luxuries of today are the necessities of tomorrow’”(Foner 994). The American economy was based off of consumers; “In a consumer culture, the measure of freedom

In the wakes of both World War I and World War II, middle class Americans benefited from long-term economic prosperity. In many ways, the 1920s and the 1950s were similar, including the return to mass consumerism after war, the expansion of the auto industry, and the growth of credit. One key difference, however, was the values behind the consumerism. In the 1920s conspicuous consumption prevailed because of society’s value of increasing social status, while in the 1940s and 1950s, it was prevalent in light of family values and the value of financial stability, in addition to “social climbing.”

America had been a generally conservative nation with a population that avoided personal debt. However, this would all change during the decade known as “The Roaring Twenties.” This prosperous period embodied huge changes in the general lifestyle and culture of the American people as they embraced consumerism. However, during the 1920s the economy also faced numerous unfortunate events and unstable practices that would lead to one of the world’s worst economic crashes. There were many reasons for the economic downfall, including mass production and consumerism, excess credit and ‘playing’ the stock market, which led to the stock market crash in 1929.

During the 1950’s art took a major turn in history from traditional styles depicting people and scenes of everyday life to abstract thoughts and ideas that were transformed onto a canvas to express emotions and ideals in society. People, events, and society have always impacted several styles of art, but the consumer culture in the 1950’s impacted art in a new completely unique way. Post WWII society was more industrialized and more focused on developing and selling new products. The postwar generation had more disposable income to spend on the latest and greatest products and the market turned to advertisements in mass media to get their products out there to consumers. With televisions and films increasing in popularity the market flooded these forms of media with catchy flashy ads that showed favorable people like movie stars using products. With the increasing use of mass media, the culture shifted to consumerism which effectively shifted art as well. Art was directly impacted by the consumer culture because of society’s use of advertisements, photographs, and films which artists like Richard Hamilton and Andy Warhol used those elements in their own works to portray the change of societal standards in a new modern style of art called pop art.

Is consumerism good? Anyone living in modern day society may think so. We can easily look around and witness all of the conveniences that consumerism grants us. Appliances help to alleviate our work load, electronics nullify any dull moments with instant entertainment, and the latest fashion trends of strictly the top brands allow us to be the envy of our peers. So, is consumerism good? That’s the central question addressed within the essays The Happiness Conspiracy, Needing the Unnecessary, and The Grill-Buying Guide.

The concept of free-market played an essential role in making American people in the 1960s believe that it is important for them to fight communism through any means possible. Consumerism had reached a point where it had become indispensable and the benefits that it brought along made it difficult and virtually impossible for the community to express interest in economic systems other than capitalism. One of the principal reasons why the Cold War occurred relates to the West's obsession with materialism and with the fact that this precious concept could be destroyed as a result of communist ideas pervading the Western society.