History 305

Spring 2011

Devine/Adams

 

Primary Source Assignment

 

Overview

 

Paging through old magazines, one can intuitively tell, simply by looking at the ads, that they were published in the 1970s.  The avocado kitchens, the earth shoes, the “layered” dresses and wide-lapelled leisure suits, the “textured” room décor, and the eclectic mix-and-match styles all leap off the page at us.

 

Your challenge in this assignment is to analyze print advertisements from the 1970’s in order to explain why – beyond our intuition – we know that these ads are from the 1970s.

 

In other words, having read Thomas Hine’s The Great Funk, you will look at these ads through a new set of historically informed eyes.

 

Getting Started

 

The best way to choose ads is to go to the fourth floor of Oviatt Library where the bound magazines are shelved. There you will find full runs of numerous magazines from the 1970s – Time, Newsweek, Esquire, Atlantic, New Yorker, Parents Magazine (but only from 1978 on). You can also order from storage 1970s volumes of Better Homes and Gardens, Vogue, Good Housekeeping, Ebony, Field and Stream, Harper’s, and Playboy (yes, Playboy!)

 

As you look at the ads, remember the themes from the 1970s we discussed in class and how they suggested a change in values which in turn produced a larger shift in the overall cultural mood.  How are the ads that you’ve chosen to analyze suggestive of what was going on in the United States during the “era of limits”? 

 

 

To structure your discussion, use two of the following themes:

 

  • Conserving energy
  • Getting “back to nature”
  • Raising consciousness (or embracing a new consciousness)
  • Responding/adapting to limits
  • Grasping for new identities
  • Expressing sexuality more freely

 

Analyzing the Ads

 

Drawing from Thomas Hine’s The Great Funk as well as our discussion in class, you should analyze (or “decode”) a minimum of six 1970s print ads (a minimum of three ads for each of the two themes you select).  Use your knowledge of the social, economic, and cultural changes that occurred during this period to demonstrate how these ads reveal the changes the country was undergoing.

 

Consider the following questions as you examine 1970s print ads:

 

  • What values and beliefs of 1970s consumers did the products appeal to?

 

  • How did marketers present products in a manner which reinforced consumers’ values?

 

  • How are these ads and the products they advertise infused with meaning?  How is that meaning conveyed to the people who see them?

 

  • How do the ads suggest the cultural mood during the 1970s?

 

  • What do the ads and the products they advertise tell us about the ways that Americans in the 1970s wanted to present themselves or to be seen by others?  How did these ways differ from those of past generations?

 

Presenting your Findings

 

So you don’t have to use the bulk of your paper to describe the ads, be sure to attach copies of them. 

 

We are less interested in your description of what’s in the ad (we can see that for ourselves).  We’re more interested in your analysis of why these products and these ads would appeal to someone in the 1970s.  In other words, don’t tell us what we already see; give us a plausible “so what” – why is the ad a useful piece of evidence for someone trying to learn more about this historical period?  What specific aspects of this ad demonstrate something important to someone doing “historical detective work” on the 1970s?

 

What you should Turn In on May 1st

 

Your paper must be 1500 words and no longer than 1900 words. You’ll find, however, that this paper is easier to write than the previous assignments.  Dare we say it, you may even find that doing this assignment is fun.  

 

As usual, number your pages, give your essay an appropriate title, and use 1-inch margins all around.  Be sure you email it to James and me (cc’ing yourself) before 11:59 pm on SUNDAY, MAY 1st. If you can’t scan the photocopies of your ads and email them to us, hand them to us in class on May 3rd or turn them into the History department office.  On the copy of each ad, be sure to write your name as well as the name and date of the magazine it came from.  You may also send us digital photos of the ads as email attachments.

 

Citing

 

You should cite your magazine sources within the text. Include the magazine title and the date of the issue. For example: (Time, 6/6/1974).  Include a works cited page at the end, listing the issues of all the magazines that you used in your paper (magazine name and date of issue).  If you quote from Hine or other readings, cite, as usual in the text: (Hine, 47).