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How Market Research at the J. Walter Thompson Company Framed What It Meant to Be a Child (And an Adult) in 20Th Century America Stephen M

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How Market Research at the J. Walter Thompson Company Framed What It Meant to Be a Child (And an Adult) in 20Th Century America Stephen M Selling Youth: How Market Research at the J. Walter Thompson Company framed what it meant to be a Child (and an Adult) in 20th Century America Stephen M. Gennaro Doctorate of Philosophy Graduate Program in Communication Studies McGill University, Montreal A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the degree of PhD. 29 August 2007 Copyright Stephen Gennaro 2007 Table of Contents Abstract 1 Resume 2 Acknowledgements 3 Introduction Perpetual Adolescence and the Selling of “Youth” 4 The Culture Industry 11 Examining the Advertising Agency 17 Chapter 1 Discourses of Adolescence: How Society Instructs its Children (and Adults) to be Young 31 The Discourse of the Child as a Blank Slate 32 The Romantic Discourse of Childhood 34 The Puritan Discourse of Childhood 35 Adolescent Psychology: Institutionalizing Discourses about Children 39 Sigmund Freud: Psychoanalysis and Adolescence 45 John Broadus Watson: Behaviourism and Adolescence 51 Conclusion: The Creation of the ―Adolescent‖ 60 Chapter 2 J. Walter Thompson and the Modern Advertising Agency 62 The Business History of Advertising 64 Why the Economy Needs Advertising 77 Advertising‘s Social Role 82 How the J. Walter Thompson Company Defined Advertising 88 Conclusion 93 Chapter 3 Understanding the Consumer: Research at J. Walter Thompson 95 John B. Watson: The Behaviourist Inside the Agency 97 Television: New Technology and New Developments in Consumer Research 101 The Consumer Panel 106 The Personality Profile Project 111 Conclusion 122 Chapter 4 The Personality Profile Project: Understanding Why the Consumer Buys 124 The Results of the Personality Profile Project 124 Age as a Determinant of Consumer Behaviour 129 Heterosexuality (Sex) 130 Change 135 Order 141 Compliance 145 Association 151 Achievement 156 Conclusion: Adolescent Needs Become Lifelong Needs 158 Chapter 5 The Youth Market: How Advertisers Decide Who is Young 159 The Post-war Youth Market 160 The Youth Market at J. Walter Thompson 163 Socio-Economic Factors of the Youth Market 165 Youth Market Attitudes 172 Defining the Youth Market 175 Extending the Youth Market 177 Conclusion 183 Chapter 6 7 Up and the J. Walter Thompson Company 185 The Seven-Up Brand 185 7 Up Advertising and Market Segmentation in the 1940s and 50s 187 The All Family Drink: Lifestyle Marketing to all Lifestyles 195 The Youth Sell and the Cola Wars 206 Where There‘s Action: The Peer Group 213 Conclusion: Soda or Autos, it‘s all the Same Thing 218 Conclusion The Imagined Community of Youth 221 The Completion of Adolescence or Adolescence Prolonged? 221 Imagined Communities 235 Appendix 1- ―Like One White Pea in a Pod‖ 241 Appendix 2- 7 Up Advertisements 242 Bibliography 254 List of Objects Figure 1.1 ―J. Walter Thompson Corporate Structure‖ 1957 67 1.2 ―J. Walter Thompson Corporate Structure‖ 1957 68 1.3 ―J. Walter Thompson Corporate Structure‖ 1957 105 Figure 2 ―Like One White Pea in a Pod‖ 1957 71 Figure 3 ―Personality Profile Project: Heterosexuality Results‖ 131 Figure 4 ―Being a Mustanger Brought out the Wolf in Wolfgang‖ 1965 advertisement, Ford Mustang. 134 Figure 5 ―Personality Profile Project: Change Results‖ 137 Figure 6 ―Bernard was a Born Loser‖1965 advertisement, Ford Mustang. 140 Figure 7 ―Youth is a Terrible Thing to Waste‖1966 advertisement, Ford Mustang. 150 Figure 8 ―Personality Profile Project: Association Results‖ 155 Figure 9 ―Support the War Movement‖ 1944 advertisements, 7 Up. 189 Figure 10 ―Boys Like Girls who Make Seven-Up Floats‖ 1960 advertisements, 7 Up. 192 Figure 11 ―The All-Family Drink‖ 1948 advertisement, 7 Up. 197 Figure 12 ―Pizza Fire in your Throat‖ 1962 advertisement, 7 Up. 199 Figure 13 ‖Why we have the Youngest Customers in the Business‖ 1955 advertisement, 7 Up. 202 Figure 14 ―Let‘s Play House‖ 1954 advertisement, 7 Up. 204 Figure 15 ―Wet and Wild‖ 1967 advertisements, 7 Up. 206 Figure 16 ―Sparkle‖ 1956 advertisement, Coca-Cola. 209 Figure 17 ―Things go Better with Coke‖ 1965 advertisement, Coca-Cola. 210 Figure 18 ―Now it‘s Pepsi-for those who Think Young‖ 1963 advertisement, Pepsi Cola. 212 Figure 19 ―Where There‘s Action‖ 1965 advertisements, ―How to Mix and be Popular‖1967 advertisement, 7 Up. 216 1 Abstract Selling Youth: How Market Research at the J. Walter Thompson Company Framed What It Meant to Be a Child (and an Adult) in 20th Century America. This thesis examines the marketing discourse of ―perpetual adolescence,‖ a term, which describes the ways in which the advertising industry trains all people, young and old, to be consumers of ―youth‖ in a marketplace that privileges adolescence over adulthood; with ultimate goal of achieving access to an adult wallet that is controlled by a consumer with child-like sensibilities. The discourse of perpetual adolescence came to prominence after WWII when drastic changes in population and the emergence of a new middle class were influential factors in shifting ideologies surrounding what it meant to be a child, a teenager, and an adult. One of the key institutions in the crystallizing of new ideologies about ―youth‖ was the advertising agency, who through advertisements framed and defined the family unit in postwar America to American consumers. The thesis looks specifically at the interior of one of the largest advertising agencies of the 20th century the J. Walter Thompson Company. Through an examination of their practices in consumer research with behaviourist John B. Watson, the Consumer Panel, the Personality Profile Project, and a series of advertisements produced for The Seven-Up Company between 1942 and 1968, the J. Walter Thompson Company in the post war period aimed to further expand the youth market into the more profitable age category of 25-44 year olds by selling ―youthfulness‖ to adults. Consumers were promised the romanticized sensibilities of youth but were only given the destabilized identity of adolescence. Explicitly, J. Walter Thompson sold images of ―youth‖ to adults who longed to be young again. In doing so they implicitly ―took the lid off‖ of a time that adults were supposed to have already conquered—adolescence—by drawing them back to a destabilized identity that required the affection and acceptance of their peer group for validation, which could be only be attained through the continual purchasing of consumer goods. 2 Résumé Vendre la jeunesse : comment la recherche de marché au J. Walter Thompson Company a encadré ce qui veut dire être un enfant (et un adulte) en Amérique pendant le 20e siècle. Cette thèse nous permet d‘examiner le discours, issu du marketing, que nous désignons par « adolescence perpétuelle ». Nous avons conçu cette expression pour décrire les différentes formules utilisées par l‘industrie publicitaire afin d‘apprendre aux gens — tant les jeunes comme les personnes âgées — à devenir des consommateurs de « jouvence » dans un marché qui privilégie l‘adolescence à l‘âge adulte. Le but étant l‘accès au portefeuille du consommateur adulte ayant des sensibilités d‘enfant. Le discours de « l‘adolescence perpétuelle » a toujours été présent dans la publicité, mais est devenu déterminant après la Deuxième Guerre mondiale. Des changements majeurs en ce qui concerne la population ainsi que l‘émergence d‘une nouvelle classe moyenne influencent de façon décisive les changements idéologiques de l‘époque entourant la conception de ce que veut dire être un enfant, un adolescent et un adulte. Une des industries clefs permettant la cristallisation des nouvelles idéologies concernant l‘idée de jeunesse a été l‘agence publicitaire. Cette dernière à travers la publicité encadre et définit la cellule familiale des consommateurs de l‘Amérique d‘après-guerre. Notre thèse se concentre plus spécifiquement sur l‘une des plus grandes agences publicitaires du vingtième siècle : la J. Walter Thompson Company. À travers l‘examen des pratiques concernant la recherche sur le consommateur avec le behavioriste John B. Watson, le Consumer Panel, le Personality Profile Project et une série d‘annonces publicitaires produites pour les compagnies Seven Up et Ford entre 1942 et 1968, nous pouvons dire que la J. Walter Thompson Company, en cette période d‘après-guerre, cherche à étendre son marché à une catégorie d‘âge ayant un pouvoir d‘achat beaucoup plus grand, les 25-44 ans, et cela, à travers l‘offre de « sources de jouvence » aux adultes. Les consommateurs se font promettre certaines caractéristiques idéalisées de la jeunesse, mais n‘obtiennent que l‘identité déstabilisée de l‘adolescence. De façon explicite, la J. Walter Thompson Company vend des images de la jeunesse à des adultes qui désirent être encore des jeunes. Ainsi, implicitement la compagnie expose au grand jour les problèmes d‘une période que les adultes devaient avoir conquise — l‘adolescence — en les ramenant vers une identité déstabilisée ayant besoin de l‘affection et la reconnaissance de leur groupe d‘appartenance pour se faire valoir et qui peut seulement être atteinte à travers l‘achat continu de biens de consommation 3 Acknowledgements A task as large as the completion of a thesis although written by one person is never completed without the guidance and assistance of a large group of people; it takes a village. When I first conceived of the idea of completing my BA, MA, and PhD in less than six years combined, everyone, except my wife Alicia believed I was crazy. Alicia‘s strength, support, and continual willingness to compromise and even humour me and my ridiculous time-lines are the backbone upon which this thesis was constructed. Additionally, my children, James and Elise have also compromised a great deal in allowing Daddy to disappear for days and weeks at a time to conduct research and write this thesis. The honour of completing this degree is shared with my parents, siblings, and grandparents. Jason, that copy of Dostoyevsky‘s Crime and Punishment for my 14th birthday changed my life.
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