1
Miller
Deanna Miller
HIST 490: Advertising in Modern America
Dr. Henold
Final Draft
Fall Semester 2013
Keeping Up With The Joneses:
An Analysis of Advertising Techniques in the 1950s
An advertisement for a Hoover vacuum depicts four well-dressed
women circled around the vacuum, gazing at it adoringly almost
worshiping the machine. Announcing the New Hoover, is spelled out
in large font on the page.[footnoteRef:1] When you put together the
image with the words, the advertisement seems almost like a baby
announcement and evokes the feeling of looking at a newborn; this
advertisement is portraying the inanimate object as a member of the
family. Another advertisement for a General Electric washer
displays a young woman next to the appliance, smiling in admiration
of the machine, much like the women in the first advertisement. She
states that she knows the joy of quick-clean washing, thanks to her
General Electric washer.[footnoteRef:2] Interestingly, these two
advertisements use the same advertising technique but are published
almost twenty years apart. [1: See Fig. 1] [2: See Fig. 2]
Introduction
After World War II, Americans were experiencing an age of
abundance that had not been seen since the beginning of the 20th
century and not ever to such an extent. In the 19-teens, the world
experienced its first major world war on a scale never before
imagined. Then, in the 1920s, the U.S. experienced an age of
abundance that they never had before, though not to the same degree
as we see in the 1950s. During the 1930s, the United States was
recovering from the impact of the Great Depression; families were
focused on finding work and affording the necessities during hard
economic times. In the early 1940s, Americans were concentrated on
the war effort; unnecessary spending was frowned upon and people
were, instead, encouraged to support the troops by buying war
bonds.
Consumers, since the end of the 1920s, were taught not to
participate in extravagant spending and, after World War II, it had
become so ingrained in their behavior; advertisers faced a new
challenge in finding another way to market their products that
would teach families it was okay to spend their money on things
they couldnt before. During the 1950s, advertisers became masters
at manipulating their audience to encourage them to become good
consumers by using different methods like visual clichs, leisure,
ensemble, trendsetting, and the parable of the first impression.
However, these methods werent new to the world of advertising.
Roland Marchand, author of Advertising the American Dream, has
found extensive evidence that these same methods were used in
advertisements of the 1920s.
The goal of this paper is to understand how advertisers in the
1950s used ad techniques from the 1920s to teach consumers how to
buy in a time of prosperity that had not been occurred for roughly
twenty years. This paper also plans to discuss what exactly these
advertisements say about consumers during this time. In my
research, I found that a lot of analysis available on
advertisements concentrates on particular decades, but does not
look to see how that decade might have been affected by other
advertising techniques in earlier periods. I noticed this
specifically in Roland Marchands Advertising the American Dream,
which focuses on the 1920 through the 1930s, and Thomas Hines book,
Populuxe, which focuses on the 1950s and early 60s. However, I have
found that while both authors have compiled persuasive evidence for
their arguments, Thomas Hine fails to understand the history of the
advertising methods he discusses in his book. Hine looks at
advertisements and consumer culture of the 1950s by itself and does
not look into the history of advertising or any earlier instances
of these techniques.
Lit Review and Historiography
The 1920s actually began with an economic whimper; the
transition back to peacetime after World War I was a difficult
adjustmentwhich caused a short but sharp recession in
1920-21.[footnoteRef:3] However, after an increase in wages the
economy was pulled out of the brief recession and experienced a
growing economy by 1922. The rise of corporate advertising and new
mass-production industries helped to increase the economy of the
20s. In fact, advertising increased from 2,480 million in 1920 to
2,600 million by 1925.[footnoteRef:4] Advertisers accomplished this
by redefining the source of abundance from the fecund earth to the
efficient factory while the factories themselves increased the
amount of product they were selling.[footnoteRef:5] The consumer
culture the ad men promoted was the accumulation of items, not the
possession itself, gave an individual the appearance of abundance
or high status.[footnoteRef:6] [3: Shmoop Editorial Team, "Economy
in The 1920s,"Shmoop University, Inc.,11 November 2008,
http://www.shmoop.com/1920s/economy.html] [4: Douglas Galbi. Think!
Communications Economics and Industry Analysis Blog.
http://www.galbithink.org/ad-spending.htm.] [5: Jackson Lears.
Fables of Abundance: A Cultural History of Advertising in America.
(New York, New York: The Perseus Books Group, 1994), 18] [6: Ibid.
20]
Roland Marchand, author of Advertising the American Dream,
offers insight on the marketing and advertising industries in the
1920s and 30s by analyzing the advertisements of the time. Marchand
makes a compelling argument for the different methods used by the
advertisers and the intended effect these ads were supposed to have
on the audience. The ad men used schemes like ensemble,
trendsetting, modernity, the fear of first impression, and visual
clichs to entice their audience into purchasing various goods and
services. However, these manipulation tactics can also be found in
the advertisements of the 1950s, discussed in Thomas Hines book,
Populuxe, which will be analyzed below.
Another source of information on the 1920s comes from Stuart
Ewens book, Captains of Consciousness, which discusses the origins
of the advertising industry and consumer society in the early 20th
century. The aspect of this book used for this paper is Ewens
argument on the impact advertisers and businesses had on the
consumer and how they tried to create new needs and ways of
consumption in order to increase profits. Furthermore, Ewen
describes how advertisements seemed to twist the reality of how
financially and socially inaccessible their products were to people
and how they shaped this reality to invent a new consumer culture
that made the audience to feel desire for products that they didnt
necessarily want or need.
Advertisers borrowed the methods of the 20s and reused them in
the 1950s, because they had to find ways of advertising their
agenda in a period of abundance. Reusing 1920 advertising methods
alone would not accomplish this goal. The economy of the 1950s was
much bigger than that of the 1920s; spending on advertising alone
jumped from 2,480 million in 1920 to almost 12,000 million in
1960.[footnoteRef:7] There were more products to be sold, more
consumer capital to tap into, and more images of the American dream
to project to the audience. However, advertisers only knew the
techniques that had been in the field since the 1920s. So they took
this knowledge and applied it to the 1950s, but had to adjust it to
get the attention of the consumers. [7: Douglas Galbi. Think!
Communications Economics and Industry Analysis Blog.
http://www.galbithink.org/ad-spending.htm.]
During the Second World War, the economy was receiving the
relief it needed. The employment rate decreased from 4.7% in 1942
to only 1.2% in the last year of the war.[footnoteRef:8] This is
due to the fact that men were joining the army and becoming
employed while women who did not join the war effort as nurses took
the jobs they left behind in the factories. For the first time in a
long time, families had an increased pay they didnt have in the
1930s and early 40s. And when the soldiers returned, they came to
an improved economy and raised wages that would increase their
purchasing power. Suddenly, advertisers had a consumer base with so
much potential they could tap into and they took advantage of that.
Advertisement funding increased from 2,840 million at the end of
World War II in 1945, to 5,700 million in 1950, rising continuously
to 11,960 million by 1960.[footnoteRef:9] With the rise in money
spent on advertising and the increased interest in the topic,
advertisers had to become more creative in order to compete. The
methods of the 1920s had worked so well but they couldnt directly
apply them; this was a new era with new technologies and ideals to
be exploited. [8: Frank Hobs, and Nicole Stoops. Demographic Trends
in the 20th Century. November 2002.
http://www.census.gov/prod/2002/pubs/censr-4.pdf.] [9: Douglas
Galbi. Think! Communications Economics and Industry Analysis Blog.
http://www.galbithink.org/ad-spending.htm.]
Thomas Hines Populuxe discusses the consumer culture of the
1950s and how it was shaped by advertisements, suburban
neighborhoods, and societal standards. Hine unknowingly takes the
methods discussed by Marchand and applies them to the 1950s
culture, though he fails to mention that these various methods were
used before. Hine discusses many of the same techniques that
Marchand also mentions, such as ensemble, modernity, planned
obsolescence, and style. However, this book combines these
techniques and analyzes them with social culture of planned
economies, otherwise known as suburbs.
Advertisers began to market wants and needs differently in the
1950s; they tried to illustrate the positives of consuming, instead
of the negative aspects of not purchasing new goods. The
advertisers also had to combat the idea that consumption was
dangerous in the 1950s and that a new depression would not hit the
United States economy. The impact of the Great Depression was still
fresh in Americans minds and the fear of returning to that state
must have been overwhelming. However, the economy after WWII was
booming; more people were employed, wages had been increased, and
more money was being spent on goods and services.
Advertisers in the 1950s were dealing with a new economy and so
they required new advertising methods. The post-war economy was
booming and families were earning more than ever
before.[footnoteRef:10] Higher incomes gave consumers an increase
in spending power and they could afford more leisure items. Elaine
May writes that rather than putting money aside for a rainy day,
Americans were inclined to spend it.[footnoteRef:11] However,
advertisers had to teach consumers that, because the war was over,
they should now be focusing on spending their money on goods and
not saving it as they had been taught in the past. The advertisers
wanted to create a conspicuous consumer, meaning they would spend
money on acquiring luxury goods and services in order to display
their socio-economic power. The majority of the target audience
grew up during the Great Depression and their families could not
afford to spend their money on luxury items. Advertisers wanted
them to feel that they should be purchasing these goods during good
economic times and show them off to their friends and family. In
fact, one major theme in the advertisements is that the owner of
the object, usually a woman, was showing off their brand new,
top-of-the-line appliance that they had the economic ability to
purchase. [10: Elaine Tyler May. Homeward Bound: American Families
in the Cold War Era. (New York, New York: Basic Book Inc., 1954),
165] [11: Ibid.]
This need to show off wealth was intensified in planned
economies, or the suburbs. The population of those living in
suburbs rose from 122.8 million at the end of the 1930s to 179.3
million by the 1960s.[footnoteRef:12] Within these planned
economies, houses were almost identical, making it hard to stand
out. Manufacturers capitalized on this and gave their customers a
new way to stand out by offering their appliances in different
colors and adding new technological aspects every year. These
techniques were assisted by the suburban neighborhoods. After World
War II, men were returning home to their lives before the war. With
this rise in new married couples, the demand for housing increased.
With the passing of the GI Bill, soldiers were given funds to
attend college and purchase homes, and the increase in the amount
and quality of roads allowed for families to live outside the
cities and commute to work. These soldiers were in dire need of
about five million houses, as ex-GIs and their families were living
with their parents or in rented attics, basements, or unheated
summer bungalows.[footnoteRef:13] However, construction companies
had found a cheap and efficient way to build houses on the
outskirts of cities. Thus, planned communities were formed where
houses were pre-planned and similar to each other. [12: Hobbs,
Frank, and Nicole Stoops. U.S Department of Commerce, "Demographic
Trends in the 20th Century." Last modified November 2002.
http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/censr-4.pdf.] [13: Peter Hales.
Levittown: Documents of an Ideal American Suburb. University of
Illinois at Chicago.
http://tigger.uic.edu/~pbhales/Levittown.html.]
Elaine Tyler Mays Homeward Bound, and offers more information on
1950s suburban housing and culture by discussing the rise of the
consumer-oriented advertising based on the suburban home. Suburban
housing was designed with lower socio-economic families in mind,
especially soldiers returning from the war. In fact, the GI Bill of
Rights created a program that guaranteed insurance for mortgages
and loans that helped soldiers and their families afford homes in
the suburbs.[footnoteRef:14] Even the Cold War pushed the
popularity of housing in the suburbs through scientific endorsement
of the defense through decentralization rationale that argued in
favor of depopulating the urban core to avoided a concentration of
residences or industries in a potential target area for a nuclear
attack.[footnoteRef:15] May also mentions the role that suburban
housing had in fostering traditional gender roles in the home,
which includes women being recognized as the main consumer in the
family.[footnoteRef:16] [14: Elaine Tyler May. Homeward Bound:
American Families in the Cold War Era. (New York, New York: Basic
Book Inc., 1954), 169] [15: Ibid. 169] [16: Ibid, 171.]
The purpose of this paper is to connect and compare the works
above, focusing on Advertising the American Dream and Populuxe, as
well as concepts from other literature, to achieve a better
understanding of the 1950s consumer culture. What these books lack
is a contribution to a bigger picture. Each of these books have
analyzed a small period of time but have made no attempt to
understand how these ideas fit into the 20th century as a whole.
These books lack in mentioning how these methods and techniques
effected other eras or how they might have been inspired by earlier
times. I will apply the methods and information in each of these
texts and apply them to 1950s advertisements.
In the analysis portion of this paper, I will explain the
advertising techniques in three different ways. First, is how the
method was portrayed in Roland Marchands Advertising the American
Dream: Making Way for Modernity. Second, I will discuss how Thomas
Hine discusses the technique in Populuxe: The look and life of
America in the 50s and 60s, from tailfins and TV dinners to Barbie
dolls and fallout shelters. And last, I will add my analysis of the
advertisements I collected from the 1950s. These techniques
include, planned obsolescence, the ensemble, style and
trendsetting, visual clichs, and the fear of first impression.
Planned Obsolescence
Planned obsolescence is something todays consumers know very
well. Technology is just not built to last anymore; things tend to
break or need replacing after a short while. However, this concept
has been around for quite a while. Marchand discusses the concept
of obsolescence through fashion and the use of color. The fashion
industry has been using obsolescence through trendsetting long
before the 20th century, but Marchand argues that it increased in
the 1920s when manufacturers and ad men picked up on this technique
and applied it to the products they were selling.[footnoteRef:17]
[17: Roland Marchand. Advertising the American Dream: Making Way
for Modernity. (London: The Regents of the University of
California, 1985), 132]
According to the documentary The Light Bulb Conspiracy, planned
obsolescence is a concept that has been around since the early 20th
century.[footnoteRef:18] In the early 1920s, a group called Phoebus
emerged. This group was the worlds first worldwide cartel; its
purpose was to control the production of light bulbs to make sure
that they would have a profitable market. Manufacturers from the
United States and Europe had begun to realize that their light
bulbs, some of which were built to last at least 2,500 hours, were
lasting too long. These companies figured out that if they kept
creating products that lasted for so long, they were not going to
make a sizeable profit. So, in 1925, Phoebus met and decided to
form the The 1000 Hour Life Committee, which was committed to
reducing the life of light bulbs.[footnoteRef:19] This committee
pressured its members to create a light bulb that lasted no more
than 1000 hours by threatening fines. By 1932, the cartel had
succeeded; all member companies had created a light bulb that would
not last as long as its previous models. The light bulb stands for
new ideas and innovation but really was the start of planned
obsolescence. [18: Cosima Dannoritzer, The Light Bulb Conspiracy,
Directed by Cosima Dannoritzer. Performed by Mike Anane and Michael
Braugnart. (2010)] [19: Ibid.; Helmut Hodge, an historian in Berlin
found proof of the cartel and the committee, as well as a few of
the companies involved. ]
The idea of planned obsolescence may have begun in the 1920s,
but it didnt become a popular method until the 1950s. In the 1920s,
mass-production made many goods widely available, prices fell and
many people started shopping for fun rather than
need.[footnoteRef:20] This all came to a halt when the Stock Market
crashed in 1929. People no longer focused on buying luxurious
goods, but more on food and work. The first time the words planned
obsolescence were used was actually during the Great Depression.
[20: Ibid.]
Many economists tried to figure out how to get the United States
economy back to where it was before the Stock Market Crash of 1929
and Bernard London, an economist, suggested something radical.
London proposed that making planned obsolescence compulsory by law
would end the Great Depression.[footnoteRef:21] London stated that
all products would be given a lease of life where they would be
considered legally dead, and at such a time consumers would turn
them over to a government agency to be destroyed. Of course, this
proposal was never considered and, though the idea was used in the
1930s during the Great Depression, the term was not used again
until the 1950s. [21: Ibid.]
A few years after the end of the Second World War, the United
States was experiencing an era of progress and prosperity. By this
time, advertisers were getting smarter. Instead of forcing planned
obsolescence on their audience, they became clever in their
marketing and began to seduce consumers with it. Brooks Stevens,
whom the documentary The Light Bulb Conspiracy called the apostle
of planned obsolescence, created many products with that method in
mind.[footnoteRef:22] Stevens designs contained speed and modernity
and believed that these designs should inspire a consumer to
purchase the good. [22: Ibid.]
The documentary argues that design and marketing seduced
consumers into always craving the latest model, and Stevens claimed
purchasing a good was at the discretion of the consumer. However,
the psychological tactics used by advertisers were manipulative and
the actions taken by manufactures leave the consumers with no
choice but to comply with planned obsolescence. Advertisers played
on their audiences emotion to achieve this. The memory of the Great
Depression is still present and the tragedy of war a not so distant
past. This manipulation, however, did not just apply to technology.
Many advertisers pulled from the idea of planned obsolescence of
technology and inserted it into advertisements for other goods.
Thomas Hine, like Marchand, looks at obsolescence through
fashion and color. Hine states that the increased importance of
colors [in the 1950s] meant everything changed more often. Populuxe
refers to many advertisements that incorporated color, from ads
about refrigerators and stoves, to ads on bathroom furnishings. You
could match all of your kitchen appliances, your furniture, and
more. There were even advertisements for colored toilet paper so
that even that could match the color scheme of your bathroom. Much
of this is taken from the fashion industry; advertisers made women
the trendsetters of appliances and furniture. Women have been
victim to fashion for much of history so applying trends and style
to their appliances and furniture seemed second nature to them.
The Ensemble
Planned obsolescence does not just apply to technology, but to
the products style and fashion trends as well. Roland Marchand
states that the crowning achievement of advertisings emphasis on
color, beauty, and style in the 1920s was its popularization of the
idea of the ensemble; a [harmony] of color and style among a
variety of accessories.[footnoteRef:23] The addition of color in
advertising during the 1920s allowed for a new way for advertisers
to attract consumers. Using color in advertising was and new and
efficient way to take practical goods and turning them into a
fashionable item, which Marchand explains by stating, against the
grayish blandness of such a background, a colored product could
immediately and ingeniously provide an eye-catching advertising
advantage.[footnoteRef:24] [23: Roland Marchand. Advertising the
American Dream: Making Way for Modernity. (London: The Regents of
the University of California, 1985), 132] [24: Ibid. 122]
Marchand provides various advertisements from the 1920s that
incorporate color into their product, from pens and jackets, to
bathroom accessories.[footnoteRef:25] Color advertising was most
productive with bathroom accessory advertisements, which inspired
its use in other products that manufacturers had never bothered to
apply color to before, such as bed sheets. One specific company,
Pepperell Manufacturing Company introduced a new line of colored
sheets and pillowcases by announcing that, every womans
sleeping-room should express her personality.[footnoteRef:26] Color
was no longer used to grab a readers attention, but was beginning
to be used as a way to personalize products and provide a
connection between the good being advertised and the consumer. [25:
Ibid. 121 - 125] [26: Ibid. 127]
While the ensemble is a marketing scheme of the 1920s,
advertisers found it very useful in the 1950s. With the growing
number of families living in suburban neighborhoods and the new
techniques being employed by advertisers, the ensemble approach has
a large presence in the 1950s. Thomas Hine also discusses Marchands
concept of ensemble in Populuxe. The suburban house also brought
new ways to use color in products; advertisers expanded the use of
color to be incorporated in every room. Houses in suburban
neighborhoods were so alike that if your company moved you from
Cherry Hill, New Jersey, to Anaheim, California, the vegetation
would be different, but you could probably move into much the same
house.[footnoteRef:27] Advertisers took this uniformity and created
a sense of competitiveness in their advertisements by depicting the
subject with the new and latest styles. Using an array of never
before seen colors, manufacturers incorporated fashion and style
into their products, which was then promoted by the advertisers.
[27: Thomas Hine. Populuxe: The look and life of America in the
'50s and '60s, from tailfins and TV dinners to Barbie dolls and
fallout shelters. (Toronto, Canada: Random House, 1986), 22.]
Continuing with the popularity of colored bathroom accessories,
manufactures carried this concept over to other rooms in the
suburban home. Consumers now had the ability match all of their
kitchen appliances, bedroom furniture, living room furniture, and
even the office equipment. This was an easy method of advertising
to consumers, mostly women, because the idea comes from the fashion
industry. Women have been victim to fashion for much of history, so
applying trends and style to their appliances and furniture seemed
second nature to them. In using the ensemble approach, advertisers
portrayed women as having the ability to become stylish
trendsetters in their own neighborhoods.
Not only does the ensemble method appear in appliances, but in
other goods like toilet paper. According to this ad from ScotTissue
in Life magazine, consumers were now able to purchase toilet paper
that would match the color scheme of your bathroom, at a higher
price of course. Consumers who purchased a mint green bathtub, sink
and toilet now had the option of purchasing toilet paper to match.
Not only will this toilet paper blend in gently withyour shower
curtain with the gold stars, or Dads new blue plaid towels, but
also ScotTissue in color is such a big moneys worth, and youre not
constantly putting in a new roll because this big color roll lasts
and lastsyour best color value for the whole
family.[footnoteRef:28] Manufacturers and advertisers were getting
smarter about their products; women had already been taught the
concept of trends through fashion; to apply this knowledge to a
disposable item such as toilet paper is both ridiculous and clever
at the same time. If these consumers took a minute to think about
what they were purchasing for a higher price compared to the use
value of the product then they would realize the absurdity of
buying the more expensive colored toilet paper. However, toilet
paper wasnt the only good being sold in a variety of colors. [28:
See Fig. 3]
Many products, from refrigerators to bathtubs were also offered
in different colors so that customers could potentially match all
of your appliances by brand and color. However, color choices
changed every year, just like with fashion; if an appliances broke
down, the consumer could not simply buy a replacement in the same
color because the color was most likely not offered any more,
making it impossible to find a balance between trends and
technology. Thomas Hine discusses this idea in his book, Populuxe,
stating that this approach came from both automobiles and clothing
fashions [which marketed] new colors and color combinations[and]
the major decorating magazines initiated annual features on this
years colors.[footnoteRef:29] And just as fashion is divided into
seasons, the increased importance of colors meant everything
changed more often.[footnoteRef:30] Advertisers portrayed the good
consumer of the 1950s as having the ability to keep up with the new
seasons, colors, and styles. Good consumers updated their
bathrooms, kitchens, and bedroom so that they could appear modern
and stylish. Advertisers used new colors and styles as a way to
teach women that they could apply their knowledge of fashion
trendsetting to the home. [29: Thomas Hine. Populuxe: The look and
life of America in the '50s and '60s, from tailfins and TV dinners
to Barbie dolls and fallout shelters. (Toronto, Canada: Random
House, 1986), 20] [30: Ibid. 20]
Style and Trendsetting
One method advertisers used during this time was to make their
consumers feel like trendsetters when buying their goods, much like
you would in fashion. When applied to fashion, planned obsolescence
is a synonym for trends. Fashion designs and clothing go in and out
of style in an effort to get consumers to continue to buy clothes
instead of hanging onto the clothing from the previous season.
Manufacturers and advertisers saw the fashion industry with their
seasons and trends and found a way to market their products to
their audience so that they would want to update their furniture or
appliances with newer versions that came in different
colors.[footnoteRef:31] The most convenient part of this scheme was
that advertisers didnt have to find clever ways to manipulate
consumers; their main audience, women, were already used to this
idea from the fashion industry. [31: Ibid. 22-23]
Marchand discusses this concept through colored plumbing
fixtures in the bathroom, describing it as a color crusade to
emancipate the bathroom from prim utilitarianism.[footnoteRef:32]
He also gives to examples of ads that show the incorporation of
color, style elements in line, pattern and decoration, in bathroom
furnishings.[footnoteRef:33] One ad in particular incorporates
fashion and furniture into one scene. The Montgomery Ward & Co.
advertisement depicts a color-coordinated bathroom, described as
the lake forest outfit, and the lady of the house [being used like]
a prop to contribute to the bathrooms larger harmony of color and
pattern.[footnoteRef:34] Advertisers were trying to create a
connection to fashion and appliances by incorporating both into the
advertisements in an effort to reach out to female consumers. This
tactic saw a lot of success in the 1920s and was incorporated into
other products to elevate consumption levels above those of mere
utilitarian serviceability and soon invaded the kitchen, bedroom,
and even the cellar.[footnoteRef:35] [32: Roland Marchand.
Advertising the American Dream: Making Way for Modernity. (London:
The Regents of the University of California, 1985), 124] [33: Ibid.
125] [34: Ibid. 125] [35: Ibid. 126]
Hine picks up on the trendsetting technique in advertisement in
the 1950s. However, he makes the mistake of claiming that
appliances were manufactured in color for the first time, something
that introduced a new fashion element when Marchand has provided
extensive evidence in the use of colored appliances in the
1920s.[footnoteRef:36] The use of this tactic, however, is
accelerated in the 1950s because due to the popularity of the
suburban neighborhood: [36: Thomas Hine. Populuxe: The look and
life of America in the '50s and '60s, from tailfins and TV dinners
to Barbie dolls and fallout shelters. (Toronto, Canada: Random
House, 1986), 21]
home builders phased out the basic house and started coming up
with new and elaborate models which could be fitted and
personalized with a series of options and upgradesthe arrival of
new materials, particularly new kinds of floor and wall coverings,
brought distinctly new looksfrom both automobiles and clothing
fashions came new colors and color combinations that rendered old
rooms stodgy.[footnoteRef:37] [37: Ibid. 20]
Marchand gives evidence of the use and popularity of colored
appliances, but Hine gives evidence of the expanded use of color in
other aspects of design in the house. In analyzing the collection
of advertisements for this paper, I found that while color had been
used in the past, Hine is correct in his argument that advertisers
began to use this tactic outside of kitchen and bathroom
appliances.
In a Lincoln advertisement from Life in 1956, advertisers
claimed that the first thing consumers notice was the trendsetting
style of their products.[footnoteRef:38] In fact, the overall look
and style of the vehicle is the first thing mentioned in the ad.
The style that the Lincoln brand is the first thing observed before
they even consider the other qualities the product
offers.[footnoteRef:39] Many of the car advertisements during the
1950s mention very little about anything else the car might have to
offer. It is all about style and how what you purchase makes you
appear to others. In the Lincoln advertisement, an older couple
watch as a younger couple leave in their car, not even paying
attention to the older couple waving goodbye.[footnoteRef:40] Both
couples appear to be part of a higher class, though the man and
woman in the Lincoln seem to be socially and economically superior
to the other pair. What Lincoln is trying to compel consumers to
feel when they see this ad is that buying a Lincoln will give you
the appearance that you are from the upper class and have the money
to purchase luxurious items, such as a car. In addition, the
setting of the ad looks like it takes place in the South, which is
a play on the nostalgia associated with pre-Civil War South. [38:
See Fig 4] [39: See Fig. 4] [40: See Fig. 4]
The appearance of consumers showing off their luxury goods does
not just appear in car advertisements but appliance ads as well.
The Gas Range advertisement from Good Housekeeping also boasts a
modern style to its audience.[footnoteRef:41] The advertisers
promote that this particular range, made in 1948, is more advanced
then the one made in 1947 or any other competing model on the
market. Not only that, but this brand was the first to bring its
customers smokeless broiling, heat-controlled ovens, simmer
burners, [and] table-top designs![footnoteRef:42] This was not the
only appliance company that pushed this agenda. Hotpoint Appliances
also claimed to offer the latest technology for their customers. In
fact, their dryer outmodes all previous dryers as well as asserting
that it is the first and the new[est] in the field of technology.
[footnoteRef:43] This kind of marketing is targeted to their
customers competitive natures; who wouldnt want to be the first in
the neighborhood to have the latest appliance technology has to
offer? Especially when they could get it in the latest in season
colors. [41: See Fig. 5] [42: See Fig. 5] [43: See Fig. 6]
Colors werent the only thing that went in and out of style.
Every year car companies would find something different to add to
their cars that the previous year did not have and base their
marketing on those changes. The previous car is no longer
acceptable in the eyes of advertisers and they wanted consumers to
feel the same way. Cars were a good that you could show off not
just in your driveway but also on the road and at the market; they
are the quintessential example of a consumers buying power. Thomas
Hine explains it well in his book, Populuxe:
In 1954, general Motors unveiled something called the Firebird,
an experimental show car meant for display in the very popular
Motoramas the company held periodically in various American cities.
These were exercises in marketing, not technology, and the cars
shown were often simply versions of current models with heightened
symbolic content, or trials of features that were a year or two
awayin 1955, howeverthe dull little car, which had been available
in colors like dark blue, dark green and deep violet, all of which
seemed only to be gradations of basic black, came forth in color
combinations like coral and charcoal gray. And Chevrolet was not
aloneall of Chrysler Corporations models were restyled that
year.[footnoteRef:44] [44: Thomas Hine. Populuxe: The look and life
of America in the '50s and '60s, from tailfins and TV dinners to
Barbie dolls and fallout shelters. (Toronto, Canada: Random House,
1986), 90]
Both manufacturers and advertisers realized that their audience
would fall for simple changes, like the color of the car, as an
improvement and used that to market their cars. Good consumers
should be willing to buy the new and latest model because they
should want to be the first to have the new gadget to show off.
Luxury and Leisure
Marchand also mentions the concept of leisure and how it was
applied to the home. The image of housework was transformed from a
chore to something else; advertisers and manufacturers of home
appliances promised that their labor-saving products and services
would bring women the most fulfilling reward leisure
time.[footnoteRef:45] This was depicted in ads by showing the
housewife enjoying her leisure by either minimizing the product or
removing it all together.[footnoteRef:46] Marchand gives an example
of this in The Laundry Machinery Companys advertisement, titled
Might-have-been hourshow many of them are YOURS?[footnoteRef:47]
This ad depicts a woman with an iron staring at the clock that
shows images of leisure activities she could be involved in if she
werent still doing her chores.[footnoteRef:48] The emphasis is not
placed on the product itself but of the benefit of leisure the
product would bring to the consumer. [45: Roland Marchand.
Advertising the American Dream: Making Way for Modernity. (London:
The Regents of the University of California, 1985), 171] [46: Ibid.
171] [47: Ibid. 173] [48: Ibid. 173]
Hine doesnt discuss how advertisements depicted leisure or
luxury but he does discuss a new form of it that incorporated
leisure, consumerism, and social interaction. Tupperware parties
were very popular in 1950s suburban neighborhoods. Women, in return
for hosting a party, received free Tupperware products. These
parties were successful as well; nobody would leave without at
least one piece of Tupperware.[footnoteRef:49] There were many
other ways to spend leisure time, such as watching TV shows like
The Life of Riley, and I Love Lucy, which eventually moved the main
characters from their Manhattan apartment to a suburban
neighborhood in Connecticut. Food preparation also became easier,
like TV dinners and Liptons onion dip mix.[footnoteRef:50] These
easy to prepare foods were supposed to allow more leisure time for
housewives. Leisure and luxury were not easy to advertise in the
1950s, however; they had two decades of financial insecurity to
overcome. [49: Thomas Hine. Populuxe: The look and life of America
in the '50s and '60s, from tailfins and TV dinners to Barbie dolls
and fallout shelters. (Toronto, Canada: Random House, 1986), 35]
[50: Ibid. 25-27]
Luxury is yet another theme found in these 1950s advertisements
in many ways; the luxury of technology, time, and money. The
majority of Americans at this time were not used to luxury; the
economy had become slow, due to the Great Depression. Advertisers
were desperate to continue their success from the 1920s. They were
focused on booting morale, inspiring consumers, and reassuring
their audience that spending would, in fact, save the
economy.[footnoteRef:51] Advertisers also had to combat the
discouragement of luxury and leisure during the 1940s when all
efforts were focused on the war. Luxury and leisure were still
portrayed throughout these two decades but never to the extent that
is seen in the 1950s. One interesting difference Ive found in my
advertisements is that, unlike Marchands ads from the 1920s that
minimized or removed the product, the 1950s ads always depict the
product and have either removed the person or minimized them. [51:
Roland Marchand. Advertising the American Dream: Making Way for
Modernity. (London: The Regents of the University of California,
1985), Chapter 9]
In just about every advertisement analyzed for this paper,
luxury and leisure are present, if not the main aspect. In the
Lincoln advertisement found in Life luxury is a main theme. Just
looking at the extravagant vehicle taking up the majority of the
illustration, one can almost feel the luxury exuding from it. If
that isnt enough, the audience can also take in the wealth and
opulence from the rich clothing and jewelry the couple in the
Lincoln is wearing, or the large Southern-style plantation in the
background. The mansion itself brings the consumer back to the
romanticized pre-Civil War era with large white columns and
manicured landscaping. Not to mention the dominating presence of
the affluent white upper class. In the description below the
picture, the subtitle reads, people who know fine cars are changing
to Lincoln. The use of the word fine also suggests the
luxuriousness of the car.
Luxury isnt just implied through pictures, but through words as
well. In an overwhelming amount of advertisements, particularly
about home appliances, the words quick, easy, and automatic can be
found. Purchasing a new automatic dryer, or the new advanced gas
range, would not only hint to your economic ability to purchase
such advanced technology, but allow you leisure time that was never
available before. No more spending time hanging your clothes out on
the line or worrying about rainy weather ruining your freshly
cleaned linens. You could now through your clothes into the
automatic dryer, press a few buttons, then walk away without a
worry until the buzz indicated that your clothes are now dry. The
General Electric washer will make your clothes sparkling clean
without a bit of effort.[footnoteRef:52] These appliances became
part of a familys every day life. These goods werent just purchased
for their ability to provide luxury and leisure; in the popular
suburban neighborhoods, good consumers should want to show off
their financial ability to purchase these household appliances and
luxurious cars. [52: See Fig. 2]
Visual Clichs
Another theme Marchand discusses in his book is that of the
visual clichs. Marchand has referenced many advertisements that
take the product and increase its size to the point where huge
refrigerators towered above tiny towns of consumers [or] immense
cars straddled the rivers and towns of miniaturized countryside
below. One example that sums up this heroic proportions technique
is an ad that shows a gigantic air-conditioned refrigerator that is
towering over a crowd of miniature people. This method was meant to
point out the kolossal image was not only almost overpowering in
its demand upon reader attention but also commanded confidence and
respect as well as to allude to the objects dominance and
transcendence.[footnoteRef:53] [53: Roland Marchand. Advertising
the American Dream: Making Way for Modernity. (London: The Regents
of the University of California, 1985), 266-267; *spelled
kolossal]
Hine fails to mention this advertising technique but I have
found this theme in many of my advertisements, especially home
appliance ads. One interesting difference Ive found in my
advertisements is that, unlike Marchands ads from the 1920s that
minimized or removed the product, the 1950s ads always depict the
product and have either removed the person or minimized them. In
the Hotpoint advertisement, the woman showing off their newest
dryer has been reduced to a smaller size than that of the
appliance. This also appears in the Gas Range ad, in which the
woman is not even half the size of the range. It is almost as if
the advertisers are belittling the importance of the women in the
ads; they no longer play a huge role in cooking or doing the
laundry because the appliance is advertised to do everything for
them. The advertisements are trying to portray the fact that women,
after purchasing that particular good, will not have to spend as
much time on household chores and would have more time for their
families and social lives.
This belittlement of women played to the popular notion that a
womans work in the home is not work at all. The wife gets to stay
home and take care of the chores and children while the husband has
to go off into the public sphere and bring home the bacon to
provide for his family. Most of the women in advertisements like
this appear happy that they no longer have to put as much effort
into those household chores. In fact, the woman at the bottom of
the Hotpoint ad looks blissful.[footnoteRef:54] Another common
expression held by the women is a look of adoration and love, such
as the woman in the other woman in the Hotpoint ad.[footnoteRef:55]
According to these advertisements, a good consumer should feel love
for the appliances, almost as if they were a member of the family.
Though these women may appear miniscule in comparison to the home
appliances, their size speaks volumes. [54: See Fig. 6] [55: See
Fig. 2 and 6]
First Impressions
Roland Marchand discusses the parable of the first impression in
the 1920s and states that first impressions brought immediate
success or failure to a person and a fear of offending or
committing a faux pas became a realistic fear invented and
maintained by advertisements. In the 1920s, ad men capitalized on
the importance of the first impression by being very direct.
Marchand cites many advertisements with very direct ways of
promoting this parable, but one in particular explains it
perfectly:
Suddenly, she sensed, as a knowledgeable mother would have been
able to advise, that her chance of being invited to such an affair
again in fact, her whole future popularity would be determined by
this crucial first impression of her presence her social destiny
hung in the balance.[footnoteRef:56] [56: Roland Marchand.
Advertising the American Dream: Making Way for Modernity. (London:
The Regents of the University of California, 1985), 208]
The woman and her husband in this advertisement worked
tirelessly on the dinner menu and conversation topics that were
appropriate for such an important party. However, her dreary and
out-of-date furniture gave the impression of dowdy tastelessness
and lack of modernity ruined her plans for a flawless first
impression.[footnoteRef:57] This couple, because of this failed
first impression among influential people, ruined their future and
the husband remained in his sales job for the next twenty years.
[57: Ibid.]
The parable of the first impression had already become ingrained
in society by the 1950s. Thomas Hine argues that the design of
suburban neighborhoods helped keep this parable alive; the picture
windows through which it was possible to view your neighbors
furniture and family activities [and] the lack of effective fences
allowed the feeling of being watched by your neighbors. The
pressure to keep up with the Joneses was amplified in the suburbs.
Neighbors could peak inside your houses through these large picture
windows and see your furniture and style but this wasnt the only
way for neighbors to judge you based off of your possessions.
Tupperware parties became popular social interactions between
suburban neighbors. In fact, one of the few things nearly all
suburbanites had in common was that they were consumers. Tupperware
parties were social gatherings a woman would host at her house and
invite all her neighbors. Not only could she flaunt her ability to
buy the Tupperware, but she could also show off her modern and
stylish home.
This parable of the first impression is also used in 1950s
advertisements, though not presented so obviously as it was in the
1920s. This tactic was so ingrained in advertisements form the
1920s and on that it became unnecessary to be as visible in the
1950s. The theme of first impression can also be found in many of
the advertisements I found on the 1950s. There tends to be a
presence of an onlooker or neighbor that is admiring the subjects
new gadget. In the Caloric advertisement, the subject, a woman, is
seen showing off her new Ultramatic Caloric gas stove to another
woman.[footnoteRef:58] The owner of the stove is smiling wide at
her neighbor who is looking on at the stove with a look of
adoration. The subject of this advertisement is successful in
making a good impression. She doesnt own some outdated wood stove
she has a new Caloric gas stove! She is showing off her financial
stability and her new stove that can end the endless hours of
range-tending and gives her more time to [her]self.[footnoteRef:59]
[58: See Fig. 6] [59: See Fig. 6]
The Lincoln ad also offers a 1950s perspective on the parable of
the first impression. As discussed earlier, there are two couples
featured in this advertisement, the young couple in the Lincoln and
the admiring older couple off to the side.[footnoteRef:60] No
matter where you lived, in the city, the suburbs, or in a rural
town, this car would be a perfect way to show off! In fact, this ad
claims that people who know fine cars are purchasing Lincolns: so
why not portray your self as one of these educated consumers that
appreciate fine cars? In the 1950s, it became popular to trade in
your car from the previous year and purchase the new model. Thomas
Hine discusses this trend in detail in Populuxe. Harley Earl, a
former Hollywood car customizer, worked for General Motors in the
50s to design new models.[footnoteRef:61] Earls designs were
inspired by airplanes and other modern technology and created the
popular tailfin.[footnoteRef:62] In suburban neighborhoods, houses
were identical looking but the car sitting in your driveway could
say a lot about your financial stability, as well as style. A good
consumer should always be prepared to make a good first impression,
and they can accomplish this by keeping up with the fashion trends
and purchasing the latest technological invention. [60: See Fig. 7]
[61: Thomas Hine. Populuxe: The look and life of America in the
'50s and '60s, from tailfins and TV dinners to Barbie dolls and
fallout shelters. (Toronto, Canada: Random House, 1986), 83] [62:
Ibid.]
Conclusion
In a time that was so new for the consumers, advertisers in the
1950s capitalized on the consumers uncertainty to force an agenda
they had had since their rise in the 1920s. Their goal was to
promote spending to new levels that had never been seen before.
Consumer culture, up to that point had forced consumers to err on
the side of caution; save, dont spend. Fear of another depression,
like that of the 1930s, was still very real and sincere. But with
the rise of wages and the decrease unemployment, manufacturers
realized there was a potential for higher consumer spending. So
they took ideas from methods they had already been using and found
new ways to seduce consumers into spending by presenting them with
new feelings associated with purchasing goods.
Thomas Hine argues in his book, Populuxe, that many of these
concepts were a product of the post-World War II consumer culture.
However, I have found that this argument is flawed; Roland
Marchands book, Advertising the American Dream, shows evidence of
these techniques were not new to the 1950s, in fact they were first
being used in the 1920s. Methods such as the parable of the first
impression, visual clichs, impressions of luxury and leisure, and
ensemble were initially used in the 1920s. What separates 1950s
advertising from 1920s advertising is the amplified production and
supply of goods, increased wages, a decrease in unemployment, and
the popularity of the suburban neighborhood. The combination of
these created a consumer culture that had never before been
experienced.
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