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In the middle of the twentieth century, a new class of marketing expert emerged beyond the familiar ad men of Madison Avenue. Working as commercial designers, consumer psychologists, sales managers, and market researchers, these professionals were self-defined "consumer engineers," and their rise heralded a new era of marketing. To what extent did these efforts to engineer consumers shape consumption practices? And to what extent was the phenomenon itself a product of broader social and cultural forces? This collection considers consumer engineering in the context of the longer history of transatlantic marketing. Contributors offer case studies on the roles of individual consumer engineers on both sides of the Atlantic, the impact of such marketing practices on European economies during World War II and after, and the conflicted relationship between consumer activists and the ideas of consumer engineering. By connecting consumer engineering to a web of social processes in the twentiethcentury, this volume contributes to a reassessment of consumer history more broadly.
List of contents
1. Beyond the Mad Men: Consumer Engineering and the Rise of Marketing Management, 1920s-1970s: An Introduction.- I. Twentieth-Century Marketing: Aspirations and Limits, Costs, and Benefits.- 2. Marketing as "Consumer Engineering"? A Concept in Transatlantic Perspective, 1930s-1960s.- 3. What Does "Fast Capitalism" Mean for Consumers? Examples of Consumer Engineering in the United States.- 4. A Theoretical Exploration of Consumer Engineering: Implicit Contracts and Market Making.- II. Consumer Engineers and Transatlantic Exchanges at Mid-Century.- 5. Shopping Malls and Social Democracy: Victor Gruen's Postwar Campaign for Conscientious Consumption in American Suburbia.- 6. Consumer-Based Research: Walter Landor and the Value of Packaging Design in Marketing.- 7. German-Style Consumer Engineering: Victor Vogt's Verkaufspraxis, 1925-1950.- III. Consumer Engineering Practices in Postwar Europe.- 8. Consumer Credit as a Marketing Tool: The French Experience in European andTransatlantic Comparison, 1950s-1960s.- 9. Adidas and the Creation of a Transnational Market for German Athletic Shoes, 1948-1978.- 10. Imagined Images, Surveyed Consumers: Market Research as a Means of Consumer Engineering, 1950s-1980s.- IV. Consumer Engineering and Consumer Movements.- 11. Marketing a New Society or Engineering Kitchens? IKEA and the Swedish Consumer Agency.- 12. "The Consumer Crusader": Hugo Schui and the German Consumers Association.- 13. Consumer Engineering by Belgian Consumer Movements: From Modern Marketing with a Transnational Touch to Late-Modern Insecurities, 1957-2000.
About the author
Jan Logemann is Assistant Professor of Economic and Social History at the University of Göttingen, Germany.
Gary Cross is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at Pennsylvania State University, USA.
Ingo Köhler is Assistant Professor of Economic and Social History at the University of Göttingen, Germany.
Summary
In the middle of the twentieth century, a new class of marketing expert emerged beyond the familiar ad men of Madison Avenue. Working as commercial designers, consumer psychologists, sales managers, and market researchers, these professionals were self-defined “consumer engineers,” and their rise heralded a new era of marketing. To what extent did these efforts to engineer consumers shape consumption practices? And to what extent was the phenomenon itself a product of broader social and cultural forces? This collection considers consumer engineering in the context of the longer history of transatlantic marketing. Contributors offer case studies on the roles of individual consumer engineers on both sides of the Atlantic, the impact of such marketing practices on European economies during World War II and after, and the conflicted relationship between consumer activists and the ideas of consumer engineering. By connecting consumer engineering to a web of social processes in the twentiethcentury, this volume contributes to a reassessment of consumer history more broadly.
