02/05/2015MIT32141 1950sAdvertising; 1960s and Creative Revolution MIT3214.

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1950sAdvertising; 1960s and Creative Revolution

MIT3214

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Interwar Advertising

1. Social Change: urbanization/immigration

2. Social Adaptation1. emotional/personal insecurities2. Listerine/’halitosis’3. apostles of modernity/zerrespiegel4. conformity/emerging ‘mass society’

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Mass Society Critique

1. Middletown 1. Robert/Helen Lynd

(1929)2. Malaise of

mass/commercial culture

2. Stuart Chase, Sinclair Lewis, J. Kerouac

3. Bohemia

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Mass Society Critique (post-WII)

1. David Riesman1. The Lonely Crowd (1950)2. Inner-directed/outer-directed

2. William H. Whyte 1. The Organization Man (1956)2. Malaise of bureaucracy/

collectivism3. loss of individualism 4. ‘group-mindedness’

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Mass Culture Critique/Culture Industry

Frankfurt School T. Adorno/G. Marcuse Culture Industries

serve Corporate Capitalism

Network radio/TV; ‘top 40’ pop music; tabloids, Hollywood

Ideological reproduction

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1950s Advertising

1. Television2. Research/Social Science

1. quantify ad effectiveness

3. Simple Message; Repetition

1. Slogans, jingles

4. Doctor/Scientist testimonial

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Rosser Reeves

1. Methodist upbringing2. Ted Bates Agency 3. Low esteem of public4. Repetition: single

selling message5. Large media buys6. Political advertising,

1952

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Unique Selling Proposition (USP) Colgate: “Cleans Your

Breath While it Cleans Your Teeth”

M&Ms (“Melts in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hand” )

simple ad + repetition over ad variation

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Anacin

1. Radio/TV2. $18m to $54m in 18

months (mid-1950s)3. Repetition/

Incantation4. “Power of Threes”

1. fast, Fast, FAST Relief

5. http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=oeas5jtffpM

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1950s Ads William Whyte &

Bad advertising: “groupthink” mass Audience “group harmony”

of ad agencies Thomas Frank

Mad Men

Transitional/Liminal Era (1960-63)

Historical Foresight

Surface Pleasures

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Don Draper/Mad Men

Depth/Identity Authenticity/

Artifice Kodak/Carousel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suRDUFpsHus&feature=related

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Mad Men

Draper as Metaphor for Advertising?

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Did Mainstream Co-opt Counter-Culture of 1960s?

Conventional View: 1. Business culture:

1. monolithic, hierarchical, homogenous

2. Counter-culture: 1. Dionysian, vibrant, spontaneous2. Subversive

3. Counter culture becomes mass movement

1. business co-opts; harness for own ends

T. Frank

Capitalism’s own insurgency Pre-date

Counterculture Common goals with

counter culture Advertising’s

“Creative Revolution”

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Managerial Revolt

Douglas McGregor Human Side of

Enterprise Theory “X”/“Y” Firms Theory X

Hierarchy, organization, strict supervision

Stifle creativity, innovation

Less competitive

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McGregor… Theory Y Firm:

Flatter organization; non-hierarchical

Promote creativity; spontaneity

More profitable

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Late 1950s/early 1960s Business Culture

Not all “flat gray,” conservative, “square”

Not juxtaposed to Counter Culture

Business & “anti-establishment”

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Creative Revolution

1. Creative over Research/Account Execs

2. No ‘rule-book’ ad writing

3. “boutique” agencies4. Theory Y workplace5. Early 1960s to mid-

1970s

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C.R. Themes

1. Humour/Irony2. Rebel Talk;

1. Individualism; 2. anti-consumerism

to sell goods

3. Youth Talk 1. Youth as attitude,

break w/ conformity

2. new and exciting

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Bill Bernbach

1. Grey Advertising 1945-49

2. Doyle Dane Bernbach, 1949

3. Jewish clients1. Anti-Semitism

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Bernbach/Volkswagen Beetle

1. Ignite Creative Revolution

2. 1938 -Germany –”People’s Car”

3. modest post-war sales

4. Jewish Agency/Nazi Car

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VW Ads “Lemon” “Think Small”

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VW Ads “How Much

Longer Can We Hand You This Line”

“Is Volkswagen contemplating a change?”

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VW

simple photographs, minimal layout, large, clever headlines

Hip Consumerism: Savvy to car-buying manipulation register disgust/skepticism =buy a

Beetle

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Hip Consumerism ads speak flippantly of

product mock consumer

culture/critique mass society

Escape, rebellion, nonconformity

counterculture imagery

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Hip Consumerism

1. Fuel consumerism with discontent of consumerism

2. Reification

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Hip Consumerism

1. Dynamism of Capitalism1. Adaptive 2. neutralize genuine opposition3. Pre-emptive Irony

Cultural Logic of Hip Consumerism

1. Cultural elites/ Positional goods

2. Rebelling and status competition

3. Negative-sum game

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Cultural logic..

Stolichnaya Vodka Other

Examples?

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What to do? Avoid positional goods

grounded in comparisons?

Don’t express individuality via consumption?

“Uniforms” to foster genuine individualism?

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Exam Review: Section One (3 X 5 points = 15 points)

“Identify/discuss significance of three of following for study of advertising.” Likely 3 of 5

Section Two (5 X 1 points = 5 points) Multiple Choice (a,b,c,d)

Section Three = 5 points Discuss significance of 1 of 2 ads shown

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Exam -

Includes material from readings 20% of final grade Closed Book 75 minutes Written in Classroom A-L in NCB 117; M-Z in NCB 114

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Exam Review Sample Answer

“Reification” Reading: Leiss, Kline, Jhally, 29-30 Marxist critique of advertising social environment where needs

(emotional, personal, familial, material) met by purchase of consumer goods in market

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Review…Reification Ideology: A. cultural function not sell specific

products but inculcate belief that only consumption provides contentment, happiness, self-fulfillment, etc.

consumer goods and advertisements stand in way of people and their true needs.

goods never achieve resolution of profound personal and social needs; create more unfulfilled wants.

relate to “hip consumerism,” how ‘dissent’ registered through purchases, not social/political action