How did consumerism, new technology and advertising change American culture in the 1920s?
Respond on the classmate thought based on your answer (Are you agree/disagree, why? and what you like about the post?)
The roaring twenties as it is often referred observed dramatic changes in American culture. During the 1920’s there were dramatic changes politically, socially, and economically in the United States. The United States started to prosper. Technological advances in communication, transportation, and manufacturing along with new innovative inventions and ideas led to a consumerist market.
Communication inventions allowed the media to take big steps toward consumerism. People listened to the radio, read the newspaper, went to the movies, and now had magazines available to them. These different sources of media were able to reach a broad range of audience, and this allowed the media to start advertising goods.
Magazines were a new form of media that addressed its magazines mostly to the female audience, in the hopes to sell products that could help women in the household chores such as a refrigerator, vacuum, laundry machine etc. Magazines also sought to promote fashion to its female audience, and the necessity of looking fabulous. The automobile was also a major new invention that became available to be sold to households, and was widely advertised in the forms of media. Next to that, transportation became widely available and this aided in people moving to the cities, or work close to a city and commute back and forth to their homes.
New forms of transportation allowed companies to ship their products across the United States, and thus sell their goods to a broad range of consumerists. New technologies enabled companies and factories to mass produce their items, and in combination with the new forms of transportation ship these mass produced goods to many consumerists.
The mass manufacturing of goods allowed companies to sell their products at low(er) prices, and in turn more people were able to buy these goods. As the United States prospered many people had more money to spend on all the goods that were now widely available to them, and advertised to them. Another factor that played a big role in the change of consumerism in the United States during the twenties was that people started to buy the products on credit installments. All of these above mentioned factors combined together enabled a consumerist market, and a consumerist mindset.
