Visions of Classlessness: Early Teen Advertising

The last area to talk about is the teenage market. Teens were always around, but with all the combined effects of television, mass consumption, and increased income, teens became an economic force to be reckoned with. Their parents made more money and in turn, they had more money to give to their children. This led advertisers to start producing ads to make kids spend their money on them. This caused some unexpected results. First of all the teens realized that they were being targets, as were their parents. This unwanted attention led some teens towards delinquency. Others started using their new status to try to make the world a better place. Think of the war protests of the 1960s 1970s, these teens were their role models.

As delinquency skyrocketed, the media tried to turn this into a profit. They made movies like, Rebel without a Cause to show the angst in the youth of the time. Teens also helped launch Rock and Roll music. This was another escape for teens that mass media used for profit. This brought teen culture into pop culture. While the teens thought they were being rebellious with their music and attitudes, they were really selling out. Or more true to the case, sold out by mass media. And this was done for huge profits. Rock and Roll and teen rebel movies were being made towards teens. And other movies and music was being made to be enjoyed by adults. This was another indication of new classes. “Teen culture and rock “n” roll, however, were not the only signs in the late 1950s of a possible countermarch in popular culture away from homogeneity towards segmentation.” (p. 155).

All these things factored in the reality of the day, and in some ways it still holds true today. That, while we may strive to become one people, country or even one world, other forces are there to break it down into different segments. There will probably always be different classes of people. Classes themselves are not breaking down society, but it is the constraints that we put on them that hurts. We have only ourselves to blame for that.