Advertising In The 1920's

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The roaring 20’s were a time of great economic and societal changes. Life post-WWI quicked in tempo and prospered with a new opportunity. This shift in lifestyle caused an intensity in people’s fears of failing to keep up or being “lost in the crowd”. This caused people to begin to pursue a search for identity. They began to turn to mass media for clues and advice. As society shifted so did its wants and needs. The advertising industry took advantage of all this and more. Starting in the mid-1920’s advertisements began to shift from objective information that helped to inform the consumer about their products, and to advertisements providing subjective information about the hopes and anxieties of the consumers. Many of these new types of advertisements …show more content…

Source 2 combines the “side by side” approach with a sociodrama. It depicts a house wife from the 1860’s failing to please her husband by recreating “Aunt Jemimas” pancakes they were served on their honeymoon. The wife appears ashamed and the husband unhappy! The second image shows a very different story, both wife and husband are very pleased. The 1920’s housewife was able to please her husband with the best pancakes because she went to the store and bought Aunt Jemima’s Pancake Mix. This is appealing very heavily towards a woman's desire to please her husband in whatever way she can. The story creates a problem that the consumer didn’t even know she had and solves it with the product it is …show more content…

Cars had only recently become accessible to so many people. However, because cars were so new, they too had to create a need for their product. The idea of a car helping you get places faster fit perfectly with the fast-paced lifestyle the 1920’s began. Ford Motors used this to their advantage by marketing to women, who were found to be the main purchasers of goods. The advertisement shown in Source 4 plays on the idea of the car helping the “modern woman” with her fast-paced lifestyle. The car allowed her to do things so quickly and required such little maintenance that she was able to have time to do the things a “modern woman” should such as taking business calls. This add also used the idea of sociodrama by creating a story relatable to the consumer and solving their

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