by Thomas Frank
First published 1997
Thomas Frank examines how American business transformed during the 1960s boom years. While youth counterculture symbolized the decade's cultural upheaval, a parallel revolution occurred in corporate boardrooms that has received far less attention. Frank demonstrates how advertising executives and clothing industry leaders became unexpected partners with youthful rebels. His research uncovers how the advertising world cleverly converted countercultural language of revolution into marketing messages that encouraged consumption. The process began before any genuine counterculture existed to exploit. Frank argues that this corporate appropriation of rebellious rhetoric helped create lasting confusion in American culture. Citizens began mistaking gentility for conformity, irony for genuine protest, and symbolic gestures for authentic political action. The book traces how Madison Avenue's manipulation of countercultural symbols shaped consumer behavior throughout the late twentieth century. Frank provides tools for modern readers to recognize and resist these marketing strategies.
Genres: history, 20th-century, business, american, academic, cultural-studies
Vibes: analytical, critical, thought-provoking
Tropes: corporate-appropriation, cultural-critique
Period: 1960s
322 pages · Hardcover · University of Chicago Press