Consumer Culture in the 20s

Consumer culture is a culture that "views the consumption of large quantities of goods as beneficial to the economy and a source of personal happiness." In the 1920s, this idea was created after companies used branding and marketing to promise a better to life to customers if they used their product.

When new minds began to make new inventions, it was to make their life easier. Charles Strite didn't like being served burnt toast, so he invented the pop-up toaster in 1919. Clarence Birdseye created a system of flash-freezing food in 1923. George Washington Carver made numerous products based on purely agricultural means.

With these new objects being made and sold, producers needed to tell people why they should buy this new product instead of saving money and sticking with their old product. Producers began to send out advertisements that promised an overall better life if consumers bought their product, even if it was as simple as a new kind of soap. Soon, for consumers it was a sign of prestige if you had the newest model of a product, which spurred the consumer culture even more.

People began to notice that they couldn't keep up with the production of all these new products by paying out of pocket. Thus, credit was expanded until nearly everyone was using it to buy their products. Before, people thought it was shameful to borrow money or use loans to buy something. But now, buying on credit was so easy that people were able to buy all these new products without feeling like there was an end in sight.