ABSTRACT
More than ever before in American history, corporate products, logos, advertisements, and attitudes were defining a monolithic national culture that cut across regional and ethnic lines. Individual television shows usually had one sponsor only. Television shows featuring families rarely showed bedrooms, and when they did, mom and dad slept in separate beds, a not terribly accurate portrayal of American family life considering the 76 million babies born from 1946 to 1964. While major magazines, daytime television soap operas, and nighttime favorites like The Honeymooners and I Love Lucy encouraged women to drop their welding aprons and put on kitchen aprons, the first issue of Playboy magazine was issued in December 1953. Marilyn Monroe graced the cover smiling and waving in a slinky, v-cut black dress; she also graced the centerfold dressed casually in her birthday suit; and Playboy's founder, Hugh Hefner, joked that the magazine would provide a little diversion from the anxieties of the Atomic Age.
