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An evocative symbol of the 1960s was its youth counterculture. This study reveals that the youthful revolutionaries were augmented by such unlikely allies as the advertising industry and the men's clothing business. The ad industry celebrated irrepressible youth and promoted defiance and revolt. In the 1950s, Madison Avenue deluged the country with images of junior executives, happy housewives and idealized families in tail-finned American cars. But the author of this study seeks to show how, during the "creative revolution" of the 60s, the ad industry turned savagely on the very icons it had created, using brands as signifiers of rule-breaking, defiance, difference and revolt. Even the menswear industry, formerly makers of staid, unchanging garments, ridiculed its own traditions as remnants of intolerable conformity, and discovered youth insurgency as an ideal symbol for its colourful new fashions. Thus emerged the strategy of co-opting dissident style which is so commonplace in modern hip, commercial culture. This text aims to add detail to a period in the 60s which has hitherto remained unresearched.
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THE CONQUEST OF COOL is a new take on the Sixties, a re-juggling of the icons, an overturning of the shibboleths. Tom Frank takes a sharp look at the business culture of the 1960s and its relation to the counterculture of the Sixties. Todd Gitlin called the book "a forceful and convincing demonstration of the cunning of commercialism. Advertisers knew what was hip before hippie entrepreneurs, and this story, told here with verve and lucidity, is well worth the attention of all serious readers."
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY gave the book a starred review: "bristlingly intelligent . . . adroitly illuminates the intricacies behind the familiar stories of the '60s . . . frequently brilliant."
You may read an excerpt from Chapter One at Tom Frank is founder/editor of the Chicago-based journal of literature and cultural criticism, THE BAFFLER.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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For as long as America is torn by culture wars, the 1960s will remain the historical terrain of conflict. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
For as long as America is torn by culture wars, the 1960s will remain the historical terrain of conflict. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In "The Conquest of Cool," reporter Thomas Frank writes of the evolution in the advertising industry from the rigid science and philosophy espoused by past masters like David Ogilvy to the creative, rule-breaking, no-rules era (about 1959 to about 1970) begun by Doyle, Dane and Bernbach's revolutionary Volkswagen print ads, which were introduced in 1959. Frank's text shows how advertising's images of consumption evolved from phony promises of a better life for white, nuclear families to the hip-based brand of product cool that still exists today. Eventually, Frank gets to what this reader assumed to be his point: advertising's co-optation of counterculture's cool and the way both groups influenced each other. But he merely asserts this radical shift in advertising (truly the bellwether of contemporary culture) happened overnight and illustrates his points with examples from the cola and menswear industries. But rampant generalization doesn't spoil Frank's fascinating dissertation. He's done his homework, speaks passionately about his subject and maintains an unusual conversational approach (half academic, half deranged fan). Once the reader forgives Frank's multitude of overgeneralizations and the way he casually mixes media (in an era where distinctions became quite noticeable), there is actually a lot to consider and much to enjoy in "The Conquest of Cool." A special bonus for ad-addicts is the 19 print ads reproduced in the center of the book.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Everyone seems to have an opinion about hip but on what authority do they base their judgments? The Conquest of Cool provides the model for hip's cooptation in the 60s and argues that without cooptation perhaps there is no hip. That usually gets the purest going but the truth is that hip starts as art and end up becoming commercial - or you just don't know about it... So that's the choice - if it's good and has wider potential, it gets coopted - or the vast majority of the population will never hear about it. Some reviews are negative on the grounds that the author is pointing out the obvious, like I just did - but sometimes the obvious is the most difficult to explain - and this book does that well (for those who like social literature as it is quite academic).
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Conquest of Cool looks at the 60's counterculture revolution from the perspective of the advertising and consumer goods industry. Thomas Franks manages to square the circle, showing how the hippies that hated The Man influenced modern society. Frank draws on the parallels of how Bill Bernbach started to think differently about advertising and the new youth obsession reflected in the Pepsi Generation idea which started the famous cola wars. He charted how advertising creatives brought psychadelia into radio, print and television advertising and how the fashion industry lost out when it got on the 'peacock parade' train.
Rather than being a rebellion against the consumer culture, the counterculture rejuvenated the consumer experience. The plenty of America in the 1950s was no longer enough, consumers wanted authentic differentiated items that declared their self-identity.
Rather than being a rebellion against the consumer culture, the counterculture rejuvenated the consumer experience. The plenty of America in the 1950s was no longer enough, consumers wanted authentic differentiated items that declared their self-identity.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Well...I thought it was boring
(I read this book for a class at Yale, "The Formation of Modern American Culture: 1920 to the Present. Read more
Published on 5 May 1999
Trival MBA BS
The advertising of the 50's sold more good & services than any previous decade. The advertising of the 60's was again a record for sales of goods and services. Read more
Published on 17 April 1999
Advertising co-opted the counterculture and...?
Frank's work with the Baffler and the Reader has always been enlightening and entertaining. As essays for the casual reader, his writing can do a lot of eye-opening. Read more
Published on 9 April 1999
excellent history of advertising
though sometimes wordy, this analysis of the history of advertising in America in the '60s is exhaustive and engrossing. i've never read anything like it. Read more
Published on 4 Nov 1998
Frank exhibits firm grasp of the obvious
Dispassionate, thinly-disguised masters thesis filled with 2-dollar words (how many times do you need to use 'hegemony'?) and soft opinions. Read more
Published on 25 Jun 1998
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