Satisfaction Guaranteed: The Making of the American Mass Market [Paperback]

Susan Strasser (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1995

This sweeping history provides the reader with a better understanding of America’s consumer society, obsession with shopping, and devotion to brands. Focusing on the advertising campaigns of Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s, Wrigley’s, Gillette, and Kodak, Strasser shows how companies created both national brands and national markets. These new brands eventually displaced generic manufacturers and created a new desire for brand-name goods. The book also details the rise and development of department stores such as Macy’s, grocery store chains such as A&P and Piggly Wiggly, and mail-order companies like Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This well-researched and documented history of goods-and-customer interaction since the days of bartering is also a delightful overview of American shopping customs from 19th-century Main Street to today's malls. Early in the 20th century, Strasser shows, advertising of national brandsquotes unnec.?/unnec.gs launched products creating their own demand--safety razors, cameras, fountain pens (with attendant consumption of blades, film, etc.)--thus gradually displacing networks of generic manufacturers whose sales "drummers" fanned across America by rail and buggy. The development of department stores such as Macy's, mail-order giants like Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward, grocery chains foreshadowing supermarkets, "aids" like premiums, displays and trading stamps and the skyrocket successes of Coca-Cola and Wrigley's gum are only a fraction of the sweeping story, as the author of Never Done brings into focus major social and economic forces linked to our daily lives.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Strasser, who also has written a history of housework ( Never Done , LJ 5/1/81), explains how advertising techniques developed in the early years of this century, especially the brand-name concept, have shaped the modern American appetite for particular mass-produced goods. Beginning with Crisco in 1912, she describes various campaigns to sell new products, emphasizing how the goal from the outset has been "to make people want things," which puts profits ahead of consumer needs. The legacy has been pernicious: "a consumer culture that itself breeds constant discontent, depending always on individuals wanting more." Free enterprise advocates will take exception, but this thoughtful look at how Americans consume is worth anyone's time.
- Kenneth F. Kister, Poynter Inst. for Media Studies, St. Petersburg, Fla.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 339 pages
• Publisher: Smithsonian Inst Pr (October 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560986549
• ISBN-13: 978-1560986546
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,412,521 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Detailed, June 17, 2004

By 

Erika Mitchell (E. Calais, VT USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Satisfaction Guaranteed (Paperback)

This is a very detailed economic history of wholesaling and retailing from about 1880 to 1930. The first chapter describes how Proctor and Gamble set out about creating consumer demand for a completely new product, Crisco, in 1912. In this chapter, Strasser eloquently points out "Human needs...are cultural constructs....Some people need yams and breadfruit, others Post Toasties and Kellogg's corn flakes." Now there's a thought worth pondering, as we consider "Do we need a second car in the family? Do we need a new TV? Do we need dental floss?"

After reading some of Strasser's other books, I expected this book to focus more on this topic of need creation in the world of American manufacturing. However, much of the rest of the book is devoted to documenting business practices during the period. Subsequent chapters cover labeling and branding as a means of establishing consumer confidence and brand loyalty, the shift away from middlemen in the chain of distribution from producers to retailers, advertising as a way to introduce new products and habits to consumers, early marketing and promotion practices, the development of the self-service grocery store and the rise of retail chains and government regulations of the period affecting retailing and food. The book is amply illustrated with black and white reproductions of period ads, photographs, and cartoons. Source material is referenced with unnumbered endnotes; there is no separate bibliography or list of suggested readings. The book includes an index.

I found reading this book through to be a tough slog. The style is highly academic, and the details tend to obscure the big picture. I found myself lost in the details, waiting for her to address the main points. I wanted to learn more about how manufacturers had changed American culture. Looking back and reflecting on what Strasser wrote, I can see that she did indeed tackle these topics, but there was so much information about the history of manufacturing and retailing and marketing that I missed what I was looking for in the first place. That said, the book still represents a fine piece of academic research. Her overview of the development of marketing and retailing practices in America from 1900-1930 is particularly well-researched and her illustrations are varied and well-chosen. All in all, the book wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but it was still well worth reading.

5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Satisfaction Guaranteed, December 10, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Satisfaction Guaranteed: The Making of the American Mass Market (Paperback)

Strasser's book is carefully researched and is devoted to an examination of the American mass market which emerges out of the growth of mass production techniques. Her use of advertising documents the shift from product-based to consumer-based ads that was necessary to establish a national market.