American Neon Signs: Illumination And Consumerism

Neon signage heralded a revolution in American advertising that brought unparalleled scale, color, and boldness to product marketing beginning in the 1920s. This medium's appearance represented technological modernity by serving as a visual expression of mass electrification. Neon transformed nighttime cityscapes and roadsides from darkened environments into spaces that glowed with colored light. This dissertation examines the ways within which neon visually reinforced the presence of product advertising within the nightscape and consumer consciousness. It traces the cultural, technological, economic, and architectural forces that shaped neon's development between in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.;The deceptively mundane neon sign offers insight into how mass marketing impacted American culture. Neon served as an early form of electrical media. It used the ephemeral medium of light to communicate with the buying public. Its study enriches our understanding of technology's influence on consumerism and national advertising campaigns like those conducted by Budweiser or Ford.;Neon remains an indelible feature of the American landscape. It has become synonymous with cultural icons such as Las Vegas and Times Square. Despite its visual prominence, its history has been under-examined. My dissertation differs from other works on the history of neon by emphasizing artifact driven analysis. This interdisciplinary dissertation draws upon art history, technological history, and mass communication in a manner far different from previous writings on electrical signage.