Origins Of Modern Consumption: Advertising, New Goods, and a New Generation, 1890–1930

The 40 years after 1890 saw the simultaneous rise of a wide range of new consumer goods and new attitudes toward them. Advances in advertising, especially in the new national mass-distributed magazines, both built markets for almost totally new mass-produced goods and promoted new consumerist values in mostly young Americans. Drawing on a maturing historical literature and period ads for phonographs, cameras, soft drinks, and other new goods, this chapter will explore the seminal years of modern US advertising and how it shaped and reflected a new generation of consumers.