Advertising and American Culture 1890-1950s

History 47
#14 Advertising and American Culture 1890-1950s

3/5/98

[sources: the following is based primarily on Marchand, Roland, Advertising the American dream : making way for modernity, 1920-1940 (Berkeley : University of California Press, c1985 [S McCabe HF5813.U6 M26 1985. Illustrations on Handout class #14. For further titles see bibliography" "Advertising"]

Introduction

*discussions of the history of advertising have taken three major approaches.

1. Advertising as false or manipulative in the interest of class or corporate "control"

a. "Truth-in Advertising Campaigns ca. 1910s
b. Ads as part of corporatist "social control," see e.g. Ewen, Stuart, Channels of desire : mass images and the shaping of American consciousness (New York : McGraw-Hill, 1982) viii, 312 p. [Bryn Mawr] Canaday HF5813.U6 E95 1982
2. Advertising "mirror" of what society wants: thus beneficial: democratizing, stability, creating national market of mass production and cheap goods

3. Advertising as "therapeutic". Sees complex interaction between admen and audience, with advertising being a substitute religion that eases the way to "modernity," albeit with mixed consequences. e.g. Marchand, Roland, Advertising the American dream

**following the last of these approaches, this class will also look at the relation between "advertising, "scientism" and "modernism."

1. advertising intersects with "scientism" at three levels

a. actual contributions, especially from psychology. the most notable example was Watson who joined the J. Walter Thompson agency in 1920. But Printer's Ink was discussing psychology in the 1890s. See Printer's Ink article "Partnership." See also Walter Dill Scott, The Psychology of Advertising (1903){McCabe: HF5822 .S43]. (Lears, "From Salvation," p. 19)

b. role of advertisers vis a vis public: "professionalizion" and expert

c. part of complexity mechanics of consumer culture, whereby "products" are separated from "work", "objects" from the "words" associated with them.

"*Lears example. Meaning "revolutionary" has taken in consumer culture. See Jerry Rubin, Do it" " a revolution in toilet paper."

***more importantly it demonstrates the intersection of "scientism" with "modernism," including the latter's doubts and anxieties about the place of "modernization." Note: a parallel argument for American culture in between the wars is made in David Hollinger, "The Knower and the Artificer," American Quarterly 39 (1987), 37-55.

As Marchand, Advertising p. 359 puts it:

"One mode of response by Americans to the modernization of their society . . .had been to split life into two distinct spheres: the hard, rational, competitive, and impersonal realm of work and economic transactions; and the soft, sentimental, intimate world of home, family and warm personal relationships. [he might also have added leisure and sports]. ...But people did not prove amenable to so rigid a compartmentalization of their lives. Their desires for psychological gratification and personal interaction spilled messily over from the world of private intimacy into the public realm of economic transactions."

I. Advertising 1860s-1900

*although advertising grew steadily, and helped create a national economy and mass production, it was not initially aimed at creating new wants, but carving out a larger share of a market already assumed to exist. By the 1890s, however, a new approach appeared that stressed the creation of desire.

A. 19th century roots

B. Change in 1890s

C. WWI gives a boost (Marchand p. 5)

*see Illustration . #1[ 1.1, 1.2]

II. During the 1920s, worked hard to shed its "Barnum" image (cf. move from "arm chair philosophizing" to quantitative social science).

A. Pervasive tensions that ran through ads.

1. "Artistic excellence." v. "information".

a. artistic: associated with culture in "Harvard business school awards," and using associations with Met Museum of Arts

b. But also information

2. Modernity as 'efficiency" but also "regrets"

a. Efficiency came out in claims they were oiling the wheels of "modernity" through sleek new products.

b. Regret in attempts to create "subjective outlets" and a personal tone.

B. Results

1. change from a. earlier wherein they sold "product" though "reasoned" appeals (even though based on a belief that consumers "irrational" to (b) selling of benefits (psychic." One of the earliest was "The Skin you Live to Touch." (1911) The key was to make consumers believe he/she has "lived through" an experience, and hence retrain a sense of control in an expanding mass society."

* [note: although there was no exact parallel in the careers of Ogburn, one can see the same objecive-subjective division. Whereas the earlier antiformalists wished to link the two--i.e to show how "feelings could be realized in institutions--now a sharp distinction between mass economy (rationalized) and psychic satisfactions via consumerism,.

2. specific consequence was "side by side"positioning"

a. advertiser joins consumer. *see Illustration 2 [1.3, 1,4, 4.8]

b. scare copy a variant: "ring around the collar" *see Illustration 3 [1.5]

c. "friend" was Betty Crocker.

C. Case studies illustrate:

1. Fleischman's Yeast (Marchand pp. 16-18)
2. Listerine (pp. 18 -20) See Illustration 4 [1.8]
c. Kotex (pp. 20-22) See Illustration 5 [1.11]

III. "New Professionals"

*professionalization expressed itself in dislike of references to the ":ad game" and in euphemisms ("consumption engineers")

A. Background
*survey of individuals in 20 largest agencies shows some interesting characteristics, with both parallels and differences with leaders of "objectivist" social science. One consequence was that there were essentially an elite separated from the "masses" they claimed to represent.

1. Male /female(see Marchand pp. 33-35)

2. WASP. not Jews or other ethnic groups, although not much more exclusive than other areas of professions. [does however, contrast with movies and sports management]

3. Relatively high social class. Ivy League

B. Agency subculture develops (pp. 39-44)

1. initially agencies merely bargained for space, then resold it to individuals who produced their own ads

2. gradually began to offer advice and copy

3. consequences were twofold:

a. a high level of frustration and uncertainty. Marchand pictures admen as "marginal," deferring to clients while taking pride in "ingroup displays of virtuosity" (p. 41).The point indirectly is that the entire culture of the ad agency made the expert-client relationship impossible (as e.g. in medicine). At the same time it led to strong attack on the "literary" pretensions of those who tried to assert themselves.

b, Competitiveness also distinguished from situation of academic and possibly other experts.

*raises question of relation to "style" and mixture of "scientism" and "modernism." Possibly different ways that professionals orient to clients determines their view of themselves as "experts" and subtly shapes their message. Admen, that is, had reasons both to celebrate and regret modernization, for its consequences in their own lives/career. On different ways professions orient to clients see.Wayne Hobson, "Professionals, Progressives, and Bureaucratization," Historian 39 (1977), 639-58

B Whatever the reason, their vision of "professionalism" showed the same tensions as their view of "modernity"

1. one side emphasized standards, public service, culture, uplift. Stressed advanced education required for admen (# PhDs), and public service.

2. but other side stressed the hard boiled expert, giving advice to clients much as would a lawyer.

*battles between these two permeated every level of advertising.

IV. Experts vs. People

*Among experts was tension between representing the people on the model of political democracy or manipulating them. (see Marchand. ch. 3 "Keeping the Audience in Focus"

A. Use of True Story and tabloid forms

*see Illustration 6[3.3]

B. Also evoked movies (pp. 61ff]

C. Concerning the audience

1. most thought of in terms of "class" and "Mass"

2. But also had prior fundamental assumption : consumer citizenship. Did careful studies of who qualified as citizens in the republic of consumerism

* e.g. (see p. 65

D Sizing up particulars stressed

1. women

2, but also ordinary folk *see Illustration 7 [3.5]

V. Radio, Funny Papers and Transformation in 1930s (Marchand ch. 4)

VI. Social Functions of Advertising

A. Strategies: promoting the consumption ethic (ch. 5)

1. use of color

2. use for "modern" art and Freudian theory *see Illustration 8 [5.21]

B. Ads and Society (ch. 6)

*ads can mirror society in several ways: (1) as describing what available in particular time and place; (2) by positioning endorser so as to carry "authority" ; or (3) as "social tableau, whereby persons are depicted in a way to show relation to each other or the larger social structure

1. women were primary focus with most variation

a. glorified homemaking. Now not a chore by an emotional experience. (pp. 171-)

b told how to look. The "Body by Fisher" metaphor

c. but also anticipated the "superwomen" of the 1970s-1980s *see Illustration 9 [6.19]

2. others plyed less ambiguous roles. dentists and even workmen endorser. But working men never seen as consumers. All motor car ads, e.g had men in suits.

C. The Great Parables

*in addition to playing on social movements and ideas, ads assumed almost Biblical character in promoting what Marchand calls "the great Parables" [see photocopies of illustrations]

1. The First Impression *see Illustration 10 [7.4, 7.3]

2. The Democracy of Goods *see Illustration 11 [7.7]

3. Civilization Redeemed *see Illustration 12 [7.8]

4. The Captivated Child*see Illustration 13 [7.11]

5. Guideposts to a "logic of living"

VI Advertising in Depression America

*see Illustration 14 [9.2]

VI. Conclusion.: advertising as Therapy

A. Rise of advertising should be set in context of competing therapies (See Lears " from salvation" )

B. Adverting enabled Americans to deal with modernization in a variety of ways and with various consequences. (Marchand, ch. 10 summarizes)

1. By reducing urban completely, enabled to deal with problems of scale.

a. First Impression enabled to deal with urban strangers.

b. Democracy of goods "promised compensations for the lack of self-sufficiency and personal control..." (p. 337)

c. visual cliches and social parables connected new urban scene with familiar

*see "The widened Vision" *see Illustration 15 [8.21]

d. Parable of Captivated child (and Skinny Kid) educated parents in "urbane sophistication" (p. 337)

2. Filed the "vacuum of advice" " created by proliferating choices

*SEE 10.5 P. 345

3. culminated in campaigns telling how to deal with "nerves"

*e.g. Camel ads (p. 341)

4. Also provided broader psychological and other "advice"

See Illustration 16 [10.5]

*raises question whether really helped (pp. 349-52)

5. "Repersonalized" American life

*Overall consequence: finessing the "complexities of scale" (pp. 359-63)

See Illustration 17 (10.9)

Written by Robert Bannister, for classroom use in History 47, Swarthmore College 1/5/98. Rev. 3/3/98. May be reproduced in whole or part for educational purposes, but not copied or distributed for profit.