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1-Page Summary of Captains of Consciousness

Modern Times

The consumer culture in America can be traced back to 1910 when Henry Ford introduced the assembly line. Once he had it up and running, Ford was able to replace skilled craftspeople with workers who could each perform one task on a machine that would do just that task. As a result, the time needed to assemble an automobile chassis went from more than 12 hours in 1910 to less than 2 hours by 1914. The plant cranked out almost 1,000 vehicles daily.

By the 1920s, mass production had spread to other industries. Manufacturers were producing widgets faster and cheaper than before. They faced a problem of creating a market for these widgets because they needed compulsive buyers who would buy all these products that they produced at an increasing rate. To solve this problem, industrialists used advertising to transform the American consciousness by replacing traditional values with desires for new commodities.

Manufacturing Customers

Before mass production, businesses sold their goods primarily to members of the middle and upper classes. To profit from its new productive capacity, industry had to widen its market beyond the elite. Therefore, they created a consumer culture by building on populations of low-paid workers who valued self-sufficiency and thrift.

Marketers in the 1920s came up with some of the techniques they use today. Just like manufacturers, marketers used scientific principles to improve their efficiency and make more money for their clients.

Modern Advertising

To reach a wide range of people and to sell products, advertisers needed to find ways to appeal to universal instincts. They did this by encouraging customers to focus on themselves and their own insecurities rather than the features of a product. To do this effectively, ads directed readers’ attention away from the product itself and towards their own flaws or weaknesses. Listerine is an example of such an ad; it suggests that bad breath could be sabotaging your career or social success without you even realizing it.

Ads asked if your nails make a bad impression, do you smell bad and are you jeopardizing your marriage by neglecting regular use of Pompeian Night Cream? You might suffer from “sneaker smell,” “office hips,” “ash-tray breath” or “spoon-food face.” However, the ads promised that you could ameliorate these offenses with products like Woodbury Soap, Colgate Dental Cream and other passkeys to the good life.

Social Control

Industry leaders used to believe that the only way for their products to sell was by creating desire. However, now they realize that people are more interested in a product if it can benefit them in some other way. To do this, businesses must launch comprehensive programs that focus on social planning and not just sales or profit margins.

Some people thought that to get consumers to buy more, they had to educate them. They wanted everyone in America to share the same values and have a similar outlook on life. Social control required industrialists to quell any dissatisfaction with capitalism by redirecting demands for social change into demands for consumer goods.

Worker Discontent

Before the industrial revolution, people made goods and sold them to customers. However, factory owners wanted their workers to be able to do any job on the assembly line, so they didn’t value skill as much as endurance. Work was often monotonous and dangerous because of this change in attitude toward employees.

The consumer society and the work force are in conflict. The manufacturing process is not glamorous, so advertising avoids mentioning it. Writers were advised to avoid visiting factories because it would be hard to write about them after seeing the production process for themselves.