From Modernism to Shirt-Sleevism
Advertisements of the Thirties, by Steven Heller. Excerpt from the book 'All-American Ads of the 30s', edited by Jim Heimann
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Advertisements like this filled the pages of Life, Look, The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, and countless other weekly and monthly magazines. Despite the falling fortunes brought on by the Depression, commercial magazines rode crests of success - like movies they were diversions from the humdrum of the everyday. The ads not only sold the goods, they provided a sense of normalcy that helped consumers find their respective centers amid social turmoil.
Advertising of the thirties ultimately served two important functions: to stimulate want, thus generating sales; and to exhort American capitalism, thereby instilling a sense of optimism during dark times. To look at the advertisements in this volume one would never guess that Americans were suffering from severe hardships. The more artful specimens of the early thirties gave way to hard-selling (a symbolic indicator of hard times) but advertising for most commodities and a few luxuries was just as ubiquitous, and indeed exuberant, as before the crash. By the end of the decade, as war clouds formed over Europe, advertising helped artificially stimulate American consumerism. The shirt-sleeves had been rolled up, the economy was beginning to chug along, and then came World War II. Every aspect of American life would be forever altered and advertising would change ist demeanor once again.
Steven Heller is the co-Chair of the MFA/ Design program at the School of Visual Arts, New York and author of over eighty books on design and popular culture.
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6
Advertisements like this filled the pages of Life, Look, The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, and countless other weekly and monthly magazines. Despite the falling fortunes brought on by the Depression, commercial magazines rode crests of success - like movies they were diversions from the humdrum of the everyday. The ads not only sold the goods, they provided a sense of normalcy that helped consumers find their respective centers amid social turmoil.
Advertising of the thirties ultimately served two important functions: to stimulate want, thus generating sales; and to exhort American capitalism, thereby instilling a sense of optimism during dark times. To look at the advertisements in this volume one would never guess that Americans were suffering from severe hardships. The more artful specimens of the early thirties gave way to hard-selling (a symbolic indicator of hard times) but advertising for most commodities and a few luxuries was just as ubiquitous, and indeed exuberant, as before the crash. By the end of the decade, as war clouds formed over Europe, advertising helped artificially stimulate American consumerism. The shirt-sleeves had been rolled up, the economy was beginning to chug along, and then came World War II. Every aspect of American life would be forever altered and advertising would change ist demeanor once again.
Steven Heller is the co-Chair of the MFA/ Design program at the School of Visual Arts, New York and author of over eighty books on design and popular culture.
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