The Conquest of Cool : Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism

While the youth counterculture remains the most evocative and best-remembered symbol of the cultural ferment of the 1960s, the revolution that shook American business during those boom years has gone largely unremarked. In this fascinating and revealing study, Thomas Frank shows how the youthful revolutionaries were joined—and even anticipated —by such unlikely allies as the advertising industry and the men's clothing business. "[Thomas Frank is] perhaps the most provocative young cultural critic of the moment."—Gerald Marzorati, __New York Times Book Review__ "An indispensable survival guide for any modern consumer."—__Publishers Weekly__, starred review "Frank makes an ironclad case not only that the advertising industry cunningly turned the countercultural rhetoric of revolution into a rallying cry to buy more stuff, but that the process itself actually predated any actual counterculture to exploit."—Geoff Pevere, __Toronto Globe and Mail__ "__The Conquest of Cool__ helps us understand why, throughout the last third of the twentieth century, Americans have increasingly confused gentility with conformity, irony with protest, and an extended middle finger with a populist manifesto. . . . His voice is an exciting addition to the soporific public discourse of the late twentieth century."—T. J. Jackson Lears, __In These Times__ "An invaluable argument for anyone who has ever scoffed at hand-me-down counterculture from the '60s. A spirited and exhaustive analysis of the era's advertising."—Brad Wieners, __Wired Magazine__ "Tom Frank is . . . not only old-fashioned, he's anti-fashion, with a place in his heart for that ultimate social faux pas, leftist politics."—Roger Trilling, __Details__ Contents 12 Acknowledgments 14 1 A Cultural Perpetual Motion Machine: Management Theory and Consumer Revolution in the 1960s 19 of commerce and counterculture 20 look at all the lonely people 28 hip as hegemon 36 hip consumerism 45 2 Buttoned Down: High Modernism on Madison Avenue 53 science, reason, order 57 "nonconformists, dissenters, and rebels" 66 3 Advertising as Cultural Criticism: Bill Bembach versus the Mass Society 71 how to do it different 74 alienated by the conformity and hypocrisy of mass society? have we got a car for you! 79 from nazi car to love bug 86 4 Three Rebels: Advertising Narratives of the Sixties 93 satirist 94 scoffer 97 provocateur 99 Images 107 the utopian imagination of the Detroit automakers 107 so banal it's surreal 108 enter doyle dane bernbach 109 volkswagen versus mass society 110 the anticommercial whiskey 111 the airline of authenticity 112 nonconformist gin 113 Admen are liars 114 savage parody 115 detroit strikes back 116 the mustang transformation, 1965 117 youngmobiles 118 buick populism 119 "organization man" mutiny 120 creativity yes, youth culture no 121 youth culture, yes! 122 the uncola 123 backlash, 1966 124 backlash, 1972 125 5 "How Do We Break These Conformists of Their Conformity?": Creativity Conquers All 126 resisting the usual 127 ideologues of difference 130 the creative workplace 133 the establishment 138 6 Think Young: Youth Culture and Creativity 142 groovy 144 counterculture / consumer culture 156 the now agency and the end of the plain 161 7 The Varieties of Hip: Advertisements of the 1960s 170 conformity, artists, being yourself, and the problem of crowds 174 you rascal you 178 the triumph of the antispokesman 179 anti-status, anti-obsolescence 180 hidden persuaders exposed 181 critics' choice 182 cultural dopes 185 power to the people 189 women's liberation 190 the dodge rebellion, the pontiac secession, and youngmobiles 194 the uncolas 201 8 Carnival and Cola: Hip versus Square in the Cola Wars 206 serious fun 212 the official drink of today's generation 214 9 Fashion and Flexibility 222 all the patriarchs join in 223 fashion as industry 231 10 Hip and Obsolescence 244 rebels young and otherwise 250 the fashion underground 255 11 Hip as Official Capitalist Style 262 abandon the creeping meatball! 263 the uses of hip 268 find your own historical consciousness 271 Appendix 275 Notes 283 Chapter 1 283 Chapter 2 287 Chapter 3 289 Chapter 4 292 Chapter 5 294 Chapter 6 296 Chapter 7 299 Chapter 8 303 Chapter 9 305 Chapter 10 306 Chapter 11 309 Index 311 While the youth counterculture remains the most evocative and best-remembered symbol of the cultural ferment of the 1960s, the revolution that shook American business during those boom years has gone largely unremarked. In this fascinating and revealing study, Thomas Frank shows how the youthful revolutionaries were joined—and even anticipated —by such unlikely allies as the advertising industry and the men's clothing business. "[Thomas Frank is] perhaps the most provocative young cultural critic of the moment."—Gerald Marzorati, New York Times Book Review "An indispensable survival guide for any modern consumer."— Publishers Weekly , starred review "Frank makes an ironclad case not only that the advertising industry cunningly turned the countercultural rhetoric of revolution into a rallying cry to buy more stuff, but that the process itself actually predated any actual counterculture to exploit."—Geoff Pevere, Toronto Globe and Mail " The Conquest of Cool helps us understand why, throughout the last third of the twentieth century, Americans have increasingly confused gentility with conformity, irony with protest, and an extended middle finger with a populist manifesto. . . . His voice is an exciting addition to the soporific public discourse of the late twentieth century."—T. J. Jackson Lears, In These Times "An invaluable argument for anyone who has ever scoffed at hand-me-down counterculture from the '60s. A spirited and exhaustive analysis of the era's advertising."—Brad Wieners, Wired Magazine "Tom Frank is . . . not only old-fashioned, he's anti-fashion, with a place in his heart for that ultimate social faux pas, leftist politics."—Roger Trilling, Details While the youth counterculture remains the most evocative and best-remembered symbol of the cultural ferment of the 1960s, the revolution that shook American business during those boom years has gone largely unremarked. In this fascinating and revealing new study, Thomas Frank shows how the youthful revolutionaries were joined - and even anticipated by - such unlikely allies as the advertising industry and the men's clothing business. In both areas, each having also been an important pillar of fifties conservatism, the utopian, complacent surface of postwar consumerism was smashed by a new breed of admen and manufacturers who openly addressed public distrust of their industries, who recognized the absurdity of consumer society, who made war on conformity, and who finally settled on youth rebellion and counterculture as the symbol of choice for their new marketing vision. The Conquest of Cool is a thorough history of advertising as well as an incisive commentary on the evolution of a peculiarly American sensibility, the pervasive co-optation that defines today's hip commercial culture. By studying the devices and institutions of co-optation rather than those of resistance, Frank offers a picture of the 1960s that differs dramatically from the accounts of youth rebellion and sell-out that have become so familiar over the years. The Conquest of Cool forsakes the stories of campus and bohemia to follow the Dodge Rebellion, chronicle the Pepsi Generation, and recount the Peacock Revolution - by so doing, it raises important new questions about the culture of that most celebrated and maligned decade.

An examination of the 1960s creative revolution, in which the ad industry rejected the same icons it had created a decade earlier, a turn that led to the renegade spirit of today's advertising.

Tom Grimes

Superb and immensely readable. . . . With "The Conquest of Cool," Frank -- brilliant, excoriating and wickedly funny -- assumes the mantle of the preeminent cultural critic of his generation. -- Houston Chronicle

Looks at advertising during the 1960s, focusing on the relationship between the counterculture movement and commerce