Advertising and Mass Production Essay

Advertising and mass production both helped shaped American national culture in the 1920’s, this era began an entirely new outlook amongst the citizens of the county, and brought a new and more fast-paced style of life, in which has only grown faster. The 1920’s in itself birthed the nation with brand new culture by shifting small local economics to the large scale mass production by mega corporations and the influence of their advertising campaigns. The 1920’s saw a shift in culture no other era had experienced thus far due to the growth and dominance of advertising. Technological inventions of this century, such as the radio, the billboard, and the magazine, brought ideas and information to people in new ways, impacting the entire social lifestyle of the time. Peoples live were suddenly filled with voices and signs telling them exactly what to buy and what they should. The happy-go-lucky and ‘nothing to lose’ persona encompassing the citizens of the time only fueled their decisions to go ahead and buy these offered products. Items were being offered that had never been on the market before such as refrigerators, telephone sets, cookers, the Model T by Henry Ford, and an endless amount of domestic hardware and commodities. An increase in jobs and a flourishing economic boom allowed people to feel comfortable in buying products at a much higher rate. However, many people did not actually possess the money they thought themselves to enjoy. Margin buying and installment buying became widely used practices and in effect concentrated the focus of American life around consumerism and materialism. The creation of the magazine, such as Time by Henry Luce, encourage people continue in their direction of booming buying, and the people listened. This new American dream caused citizens to want, want, want! The term mass production was defined in a 1926, meaning the production of large amounts of standardized products, including and especially on assembly lines. Advertising was used to make people want to buy, and mass production was used so everyone could buy what they wanted or what they thought they needed. With the high demand of products, business progressed into large corporations, and more investment opportunities. Standardized Mass production led to more efficient machines, and higher production and wages, hich led to increase demand of consumer goods, which perpetuated more standardized mass production; this cycle created a business boom in the 1920’s. After the war we looked forward to a brighter future for America‘s economy, we established this future by using advertising and mass production which are still used today. America has faced many up’s and down’s, whether we like to admit it or not, everything serves a purpose in this world, advertising a nd mass production has its pros and cons, but whichever we choose to look at, it will always be apart of our national culture.