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American Advertising

Suede Lyons

SLCC
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Advertising America

John Bugas, the number two at the Ford Motor Company in 1955, used the term

consumerism as a substitute for capitalism to describe Americas economy in a more accurate

way.

The term ‘consumerism’ would pin the tag where it actually belongs-on Mr. Consumer,

the real boss and beneficiary of the American system. It would pull the rug right out from

under our unfriendly critics who have blasted away so long and loud at capitalism.

(Buffalo Courier-Express, 2015)

Consumerism has a few definitions, some of which contradict each other. One sense of

the term supports consumers’ interest and by the 1970s it had become the accepted term and

began to be used in a few ways; Consumerism is the concept that consumers should be informed

decision makers in the marketplace, that the marketplace itself is responsible for ensuring social

justice through fair economic practices, and consumerism refers to the field of studying,

regulation, or interacting with the marketplace.

While those definitions were becoming established, people began using the term

consumerism to mean “high levels of consumption”. These are the definition that is used most

from the 1970s to present day; Consumerism is the selfish and frivolous collection of products,

or economic materialism and consumerism is a force from the marketplace which destroys

individuality and harms society.

When the U.S. entered the war in 1941 it created shortages immediately. The government

had to start rationing products like rubber and fuel. Other productions, like the auto industry,
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were stopped completely. Even though the levels of income were high, and employment was

full, there just wasn’t much for consumers to purchase. When the war ended, the expected

depression never came, but the inflation did. So, marketers found ways to satisfy the demand of

consumers. They started releasing new, modern, products that were a result of technologies from

the war. This included nylon, plastics, Styrofoam, and many others. With the baby boom (1945-

1964), advertisers focused on mothers with new babies to draw them in to purchase specific

products.

A study was conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Department of

Agriculture’s Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics on wartime spending in 1941.

The results of this survey, “Family spending and saving in wartime”-published with final data as

BLS bulletin 822 in 1945-covered 1941 and the first 3 months of 1942. Results from this study

showed the U.S. switching to domestic wartime economy at the beginning of 1942. Incomes

were rising, food purchases had increased and accounted for a third of total consumption

spending. In fact, the only expenditures of the average consumer that showed any notable

increase between 1941 and 1942 were for food, fuel, and medical care. However, food prices had

increased by 11 percent while the expenditures only went up by 5 percent. Meaning consumers

were buying less food or buying cheaper foods in the first 3 months of the war.

Advertising for the once rationed products picked up as consumers demand for them rose.

Companies used TV, as well as radio broadcasting, to advertise their products. Animation started

being featured in TV advertising for the first time in the 1940s due to it being a popular art form

at the time. Botany Mills was the first to have an animated character in a commercial with its

“Botany Lamb” campaign.

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Since then, advertising has expanded exponentially. Commercial ads try to convince us

consumers to purchase their products, even if we don’t necessarily need it. They influence in

strategic ways that trick us into thinking we need their services and products. One of the most

noticeable forms of advertising is billboards. We see them every day, lined up along freeways

and highways. With that said, have you ever used a service because you saw one of their

billboards? Probably not, I certainly know that I haven’t. Billboards are ugly and, in my opinion,

a thing of the past.

As we moved into the age of the internet advertisers found new, more effective, ways to

entice consumers into purchasing their products. One of the best forms of advertisements are the

ads you see while you’re on social media, like Facebook. I’m sure we all know by now that our

activity is tracked by our ISP (Internet Service Provider) and is sold off to third party companies.

This information is used to track what kind of products we’re interested in, then with some

algorithms, ads for similar products start showing up on our Facebook feed, Amazon shopping

suggestions, and sometimes even through email.

While this type of advertising does feel creepy and like an invasion of privacy, it’s also

smart, and extremely effective! I’ve purchased many products because of this kind of targeted

advertising. Another example of this kind of advertising. We all hate advertisements, they’re

annoying, they pop up while we’re reading an article online, and a lot of times the “article” that

you though would be interesting to read ends up being “click-bait” and is mainly used to get you

to see a bunch of adds. With that being said, advertising is extremely important for businesses.

Companies use advertising to promote their products and services. Not all the people that

see their ads will use their service or product, but enough do to make the cost of advertising
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worth it. Another reason it’s important is because it creates customer awareness. When you go to

the store because you need to get a cleaning product, you don’t really know which one to choose

from, right? Now, how many times have you remembered seeing an ad for a stain remover on

television or online, and decided to go with that one because the ad gave you visual evidence that

it worked?

Advertising and consumerism go hand in hand. Advertisers target consumers, and

consumers purchase products and services based off those ads. As I talked about in the beginning

of this paper, consumerism has turned into a derogatory term. It’s used to describe people that

purchase products and services, but in a way that talks about people as selfish and frivolous

collectors of (mostly) useless items.

I believe this description to be true, but can you really blame us for it 100 percent?

Advertisers are getting better with increases in technology. They’re able to see what you like and

send target ads your way. While I do think people spend mindlessly (including myself) I don’t

think we’re completely to blame.

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References

“1940s War, Cold War and Consumerism.” AdAge, 28 Mar. 2005, adage.com/article/75-years-

of-ideas/1940s-war-cold-war-consumerism/102702.

“Advertising.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Mar. 2019,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising.

“Consumer Spending in World War II: the Forgotten Consumer Expenditure Surveys : Monthly

Labor Review.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1 Aug. 2015,

www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2015/article/consumer-spending-in-world-war-ii-the-forgotten-

consumer-expenditure-surveys.htm.

“Consumerism.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Mar. 2019,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumerism.

Jones, Alice Hanson, et al. Family Spending and Saving in Wartime. U.S. Bureau of Labor

Statistics, 1945.