Advertising During The 1960's

1499 Words6 Pages
The 1960s was a decade full of change, especially for the advertising industry. During this time, traditional advertising techniques became a thing of the past and the “creative revolution” was born. Advertising was no longer about conformity, instead it became focused on being “hip” and going against social norms and behaviors, thus igniting the infamous counterculture movement. Ads became full of humor, deceit, irony, and above all, originality. Through the use of print ads and the rise in television popularity, 1960s advertising impacted both social and political issues, as well as the lives of America’s younger generation. Both print ads and television dominated the advertising industry throughout the 1960s. While print ads were very…show more content…
One of the most talked about events during the 60s was the Civil Rights Movement, and although there were many people who supported the movement, the infamous John Birch Society (JBS) used the power of advertising to oppose civil rights. Rachel Tabachnick explains that the JBS was founded in 1958 and was one of the biggest opposition groups against the Civil Rights Movement throughout the 1960s and 70s. Even though television had become a popular advertising technique, Tabachnick explains that the JBS started a campaign through the use of pamphlets and advertisements in newspapers. One of the most well-known ads produced by the JBS, which was published in the Palm Beach Post, described the Civil Rights Movement as a “Communist conspiracy to form a Negro Soviet Republic” (Tabachnick). The ad went on to say that communists had been waiting for over forty years to put the movement into action and many high up political positions of the movement were even held by communists. While the JBS did not have a lot of followers, they were able to use the power of advertising to spread their beliefs and try to persuade the American people to not support the Civil Rights…show more content…
According to the writers of “Consumer Culture: A Reference Handbook,” Douglass Goodman and Mirelle Cohen state that the majority of car advertisements were very flashy and often contained an attractive woman standing next to the car, however, Volkswagen went against this popular trend. Goodman and Cohen write “One of the first advertisements was a full page of mostly white space with a small picture of the car in the upper corner, a small headline toward the bottom saying ‘Think Small,’ and a couple of paragraphs that described how strange the car was” (53). While Volkswagen did introduce a new design technique, the company’s intention was to make fun of the car and mock both the advertising industry and consumer culture. Other famous ads regarding the Volkswagen Beetle involved headlines with phrases such as “Ugly” and “Lemon.” These ads immediately caught the younger generation’s attention and was even named the top campaign of the 20th century by Advertising Age (1960s Creativity and Breaking the

More about Advertising During The 1960's

Open Document