Gatsby Context: Advertising + The Mass Market

1920s Coke Advertisement

Information

• After WW1, there was a general upsurge in consumerism.
• Magazines moved away from the theme of reform, instead focusing on covering crime, sports, scandals and advertising.
• As the mass market grew, advertisements reached millions of consumers on a weekly basis and movie stars and sports figures were hired to persuade Americans to buy.
• Advertising executives were recognising that the mass market worked most effectively by making consumers want products and by growing the idea of instant gratification through consumption.
• Products were often stressed as luxury or convenience and with increased leisure time and more money to spend, Americans were eager to show their status by possessing the latest items.
• The mass market was increasingly involving companies that viewed themselves as selling goods, as opposed to just producing them.
• An example of a brand adapting to the new age of advertisement and the mass market is Coca-Cola. It changed its branding from the drink being marketed as a medicine, in the 1880s, to it being a refreshment and "fun food" and this successful campaign made Coca-Cola into the massively large visible company it is today.
• All of this was possible due to huge advances in technology. For example the popularisation of colour printing made advertisements much more visually appealing which was a major contributor to their success.

How does this relate to The Great Gatsby?

This idea of consumerism and gaining happiness through the ability to buy the 'latest thing' is very prominent in this novel. It is plausible to argue that Gatsby's whole life is built around his new money and his belief that surrounding himself with wealth will make him happy, and this is directly linked to the mass market of the 1920s which exploited the idea that possessions could be a status symbol. His way of impressing Daisy is to show her around his grand house and gardens and this suggests that the consumerism of 1920s America had manipulated him into thinking that wealth could build his relationships for him. The frequent parties which he holds are also a reflection of this as Gatsby seeks to surround himself by wealth and celebrity and yet rarely interacts with his guests. Fitzgerald is criticising this idea, and the American dream as a whole, by showing that none of the characters, all of whom seem to rely on wealth and status, end up realising their dreams. Despite, for example, the many hundreds who attended Gatsby's parties, nobody turns up for his funeral which clearly illustrates how his impressive wealth failed to buy him anything real, anything that really mattered.