Advertising

When President Calvin Coolidge addressed a national advertising conference in 1926, he was pleased to report on the happy state of the nation. Unlike in countries where “the uncivilized make little progress because they have few desires,” he explained, “the inhabitants of our country are stimulated to new wants in all directions” (Hill, 2002, p. 7). And indeed they were. The two generations that had preceded Mr. Coolidge’s presidency had seen a country transformed in large part by the ubiquitous advertising that was stimulating America to buy Coke and Crisco, Chestertons and Chevrolets.