The Black Freedom Movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s

1992 Words4 Pages

For my essay, I have chosen to discuss the statement “The Black Freedom Movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s captured the attention of millions… As American Americans started streaming into American cities, or what American corporations call “”major markets” U.S. businesses sought to influence the consumption patterns of these increasingly important black consumers.” I have chosen to discuss this title because I believe it had an extremely rich and interesting background to it as well as being able to involve many different aspects from history and society. I plan to layout my essay in five sections, the first section introduces the concept of targeting black consumers and why this occurrence happened in the specific period. The section second discusses the clear distinction between white advertising and black advertising and how that affects the consumerism of the market, using tobacco advertising as an example. The third section discusses how importance and the size of the black market, using the example of Pepsi Cola. The fourth section discusses the emergence of design for African American advertisement, using Blue Note Records as an example. The fifth section discusses the importance of seeing the black consumer’s needs and how corporations dealt with that, using the example of Ebony Magazine. Finally, in the sixth section I use Black Opal Cosmetics as an example to see how the issue has contemporary relevance. American culture has progressed a huge amount in such a small time. Today the 44th President of the United States is an African American and with 51% of the election votes in his running for president in 2012, Barack Obama winning the election signalled a shift in attitude and a change in society. This remarkable mile... ... middle of paper ... ...Black Opal was developed by women of Jamaican decent, and emphasizes the need to recognize heritage. Creating a line of make-up that enhances a woman’s natural colour, the brand portrays a glamorous and stylish image, which introduces celebrity endorsements from women of colour. In conclusion, even though such a huge history and area of society was said in the statement, I believe it is clear from my outlined sections and examples that the statement is in fact true. We can see this in these two decades, from 1950 to 1970 that the U.S. businesses sought to influence the consumption of the increasingly important black consumers. Using various examples from different fields of consumerism I have demonstrated how the great change in the 1950’s and 1960’s due to the Black Freedom Movement, had a massive impact on the U.S. corporations and how they deal with consumers.

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