Design Context : Consumerism Lecture Notes

Persuasion, Society, Brand, Culture

•Analyse the rise of US consumerism

•Discuss the links between consumerism and our unconscious desires

•Sigmund Freud

•Edmund Bernays

•Consumerism as social control

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

•New theory of human nature

•Psychoanalysis

•Hidden primitive sexual forces and animal instincts which need controlling

•The Interpretation of Dreams (1899)

•The Unconscious (1915)

•The Ego and the Id (1923)

•Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1920)

•Civilization & its Discontents (1930

He argued man was the most dangerous civilization on earth.

•Fundamental tension between civilization and the individual

•Human instincts incompatible with the well being of community.

•The Pleasure Principle

We are made to think we can act out, but when this has been done then we can go

back to being normal.

World war proved this.

WW1 1914 - 18

Edward Bernays (1891-1995)

•Press Agent

•Employed by public information during WW1

•Post war- set up ‘The Council on Public Relations’

•Birth of PR

•Based on the ideas of Freud (his uncle).

•Crystallizing Public Opinion (1923)

•Propaganda (1928)

Touches of freedom

1929 Easter day parade

tried to get women to smoke, so he got beautiful women to smoke during the parade, he then sold a story to a paper saying the beautiful women were sufajets who were speaking out about womens repression in society. The women were made to be smoking 'torches of freedom' to make a point for women to be free against there repression. This made the cigarette a symbol of freedom for women and so many started to smoke them.

He was very good at product placement.

And at using celebrity endorsements.

he makes the product relate to the 'amazing celebrity' therefore making people buy it.

He used pseudo scientific reports

The government then got involed and Bernays made an american president good again, just by having him photogrpahed at a dinner party whereby a load of celebrities were invited making the president look popular with them, this therefore means he would be popular with the ordinary public.

Fordism

•Henry Ford (1863 – 1947)

•Transposes Taylorism to car factories of Detroit

•Moving assembly line

•Standard production models built as they move through the factory

•Requires large investment, but increases productivity so much that relatively high wages can be paid, allowing the workers to buy the product they produce

Things were able to be reproduced quickly

Transposes Taylorism to car factories

More money

more workers

•1910 – 20,000 produced, $850

•1916 – 600,000, $360

•By 1927 – 15 million manufactured, $290

•Assembly time reduced from 12.5 to 1.5 hours

Pre made pancake mix didn't sell very well

The mothers who it was aimed at felt they were cheating and became less like they were the 'women of the house', they lost there pride. So for a rebrand they decide that they would take the egg out meaning the mothers would have to add that, which gave them back the desire that they were providing for there family.