Extended Essay
American society reflected in 20th century advertisements.
Research Question:
'To what extent do advertisements reflect changes and trends in American society in the
years 1949-1990?'
SUBJECT: English B, Category 2b.
Word count: 4000
1
,Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................ 3
1. Advertisements ...................................................................................................................... 5
Emotional Appeal ............................................................................................................ 5
Bandwagon Advertising................................................................................................... 6
Endorsement ................................................................................................................... 7
2. Main Social Factors Influencing Advertising .......................................................................... 8
Gender Based .................................................................................................................. 8
Life Style Based ................................................................................................................ 9
Awareness Based............................................................................................................. 9
3. American Society of the Years 1949-1990 ........................................................................... 11
Feminity ......................................................................................................................... 11
The Women Emancipation Movement ......................................................................... 16
Racism ........................................................................................................................... 17
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 19
Appendix …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….21
Bibliography:............................................................................................................................. 27
2
,Introduction
This essay is aiming to provide an evaluation and answer to the question: 'To what
extent do advertisements reflect changes and trends in American society in the years 1949-
1999?'
Since the purpose of advertisements is to promote, mainly products and services, advertisers
have to be constantly aware of the market state, namely: trends amongst consumers,
country's economic situation, people's welfare, temporary demands and expectations, in
order to advertise the product successfully. Thus, taking into account permanent changes in
societies, especially in some particular periods of political turmoil, a conclusion that
advertisements are bound to continually adapt may be made.
This essay is designed to carefully examine in what ways, how, and how significantly the
evolving and rapidly changing American society of the 20th century, with special regard to its
latter part, influenced the process of advertising and hence the advertisements' structure.
Additionally, it is striving to conclude whether the analysed trends were initiated by the
social impact of some of the advertisements, or the opposite, the advertisements were
created on account of those trends. In order to do so, this essay contains an analysis of the
factors influencing advertising, techniques commonly used in advertising language,
socio-cultural components of the society and their direct reflection on some particular
advertisements which are referred to in the essay and are to be found in the Appendix.
This essay simultaneously inspects the correlation between the political situation,
movements and social moods of the United States of America in the late 20th century and
the content of the advertisements.
The analysis contained in the essay is based on the content of six advertisements from years
1949-1990. Those advertisements were chosen due to their affiliation with the trends and
3
, phenomenon discussed in the essay: femininity in the 60s', racism and treatment of blacks
and the woman emancipation movement. Investigating those advertisements and noticing
their interaction with the discussed trends and advertising techniques may possibly allow
some insight into the minds of the 20th century American consumers and advertisers, and
thus bring up conclusions regarding the correlation between the advertisements and the
society. As the footing of this essay is making connections between the advertisements and
social changes, it was established on the basis of book sources relating to the society of the
years 1949-1990, which could allow more reliability while commenting on the society's
nature.
This research question is worthy of investigation because the advertising industry is growing
inevitably fast, it touches and extremely strongly influences countless aspects of everyday
life, which makes understanding it pretty useful. Not only recognising the ways
advertisements aim to convince us to buying some products may increase our awareness
and resistibility to the manipulation techniques used, but also if one's goal is to produce a
successful advertising campaign, they should firstly deeply understand how and why
advertisements work. Thus, looking at the period of late 20th century America may turn out
to be very useful, as learning on specific instances is by far the best way to get acquainted
with the advertising industry which started exploding in those very years in the USA.
Additionally, many of the most recognisable advertisements were published, advertisers
started to make use of manipulation and psychology in their campaigns, and current age of
the marketing began.
4
American society reflected in 20th century advertisements.
Research Question:
'To what extent do advertisements reflect changes and trends in American society in the
years 1949-1990?'
SUBJECT: English B, Category 2b.
Word count: 4000
1
,Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................ 3
1. Advertisements ...................................................................................................................... 5
Emotional Appeal ............................................................................................................ 5
Bandwagon Advertising................................................................................................... 6
Endorsement ................................................................................................................... 7
2. Main Social Factors Influencing Advertising .......................................................................... 8
Gender Based .................................................................................................................. 8
Life Style Based ................................................................................................................ 9
Awareness Based............................................................................................................. 9
3. American Society of the Years 1949-1990 ........................................................................... 11
Feminity ......................................................................................................................... 11
The Women Emancipation Movement ......................................................................... 16
Racism ........................................................................................................................... 17
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 19
Appendix …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….21
Bibliography:............................................................................................................................. 27
2
,Introduction
This essay is aiming to provide an evaluation and answer to the question: 'To what
extent do advertisements reflect changes and trends in American society in the years 1949-
1999?'
Since the purpose of advertisements is to promote, mainly products and services, advertisers
have to be constantly aware of the market state, namely: trends amongst consumers,
country's economic situation, people's welfare, temporary demands and expectations, in
order to advertise the product successfully. Thus, taking into account permanent changes in
societies, especially in some particular periods of political turmoil, a conclusion that
advertisements are bound to continually adapt may be made.
This essay is designed to carefully examine in what ways, how, and how significantly the
evolving and rapidly changing American society of the 20th century, with special regard to its
latter part, influenced the process of advertising and hence the advertisements' structure.
Additionally, it is striving to conclude whether the analysed trends were initiated by the
social impact of some of the advertisements, or the opposite, the advertisements were
created on account of those trends. In order to do so, this essay contains an analysis of the
factors influencing advertising, techniques commonly used in advertising language,
socio-cultural components of the society and their direct reflection on some particular
advertisements which are referred to in the essay and are to be found in the Appendix.
This essay simultaneously inspects the correlation between the political situation,
movements and social moods of the United States of America in the late 20th century and
the content of the advertisements.
The analysis contained in the essay is based on the content of six advertisements from years
1949-1990. Those advertisements were chosen due to their affiliation with the trends and
3
, phenomenon discussed in the essay: femininity in the 60s', racism and treatment of blacks
and the woman emancipation movement. Investigating those advertisements and noticing
their interaction with the discussed trends and advertising techniques may possibly allow
some insight into the minds of the 20th century American consumers and advertisers, and
thus bring up conclusions regarding the correlation between the advertisements and the
society. As the footing of this essay is making connections between the advertisements and
social changes, it was established on the basis of book sources relating to the society of the
years 1949-1990, which could allow more reliability while commenting on the society's
nature.
This research question is worthy of investigation because the advertising industry is growing
inevitably fast, it touches and extremely strongly influences countless aspects of everyday
life, which makes understanding it pretty useful. Not only recognising the ways
advertisements aim to convince us to buying some products may increase our awareness
and resistibility to the manipulation techniques used, but also if one's goal is to produce a
successful advertising campaign, they should firstly deeply understand how and why
advertisements work. Thus, looking at the period of late 20th century America may turn out
to be very useful, as learning on specific instances is by far the best way to get acquainted
with the advertising industry which started exploding in those very years in the USA.
Additionally, many of the most recognisable advertisements were published, advertisers
started to make use of manipulation and psychology in their campaigns, and current age of
the marketing began.
4
