Would it be fair to call all these as the heart of "American culture", then? Advertising-generated slogans, jingles, friendly characters, etc? We have all been so propagandized that many of us look back nostalgically to our childhoods by remembering these ads. It's so dispiriting to think so. The excess materialism and consumerism that America via Hollywood and TV sold to the rest of the world.
Besides the "warm selling" of products for profit, let's not forget the principle of "planned obsolescence" that Vance Packard wrote about in "The Hidden Persuaders" in 1957. (That might have been my first wake-up call as a teen that clued me into the manipulation and deception of the ad and sales industries). Products were intentionally made to break down in a few years. Car models continually "updated" every year so people would feel they had to keep up with the Joneses. I was appalled back then at the utter wastefulness and production of junk from all this propaganda - way before the "left" emphasized the issue of "environmentalism" (another thing manipulated with virtue signalling to induce guilt in consumers, yet nothing really improved in the excess garbage problem - only 17% of materials are ever recycled).
That Marboro Man TV ad from the '60s remains embedded in my memory to this day. I still remember clearly the MAD Magazine spoof back then in which they posted on their back cover a second panel depicting a freshly dug grave and the Marlboro Man's boots stuck upside down into the earth. (MAD Magazine no longer relevant today since reality has outstripped satire in unbelievable ridiculousness and lies.)
In his book "Consumed - How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole" author Benjamin Barber does a great job describing how the US became a consumerist society - well worth a read.
But reading Sharyl Attkisson's "Follow the Science", another outstanding read, one realizes that when the feds allowed big pharma to advertise it was the beginning of the end. Seems nowadays pharmaceutical ads account for70+% of the networks' ad revenues - which gives them the power to have stories that paint them in a bad light quashed. Not so much in Europe, where they are not allowed to advertise on TV.
Going further afield, Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" could be the script for the planned softening of Americans so as to make them easier to control: give them pleasurable things - "soma" - which they will soon think is essential to life, and will submit to anything so as not to be inconvenienced from getting their soma.
Same reason recreational marijuana has been legalized across the land.
These ad people made loads of money from their hard work, and are sincerely proud of their accomplishments. But, to what end were their God-given talents and creativity used? (Yeah, so judgmental here.)
watched a doc on Ed Sullivan last night.....he had a major on the culture of the USA by the entertainment perfomers during his hay day....major propaganda effects
It is fascinating how the genuine spark of human talent gets hijacked to sell crap to good human beings. Even benevolently sometimes. I remember going to McDonalds in Chicago years ago, it was my first time at McDonalds in America. In Moscow, McDonalds was a not-particularly-cheap fancy place where middle class managers would go for lunch, and the food there was not awful at all. I expected something like that at a McDonalds in its birth homeland, and ... it was not good. I kept going because it was cheap, and it was an experience, but it is still fascinating, the story of creating a world that does not exist. A world that never existed, was never real, and was only sticking around because people gave it energy and believed in it.
Thanks, Celia. This is indeed a fun documentary, pushing all the nostalgia buttons. Very enjoyable.
On a more scholarly note, I highly recommend this article by Andrew Joyce, Ph.D. which documents the creation and control of mass communications in America. The article is brimming with astonishing information, including explaining to a degree why woke-ism and mass illegal immigration have insinuated themselves so thoroughly in our culture. Who knew its roots were so purposeful?!
“Modify the standards of the in-group”: On Jews and Mass Communications
Advertisements aside, both TV and Hollywood began feeding us counterculture content beginning in the early 1950's. Actress, Janet Leigh, lamented the loss of entertainment movies in lieu of "message movies," in which nuance was lost, and instead replaced with good vs bad in which "traditional values" somehow always portrayed the role of villain.
TV counterculture content lagged Hollywood, but the big switch came in the late 1960's when entertainment programs were all dropped the same year and replaced by counterculture programs. Who made that decision?
Though advertising certainly had its negative effects, the most effective negative propaganda was in the content between the advertisements. That negative content continues unabated today, with the majority of the population, no matter their views on cultural issues, willingly viewing and absorbing that negative propaganda.
It's incredible to note how many of these jingles I remember in their entirety. Advertising is extremely effective and insidious, no matter how down homey the writers. Thanks for sharing this blast from the past.
Would it be fair to call all these as the heart of "American culture", then? Advertising-generated slogans, jingles, friendly characters, etc? We have all been so propagandized that many of us look back nostalgically to our childhoods by remembering these ads. It's so dispiriting to think so. The excess materialism and consumerism that America via Hollywood and TV sold to the rest of the world.
Besides the "warm selling" of products for profit, let's not forget the principle of "planned obsolescence" that Vance Packard wrote about in "The Hidden Persuaders" in 1957. (That might have been my first wake-up call as a teen that clued me into the manipulation and deception of the ad and sales industries). Products were intentionally made to break down in a few years. Car models continually "updated" every year so people would feel they had to keep up with the Joneses. I was appalled back then at the utter wastefulness and production of junk from all this propaganda - way before the "left" emphasized the issue of "environmentalism" (another thing manipulated with virtue signalling to induce guilt in consumers, yet nothing really improved in the excess garbage problem - only 17% of materials are ever recycled).
That Marboro Man TV ad from the '60s remains embedded in my memory to this day. I still remember clearly the MAD Magazine spoof back then in which they posted on their back cover a second panel depicting a freshly dug grave and the Marlboro Man's boots stuck upside down into the earth. (MAD Magazine no longer relevant today since reality has outstripped satire in unbelievable ridiculousness and lies.)
If I'm not mistaken, I think many of the Marlboro men in the ads died of lung cancer.
Yes. I think there were stories about them in the '80s, but my memory is fuzzy on the details.
I mean, MAD Magazine already knew back in the '60s-'70s that cigarettes were implicated in premature deaths.
In his book "Consumed - How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole" author Benjamin Barber does a great job describing how the US became a consumerist society - well worth a read.
But reading Sharyl Attkisson's "Follow the Science", another outstanding read, one realizes that when the feds allowed big pharma to advertise it was the beginning of the end. Seems nowadays pharmaceutical ads account for70+% of the networks' ad revenues - which gives them the power to have stories that paint them in a bad light quashed. Not so much in Europe, where they are not allowed to advertise on TV.
Going further afield, Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" could be the script for the planned softening of Americans so as to make them easier to control: give them pleasurable things - "soma" - which they will soon think is essential to life, and will submit to anything so as not to be inconvenienced from getting their soma.
Same reason recreational marijuana has been legalized across the land.
These ad people made loads of money from their hard work, and are sincerely proud of their accomplishments. But, to what end were their God-given talents and creativity used? (Yeah, so judgmental here.)
watched a doc on Ed Sullivan last night.....he had a major on the culture of the USA by the entertainment perfomers during his hay day....major propaganda effects
It is fascinating how the genuine spark of human talent gets hijacked to sell crap to good human beings. Even benevolently sometimes. I remember going to McDonalds in Chicago years ago, it was my first time at McDonalds in America. In Moscow, McDonalds was a not-particularly-cheap fancy place where middle class managers would go for lunch, and the food there was not awful at all. I expected something like that at a McDonalds in its birth homeland, and ... it was not good. I kept going because it was cheap, and it was an experience, but it is still fascinating, the story of creating a world that does not exist. A world that never existed, was never real, and was only sticking around because people gave it energy and believed in it.
Thanks, Celia. This is indeed a fun documentary, pushing all the nostalgia buttons. Very enjoyable.
On a more scholarly note, I highly recommend this article by Andrew Joyce, Ph.D. which documents the creation and control of mass communications in America. The article is brimming with astonishing information, including explaining to a degree why woke-ism and mass illegal immigration have insinuated themselves so thoroughly in our culture. Who knew its roots were so purposeful?!
“Modify the standards of the in-group”: On Jews and Mass Communications
https://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/2020/01/14/modify-the-standards-of-the-in-group-on-jews-and-mass-communications-part-one-of-two/
Third rail! 👋
There is an odd concentration in these fields...
Advertisements aside, both TV and Hollywood began feeding us counterculture content beginning in the early 1950's. Actress, Janet Leigh, lamented the loss of entertainment movies in lieu of "message movies," in which nuance was lost, and instead replaced with good vs bad in which "traditional values" somehow always portrayed the role of villain.
TV counterculture content lagged Hollywood, but the big switch came in the late 1960's when entertainment programs were all dropped the same year and replaced by counterculture programs. Who made that decision?
Though advertising certainly had its negative effects, the most effective negative propaganda was in the content between the advertisements. That negative content continues unabated today, with the majority of the population, no matter their views on cultural issues, willingly viewing and absorbing that negative propaganda.
It's incredible to note how many of these jingles I remember in their entirety. Advertising is extremely effective and insidious, no matter how down homey the writers. Thanks for sharing this blast from the past.
ThIs is fascinating
Love this! It was so fun to watch - thanks.
If the good guys won WWII, how come everything started to go south from that moment on ?
"Video Unavailable" (perhaps in this country). Please could someone give the name of the video, or a link to it on Rumble etc?
Try this link:
https://interactive.wttw.com/chicago-stories/real-mad-men/video
"The Real Mad Men of Chicago"
Excellent! I'm most grateful: thanks for taking the trouble.
You’re welcome! Enjoy!
Thank you! That looks fascinating.