Background photo credit: Alexandre Vialle
The National Consumer's League was founded in 1899 fighting for consumers rights such as child labor, and working conditions. They also fought for health care issues allowing people to receive medical care even if they are incapable of paying for it.
"Women's Joint," also known as, Women's Joint Congressional Committee was described by Caroline Ware as "that sturdy group of women's organizations in the 1930s that met monthly to plan strategy" (Cohen 34).
The Veterans Administration is a government run military veteran benefit system. The VA is responsible for administering programs of veterans' benefits for veterans, their families, and survivors.
Reticence of the NAACP and the Urban League to use direct action against store owners refusing to employ African Americans aggravated black communities yearning for real change. Thus, they fashioned their own picket and boycott movement, sporting the message "Don't Buy Where You Can't Work". In this way, the country learned the vast purchasing power of blacks and eventually provided these citizens fairer employment opportunities. In addition, the "Don't Buy" movement changed the way marketers view African Americans--"nuanced" tactics learned from the movement are still employed to this day, for better or worse. Finally, FUN FACT: The AFL-CIO later adopted the idea of "Don't Buy" and now utilizes it in their "Do Buy!" up-to-date national boycott list, which informs consumers where to safely purchase their products from companies that are union-friendly.
100,000,000 Guinea Pigs: The Dangers of Consumption, by Arthur Kallet and F.J. Schlink, was first published in 1933.
The Federal Housing Administration was established to improve home buying by insuring loans made by banks and private lenders.
Chevy produced this short film soon after signing a contract with the United Auto Workers to allow unionization in 12 of its factories.
The Opinion Reseach Corporation examines the behavior of consumers and gives the feedback to companies allowing them to use an effective marketing strategy to target people
President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802 which created the Fair Employment Practices Committee. This ultimately stopped discrimination in the work force, under certain circumstances.
This law was one of two established post Progressive Era. Helped enact some quality standards and grade labels for commodities. Reversed thoughts of the 1920's, allowed more governmental interference between the companies and consumers.
Starting out as The League of Women Shoppers of New York, The National League of Women Shoppers was established to help support the growing labor movement.
"The Fair's main theme was cooperation across the nation, but its true focus was on the "new-ness" of ideas, forms, and consumer products." (Quote from Site liked below)
Jim Crow Laws were the catalyst behind racial segregation in the United States during World War II. Mainly in the South, African- Americans were forced into separation based on skin color.
Although African-American soldiers fought in the United States Military during World War II, they were not treated as equally as white soldiers.
In an reassuring address to congress in the midst of World War Two, President Theodore Roosevelt inadvertently established, in is "Four Basic Freedoms", the tenets on which the post war mass consumption movement were (and still are) based.
Eleanor Roosevelt was America's first lady thoughout some of the USA's hardest times. Her involvement in improving the American homefront and especially encouraging women to work has contributed substantially to our present American economy.
During times of limited resources, low wages, and inflation, the US Office of Price Administration acted as a guide to stabilize the fluctuation of costs and rationing of commodities.
The New Jersey State Consumer Interests Committee is an excellent example on how women were actively involved in consumer activism.
December 7 ,1941 the Japanese launched a surprise aircraft attack against the United States naval base in Hawaii. This catastrophe generated chaos in the nation, particularly in the economy.
War bonds were a way for the US Government to reduce inflation and involve its citizens. However, war bonds also contributed substantially towards promoting consumer culture in the US after WWII.
The Emergency Price Control Act of January 1942 was an act passed during President’s Franklin D. Roosevelt administration. The Act was passed as a response to World War II, particularly to the economic issues that arose after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Signed into law in 1944, the GI Bill of Rights, also known as the Serviceman's Readjustment Act, assisted World War II veterans returning home to America.
As Cold War tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union grew, the high standard of living made possible by America’s mass consumption economy allowed the US to promote the benefits of capitalism as superior to the communism of the Soviet Union.
Founded at the University of Michigan in 1946, the Survey Research Center “sought to understand the psychology of consumers in order to predict future consumer behavior”(Cohen 132).
Helping everyone get a house during the Great Depression was key for maintaining a stable society, and that's what the Postwar Suburbia was all about.
The invention of cable television stems back to its creation in 1948.
By the mid-1950s, car ownership had become a regular occurrence. People were enticed into buying cars using new methods, and it had become a social negative to not own a vehicle.
Mount Laurel is a farmland suburb that is located twenty miles East of Philadelphia. It is a series of New Jersey Supreme Court cases where the New Jersey Supreme Court created zoning laws that zoned out poor individuals. It forced wealthy suburbs to handle more of the burden of housing for the less wealthy. Instead, suburbs should practice a "fair share" of the regions growth and make more of an effort in providing low to moderate income housing. This will cause populations to diversify. After this ruling in New Jersey, other states followed the same suit which took two rulings in the course of fourteen years to make a change. This ties into consumerism because it gives equal opportunities to individuals from different backgrounds to education and helps make them successful.
Beginning in 1956, Life magazine conducted a study focusing on the expenditures of consumers, separated by many categories, and explains the effects of advertising on consumer's desires.
Paramus is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey. Since 1977, Paramus has been one of the biggest shopping complex in the country. Its retail sale in 2010 was more than 3 billion dollar despite its small population. Paramus is also one of the most significant examples of the reconfiguration of marketplaces of American postwar
Along with the its own fast development, regional shopping center also made giant steps to transform it into a palace of centrally located public space that integrated both commerce and civic activities.
Following the breakout of regional shopping centers was conflict between local merchants and regional shopping centers.
A company called Social Research, Inc was one that focused on the mind of the consumer. With help from social anthropologists and business professors from universities, they were able to perform case studies throughout the 50's and 60's. Advertisers used some of these studies to help sell their items such as clothing, appliances, and furniture to this "taste culture". The main idea is that the money was not what mattered, the idea was seen as why were these consumers spending on certain things. These reasons were different from people in other social classes.
In the 1950's, finding what united American consumers was a strong point. By the 1960's this thought of identifying ones self through consumption was taken to a new level. Now this difference in class turned into a lifestyle distinction instead of just being about the money one made. On page 310, Marketing researcher Peter Martineau talked about how in America all men were supposed to be equal, but went on to say that consumption, which formed social class took this away. He said that the income consumers obtain has an impact on their social lives ex: how many children they have, educational plans, friends they chose and the community they lived in.
African American's wanted to continue their action to link their equal economic participation to equal political participation. The main goal was to hire black workers, in which they picketed through CORE.
The Consumer Education and Protection Association was formed in Philadelphia. The main goal of the organization was to go to black neighborhoods in the city and picket merchants that were accused of customers of exploring them in the marketplace.
Education became an important part of economic and social success in the postwar period. "A man with a college education earned three times more then someone who dropped out of school in lower grades" (240). The effective use of school spending led to educational quality which leads to more student opportunities. The wealthier the community the more they had to spend. Your socioeconomic status dictates the access a person has to education.
The NWRO was active from 1966-1965. It's main objective was to incorporate all of the state and local branches to build upon public concern in regards to low-income consumers.
Consumer Federation of America was founded in 1968. It is a non-profit organization that advances consumer interest through research, advocacy, and education.
It all started when a sixth grader in Jerseys city public school, Kenneth Robinson sued the State of New Jersey in Hudson County's superior court. William I Cahill argued that educational value affects social and economic mobility. The New Jersey Supreme Court ordered The New Jersey legislature to restore the existing system of money management for public elementary and secondary education. They needed a system that would confirm every New Jersey child with a education that will provide for his or her job as a citizen and challenger in the labor market. They felt that it is an obligation to equalize equality across communities whatever their financial resources are. This relates to consumer culture because individuals were given an equal opportunity to have the best education possible for an equal price. People have fair chances to succeed and have access to the same education.
By the 1980's through television, marketers and manufactures decided to change their approach of targeting all social classes to an approach of airing wealthy segments. This video of the show Three's Company, a popular 80's sitcom, is an example of how the incorporation of wealth was used in cable television, attracting a certain crowd.
Following the instability and fear created by the September 11th hijackings, Americans began to have a change of heart government involvement in the private sector. The Enron and WorldCom Scandals confirmed that, when left unregulated, unscrupulous private corporations prove just as much as a threat to American consumers (and subsequently the economy) as terrorist.
The development and eventual widespread adoption of the PVR (now known as the "DVR") in the early 2000's represents a milestone in the development of technology as well as the way media is consumed.
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