Advertising research deliberately cultivated female discontent to expand women’s consumption

Evidence

Friedan wanted to know why women had returned to being housewives after making gains in independence earlier in the century. She concluded that “the perpetuation of housewifery, the growth of the feminine mystique, makes sense (and dollars) when one realizes that women are the chief customers of American business. Somehow, somewhere, someone must have figured out that women will buy more things if they are kept in the underused, nameless-yearning, energy-to-get-rid-of state of being housewives.” — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 530

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Connects to the reader’s piece on immodesty moral panics in that both show commercial/class interests driving gendered social norms.
• SEED: Article angle: the ‘perpetuation by design’ thesis — how consumer engineering sets up emotional deficits it then sells the cure for, from 1950s housewifery to modern wellness markets.
• XREF: connects to: Advertising exploited women’s insecurities about inadequacy to sell products — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 226; Advertisers weaponized social shame and judgment to sell products to women in the 1920s — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 217; Advertisers co-opted feminist rhetoric to sell household products — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 219 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Advertising exploited women’s insecurities about inadequacy to sell products #exemplifies (0.92) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 226
• Advertisers weaponized social shame and judgment to sell products to women in the 1920s #exemplifies (0.85) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 217
• Advertisers co-opted feminist rhetoric to sell household products #expands (0.75) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 219
• Advertising compels consumers to identify with and demand the products imposed on them #expands (0.72) — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 98