Patrick Esposito Lesson Activity for Cheap

US History Activity for Cheap by Ellen Ruppel Shell

Activity will address themes from Cheap as well as the following SC standard and
Indicator:
Standard USHC-7:
The student will demonstrate an understanding of the
impact of World War II on the United States and the nations subsequent role in the
world.
USHC - 7.6 Analyze the causes and consequences of social and cultural
changes in postwar America, including educational programs, the consumer culture
and expanding suburbanization, the advances in medical and agricultural
technology that led to changes in the standard of living and demographic patterns,
and the roles of women in American society.
Picture and Video Analysis Activity:
Have students read the overview (handout) describing the rise of consumerism in
the years following WWII, increasing advertising budgets effect on this phenomena,
and the general message provided within much of the advertising from the 1950s
and after.
Overview Handout and Discussion - Possible prompts and notes: (20 30 minutes)

In your own words from what you read in the handout, what is consumerism?
Provide definition for class:
Consumerism
1) the belief that it is good for people to spend a lot of money on goods and
services
2) the actions of people who spend a lot of money on goods and services
("Consumerism." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.)

Why do you think this developed after WWII?

What role do you think advertising played in the rise of consumerism?
Did Americans use more than their share of the globes goods and services?
(Yes, 6% of world population using 33% of the globes total goods and
services)
Did this prosperity exist for everyone? Why not? Who does the article say was
left out?
According to the article, has there been any negative aspects of
consumerism?

Picture and Video analysis: (30 - 40 minutes)

Give each student the provided exercise handout for them to complete as
they view the pictures and video as a class. One sheet per student per ad
presented.
Go over the instructions on the handout to ensure student understanding.
Present each advertisement to the class one at a time.
Give students approx. 3-5 minutes to view the ad before initiating class
discussion. (Allow more time for video)

Patrick Esposito Lesson Activity for Cheap

o Use as many ads as time allows

Discuss student responses and questions together as a class
Collect handouts as a formative assessment

Sources for video ads:

GE Refrigerator Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB7asgcOXB4

Westinghouse TV Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6hnpF6wjNU

Sources for picture ads included in activity: Listed under each ad.
http://www.vintageadbrowser.com

More Ad resources found at -

Advertisement Analysis worksheet

Name __________________________________

Date ________

Ad Number #___________

Note 3 people, objects, and activities portrayed in the ad:

(If less than 3 are presented, list all that apply)

People

Objects

Based on your observations:

1) What type of ad is this? (Print, TV, Radio, ect.)

2) What is the ad for?
3) Who do you think this ad is targeted towards?

Activities

Patrick Esposito Lesson Activity for Cheap

4) What does the ad say to the viewer? What lifestyles, values,
opinions, and points of view are represented?

5) Name two aspects of the ad that support the perceived rise of

consumerism discussed in our reading. Are there any aspects that

go against this perception?

Rise of Consumerism Overview Handout

Taken directly from:
Shmoop Editorial Team. (2008, November 11). Economy in The 1950s. Retrieved December
10, 2015, from http://www.shmoop.com/1950s/economy.html

One of the factors that fueled the prosperity of the Fifties was the increase in
consumer spending. Americans enjoyed a standard of living that was inconceivable
to the rest of the world. For example, Vice President Nixon told Nikita Khrushchev in
the mid-1950s that there were 60 million cars in the United States, but the Soviet
leader simply refused to believe him. When Khrushchev came to visit America,
Eisenhower arranged for him to fly in a helicopter over busy roads and parking lots
to witness the remarkable signs of abundance for himself.
The time was ripe for Americans to change their spending patterns. The adults of
the Fifties had grown up in conditions of economic deprivation, first due to the
general poverty of the Great Depression and then due to the rationing of consumer
goods World War II. During the Thirties, with unemployment sky-high and the
economy in shambles, most people could simply not afford much beyond the basics.
During the war, much of the nation's productive capacity shifted to armaments.
Everything from sugar to gasoline to tires to nylon stockings were rationed. When
consumer goods became available again, people wanted to spend. By the 1950s,
though they made up just 6% of the world's population, Americans consumed a
third of all the world's goods and services
Consumerism was driven by advertising. Spending on product promotion boomed,
from $6 billion annually in 1950 to more than $13 billion by 1963. "The reason we
have such a high standard of living," Robert Sarnoff, president of the National
Broadcasting Company, said in 1956, "is because advertising has created an
American frame of mind that makes people want more things, better things, and
newer things." (Miller, 1977, p. 118)
There's no question that advertising drove the purchase of new products, which in
turn kept the nation's economic wheels turning. And, as Sarnoff pointed out,
Americans did achieve a high standard of living. But some critics questioned
whether a reliance on consumers to drive a huge portion of the economy was wise
in the long term. Half a century later, our current economic crisis, fueled in part by a
collapse of consumer spending, has raised the question again

Patrick Esposito Lesson Activity for Cheap

The prosperity of the Eisenhower years did not touch all Americans, however.
Even as the nation prospered and the middle class did well, something like 25% of
citizens lived in poverty (then defined as an annual income under $3,000 for a
family of four). Much of this poverty was said to be "invisible;" it affected blacks in
urban neighborhoods and whites in depressed rural areas like the Appalachian
Mountains. Middle-class folks enjoying their new swimming pools in the suburbs
could go through their lives without ever seeing the misery in other sectors of
American society. Poverty amid plenty was another paradox of the Fifties, but most
were able to ignore it.

Citations
Douglas T. Miller, The Fifties: The Way We Really Were (Garden City, N.Y. :
Doubleday, 1977), p. 118.

Patrick Esposito Lesson Activity for Cheap

AD #1
The Soda Pop Board Of America (1950s)http://www.businessinsider.com/vintage-sexist-and-racist-ads-2011-6?op=1

Patrick Esposito Lesson Activity for Cheap

AD # 2
1965 Coke Bottle Carton Swimsuit Ad
(http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/coke-ads-1960s/4)

Patrick Esposito Lesson Activity for Cheap

AD #3

Chevy 1957, (http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/cars-ads-1950s/2)

Patrick Esposito Lesson Activity for Cheap

AD #4
1950s/2

Dixie Cup 50s- http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/household-ads-