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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 15 page book review that compares and contrasts Susan Strasser's text Satisfaction Guaranteed, The Making of the American Mass Market (1989) and Thomas Frank's The Conquest of Cool, Business Culture, Countercult8ure and the Rise of Hip Consumerism (1998). The writer argues that these authors take very similar approaches to examining American culture and consumerism. Strasser pictures a "revolution" in consumerism that focuses on the period around the turn of the twentieth century. Frank posits that another advertising "revolution" occurred in the 1960s when advertisers co-opted the values of youth culture and made them their own. Both books are summarized and discussed. No additional sources cited.
Page Count:
15 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khstfrad.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
and the Rise of Hip Consumerism (1998) take very similar approaches to examining American culture and consumerism. Strasser pictures a "revolution" in consumerism that focuses on the period around the
turn of the twentieth century. Strassers scholarship reveals how name-brand merchandizing emerged and how it differed from previous modes of consumer culture. Put briefly, she pictures a "revolution" in American
consumer behavior. Likewise, Frank posits that another advertising "revolution" occurred in the 1960s when advertisers co-opted the values of youth culture and made them their own. As this
suggests, both authors take a detailed look at the historical evolution of mass advertising and consumer culture as it exists today. Primarily, where they differ is in their choice of
the historical period that is the principal focus of each text. However, as this discussion of these books will illustrate, while both books are scholarly and accurate in their orientation,
Strassers text offers a more in-depth analysis because the scope of her text encompasses more historical background and her analysis, consequently, considers the impact of consumer behaviors within the framework
of a larger cultural context. Origins of marketing and advertising change Susan Strasser begins her examination of the history of consumer culture by offering a fascinating case study of
the development and marketing of a product--Procter and Gambles Crisco, a solid vegetable shortening that went on the market in 1912 (Strasser 3). Created in a laboratory and promoted as
a substitute product for animal fat (such as butter or lard), Strasser argues that Crisco represents a "culture in the making," a culture based on "new technologies and structured by
new personal habits and new economic forms" (Strasser 5). As this suggests, Strasser immediately puts her discussion within a framework that relates observations to larger cultural issues. The main thrust
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