Consumerisum in the 1950s - 1198 Words

Wilks 1 Stephanie Wilks His 1050 Sec 201 April 10, 2010 Roland Marchand and Kelly Schrum: Critical Analysis of Consumerism Post WW II American was a place full of optimism and fear. The American people had survived 20 years of depression and war to find new prosperity and an increase in mass production of goods and services that improved quality of life. This meant better times for Americans, but fears over the Cold War, threat of an evermore intrusive American government and loss of individualism existed as well. These high expectations and anxieties played a great deal into how people consumed. Eventually these factors combined with aggressive advertising marketing, with the help of media (mainly TV), led to the emergence of a whole new†¦show more content†¦While the youth thought they were being rebellious with their music and attitudes, they were really selling out or more true to the case, sold out by mass media, who gained huge profits. Rock n Roll and teen rebel mov ies were being made for teen and other movies and types of music and movies were being directed at adults. This specialized marketing was just another confirmation of the new classes that were taking shape in America. â€Å"Teen culture and rock â€Å"n† roll, however, were not the only signs in the late 1950s of a possible countermarch in popular culture away from homogeneity towards segmentation.† (Marchand, 108). Although Schrum s â€Å"Making the American Girl† primarily deals with how Seventeen positioned teenage girls as a viable market to advertisers and empowering these young woman to be responsible and well informed citizens, Schrum does make similar points in her essay that are found in Marchand s essay. An increase in income for teenagers from their parents, advertisers discovering this new market and targeting it directly and the market, teenagers, revolting against being targeted are strong parallels in both essays. Schrum even touches on classlessn ess briefly by pointing out that to be effective in advertising to young women, Seventeen had to target a Wilks 4 â€Å"homogenous readership whose members were likely to purchase similar products† (Schrum, 110). Schrum also goes deeper into how the magazine s