| The American teenage girl first appeared during the 1940's as a result of economic, demographic, familial, and cultural changes in post-Depression American society. Girls With Influence: Selling Consumerism to Teenagers reveals how department stores, advertising agencies, publishers, cosmetic companies, and public relations' firms reaffirmed the existence and the power of a distinct, teenage subculture. At the same time, these groups sought to influence the behavior and shape the appearance of the teenage girl of the 1940's and 1950's.; Teenage girls represented a new and potentially profitable market. In their attempt to appeal to these young girls, these corporate actors exploited teenagers' persistent desire to conform, even as they rebelled. This dissertation shows how independent corporate entities collaborated to sell consumerism to teenage girls. Advertisers helped de-stabilize familial relationships, especially those between mother and daughter, as they repositioned teenage girls as the crucial consumer within the family. Cosmetic companies encouraged teens to base their identity on their appearance. Department stores attracted teens as consumers and as workers and socialized teens into a world of conspicuous consumption. Publishers contributed to the homogenization of a “typical” American teenager as they eliminated the country's regional distinctions.; But teenage girls were not simply passive receipts of consumerism. They mediated the messages of consumption, choosing some images while rejecting others. Their growing numbers and their rising disposable income gave them a degree of independence over which their parents had little control. With growing allowances, teenage girls could use consumer choices to rebel from their families, even as they conformed to their peer culture. Ironically, these teenage girls would later join movements for social change and reject the very consumerism they had enjoyed in their teens. Ultimately, consumerism had prepared them to question received wisdom about race, the authority of adults, and women's traditional role. |
