The Historical Roots of the Commodity Self

Stuart Ewen discusses American advertising as a power relationship that resulted from the emergence of mass production and industrial capitalism. Beginning with Henry Ford's automobile assembly line, industry took a turn towards mass production, that soon generated a surplus of commodities on the market. Before mass production, goods were directed mainly towards an elite group of consumers; however, the 'massification' of production also called for a mass market of consumers. Whereas the emphasis had previously been placed on the worker/producer, capitalism called for a revamping of consumption ethics. The worker needed to be transformed into a consumer. That is to say, the consumer market had to be expanded and readdressed. The work ethic had to be re-evaluated -- a new consumer ethic needed to take its place.

American advertising emerged as one element of a solution and response to the growing commodity consumer market. Shifts in advertising that focused on the twin demons of Desire and Anxiety/Fear were related to corporate strategies that raised wages with an eye to generating a more consistent and "better" consumer. Furthermore, workers gained shorter working hours and more leisure time. Leisure was closely linked to consumption. Advertising agents played on the anomic state of American social life; the transition from a work environment to a consumption environment left many people floating and confused. The creation, maintenance, manipulation and exacerbation of the combination of "desire" and "fear" by the advertising men contributed to an increasingly popular ideology of fulfillment through commodity relations. "Modern advertising is a direct response to the needs of mass industrial capitalism" (Ewen, p. 31).

Hence there came about a new sense of self in the American public: the commodity self. Advertisers alluded to "the good life" through the consumption of more and more commodities, preying on social fears and hyper-self-consciousness. The masses were repeatedly positioned to be dissatisfied with their lives, and then offered "solutions" through commodity consumption. The commodity self was pushed by advertisements that implied that certain products would lead to a better, fuller and truer self. It was no longer that commodities simply enhanced the self, but rather that they created and constituted the self. In this manner, consumption was no longer confined to an elite; it was no longer just a luxury, but a necessity of social relations and interactions.

Consumption and the new consumer culture soon became linked to notions of freedom, democracy, culture and nationalism. Advertising offered "a vision of consumption as a 'new school of freedom' " (Ewen, p. 30) that had never before existed, or so it was claimed. In the new consumer culture, an illusion of freedom of choice was sketched out, disguising the hegemonic nature of capitalism. The rhetoric of freedom was touted, even though advertising was, in reality, coercive and manipulative. "Through advertising, then, consumption took on a clearly cultural tone. Within governmental and business rhetoric, consumption assumed an ideological veil of nationalism and democratic lingo" (Ewen, p. 42). Modernity and 'civilization' were equated with the new consumption ethic.