Sources for America’s History: Printed Page 563

22-6  |Advertising the American Dream
Westinghouse Advertisement (1924) and Chevrolet Advertisement (1927)

After an initial postwar recession, many sectors of the American economy rebounded, inducing the middle and upper class to indulge in a consumer culture manufactured by sophisticated marketers and advertisers. Americans bought products to adorn themselves and their homes in the latest and most modern fashions. Not everyone had the means to participate, and even those who purchased their way to happiness often did so on borrowed money, an overextension that snapped when the stock market crashed. These advertisements show the marketing strategies used to sell goods and an ideal of the good life.

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Source: Westinghouse Advertisement (1924), The Granger Collection, New York.
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Source: Chevrolet Advertisement (1927), The Granger Collection, New York.

READING AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  1. Question

    Examine these advertisements from the 1920s for evidence of the consumer culture that had emerged in that decade. What appeal to consumers do these advertisements make?

  2. Question

    From these advertisements, what inference can you draw about the consumers these marketers targeted with their advertising campaign? Which consumers were excluded from the appeal in these ads and why? What do these advertisements reveal about 1920s society?