Buying your health : medical consumerism in the early twentieth century

Randall, Erica

Undergraduate Publication:
Buying your health : medical consumerism in the early twentieth century

dc.contributor.sponsor	Schumaker, Kathryn
dc.contributor.sponsor	Boone, Brittany
dc.creator	Randall, Erica
dc.date	2017
dc.date.accessioned	2018-03-05T23:57:19Z
dc.date.accessioned	2021-04-14T15:26:17Z
dc.date.available	2018-03-05T23:57:19Z
dc.date.available	2021-04-14T15:26:17Z
dc.description	David W. Levy Prize winner, Fall 2017
dc.description.abstract	After WWI, the United States saw an unprecedented rise in economic production and mass consumerism, an era that came to be characterized by wealth, prosperity, and vanity. Spurred on by the second industrial revolution, large corporations began mass- producing a variety of products, and for the first time in several decades, Americans had the monetary resources and economic freedom to purchase these products, including cars, household appliances, leisure items, etc. Advertisements played a significant role in this consumerism movement, and in the decades following WWI, advertising agencies refined their strategies to encourage individuals and families to purchase their products. Medicine and healthcare were not exempt from this overwhelming influence of consumerism, and during the 1920s and in following decades, Americans' accessibility to medicine and health products dramatically increased-as did their inclination to purchase self- prescribed medicine and products for a physical ailment rather than visit a doctor. This intertwining of medicine and consumerism was largely due to persuasive advertising strategies, including the use of universal language, the promise of self-improvement and disease prevention, and the idea that health products could negate the consequences of poor lifestyle choices.
dc.description.undergraduate	undergraduate
dc.format.extent	14 pages
dc.format.extent	130,953 bytes
dc.format.medium	application.pdf
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/11244.46/1404
dc.relation.requires	Adobe Acrobat Reader
dc.subject	David W. Levy Prize Winner	en_US
dc.subject.lcsh	Advertising -- Drugs -- United States -- History -- 20th century	en_US
dc.title	Buying your health : medical consumerism in the early twentieth century
dc.type	Document
dc.type.material	text
dspace.entity.type	UndPublication