Consumerism, advertising, and buying on credit
"Consumerism" is described as the shift in American culture from a producer-oriented society in the nineteenth century to a “consumerist” society in the twentieth century. The shift to a consumerist society was caused by, “changes in domestic demographics and advances in industrialization, manufacturing, transportation, and communication” (Jones 1). The 1920’s held advancements in the United States economy. This was commonly due to the new developments of the age such as consumerism, advertising, and buying on credit. The consumer revolution, or the flood of new and more affordable goods, became more available to the public. Increased accessibility to power also helped drive the consumer revolution. The new forms of technology impacted consumerism a lot. House-work was also much less time consuming due to the help of inventions including the washing machine, iron, and vacuum. In addition, the creation of computers improved engine performance and fuel efficiency, (Lapansky-Werner 215-216). Videocassette recording technology gave people more options when watching programs; they no longer had to watch shows only during their scheduled showing. They could now record programs and watch them whenever they wanted. Later on, digitally recorded movie discs were available and were much more widely used than videocassettes (Jones 11). In addition, inventions including the radio and refrigerator were invented and their sales boomed in the newly developed, but unstable economy. Advertising became very popular during this time of consumerism, being key in the rapid development of the economy during the 1920’s. In order to create the desired markets, advertisements were needed to convince people that certain products would benefit them and improve their lives. Advertisements helped spur the spike in industry as it portrayed products in a new light to appeal to the needs and desires of the consumer, (Lapansky-Werner 215-216). The more frequent use of cars caused housewives and women to feel very isolated from their families. Since these women were feeling desolate, advertising stepped in to fix this problem. Advertisements declared that whole grain cereals were the key to children’s health, clean bathrooms were the key to social acceptance, and mouthwashes and toothpastes were the key to sexual appeal. These advertising companies tried to get people to buy products in order to get these good results, but the results they named were unrealistic (Jones 7). One new form of advertisement commonly used in the 1920’s displayed biased “scientific” information, to back the products validity to the general public. Another new type of advertisement commonly used at this time period focused on exploiting the desires and fears of the consumer to encourage them to buy the product. This desire and fear form of advertisement was often shown in newspapers and magazines, enabling it to reach a widespread audience. These advertisements were used to boost the consumption rates of the products, and were often successful in doing so. Overall, the consumer revolution continued to grow seemingly at an exponential rate during the 20’s, significantly influenced by new forms of advertisement (Lapansky-Werner 215-216). The economy was significantly impacted in the 1920’s due to the new option of buying on credit, which was an alternative to cash. Most department stores only accepted cash but soon sold most of their items on credit (Installment Buying 1). The 1920s, being the time of buying on credit, became known as the “prosperity decade.” Americans began moving into homes and filling them with furniture and appliances. Credit accounts allowed customers immediate access to goods and helped bring these goods to people who had a more limited budget (Installment Buying 2). This credit made installment buying available, which was the consumers down payment of a small price, while paying off the rest of the debt in monthly payments. Installment buying made bigger purchases possible. However, it was first thought of as a con game designed to fool customers into overpaying for goods, but after a while, it became very well respected by the middle-class and called the finance plan. Customers were soon financing purchases of expensive goods like sewing machines, automobiles, and furniture. Also, the bull market was created in the 1920’s. The period of rapid growth in stock prices and the increasing consumption of stock was know as the bull market. The large amount of people buying stocks lead to a total of four million Americans owning stocks in the year of 1929. In addition, people began buying on the market, which is defined as “a margin system of buying stocks in which a buyer pays a small percentage of the purchase while the broker advances the rest, (Lapansky-Werner 215-216). This lead to an overall boom in the stock market, with a very successful but unstable economy.
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