3rd period savvy consumer

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Savvy Consumers

The New Future of Entertainment Is Mass Production Helping? Not worth the “talk�

Brainwashing Americans with Advertisements Consumerism and Leisure Time

Buying On Credit? Is It Bad Fo America?


Table of Contents Consumerism and Leisure Time

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Brainwashing Americans with Advertisements

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Is Mass Production Helping?

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The New Future of Entertainment

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Not Worth the “Talk”

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Buying On Credit? Is It Bad For America?

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Consumerism and Leisure time Is consumerism and leisure good for America in the 1920’s ? Carol and Daniel just recently bought a new toaster oven. They didn’t need it but felt the need to buy it because of a recent advertisement they listened to on the radio. Carol and Daniel’s story is similar to many other Americans. They bought something they didn’t need because of advertising. Carol and Daniel are like many Americans who are spending their hard earned money on the newest technologies despite the fact that they don’t need it. Another issue is buying on credit. Because of credit people have started spending money that they don’t have on products they don’t need. For example people are buying new things like new cars, dishwashers, and electric irons. While buying these products isn’t the problem. The problem is that many people are buying all these products on credit even though they don’t have the money to make the monthly payments. Therefore they are having to cut down on buying things they need to pay for what they don’t. These reasons are why buying on credit is bad for America. Businesses and companies are taking advantage of citizens with leisure time. Most people are falling into a trap. Businesses are pushing people into buying unnecessary products. Companies make it seem like everything will be better if they buy their products. Radios and movies are creating a distraction for citizens by diverting their attention away from the issues truly plaguing society.

People are spending more time with their families and friends by going to the movies and listening to their favorite radio shows. This is a problem because, people are becoming obsessed with the technology. As a result, they are not focusing on the more important things in their lives such as interacting with their families and work. People go to spend time with their families at the movies making them become disengaged with each other. People might stay home from work just so that they can catch up on programs. Readers may notice a common theme in this article and that theme is, brainwashing. Lately there has been this recurring problem and it seems to have a greater effect than most may realize. Brainwashing has no doubt been going on for years now but just recently it’s been much more prominent in the community. Sellers have been making more and more ads with catchy slogans that try to trick people into buying their products. Take credit for example, this “Buy now pay later!” stuff has really taken the nation by storm. People have started buying so many things they don’t need or can’t afford because of these ads telling them that they can. That’s not the only issue with brainwashing either. New technology plays a big part in this as well. Buyers have gotten so many new products like radios, cars, dishwashers, ect. It’s because of these reasons people believe consumerism and leisure is bad for America.

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Brainwashing Americans with Advertisements Are new advertising tactics good for America, or Are they brainwashing Americans into buying thing they don´t need?

By: Hailey Ankenbauer I think that advertising tactics are brainwashing Americans into buying things they don’t need. One reason why is consumer consumption. Consumer consumption is related to personal happiness. This ties into what the today´s products are all about. Also most americans are all about consumption, they want a lot of everything. So as long as the public doesn't know the whole truth about the product everyone will be simply satisfied. Just simply telling people that they are going to be happy when they buy the product was enough. As time progresses throughout the 1920’s competition gets stiffer, businesses started hiring psychologists to tailor the product to people's desires and beliefs. This ultimately leads to businesses changing the way their products looked every few months. This keeps the public always wanting more.

Credit is another huge issue, it makes people think that they had a lot more money than they actually did and it leads people to buy more things. A lot of people are swimming in debt. After WW1 people had a lot more leisure time which means people now have more time to spend money. Many businesses took advantage of this by advertising twice as much. All of these reasons lead me to believe that most businesses are try to fool Americans with how they sell there products.

Also, businesses try to make everything relatable to the average human which means they try making the items to business is selling appealing to all ages. This was a problem considering the teens are now more ¨rebellious¨ than ever. So companies are having a hard time appealing their product to everyone. 3


Is Mass Production Helping? Scoop 2: Is mass production lowering the quality of american products, or is it good for U.S. consumers? Hannah Johnson

Unemployment has been one of the most significant factors of the depression. Until now the wages have been minimal. Big business have been growing, resulting in need for workers. Citizens are refusing to work for small pay, therefore wages are increasing dramatically. Big businesses now promote work by providing food, clothes, higher wages and shelter for their workers. The U.S. is now producing 40% of the world's manufactured goods and this production is reflecting highly on America. The economy is finally beginning to improve. The good news is that as mass production expands and more people have jobs, the economy will keep growing stronger. One of the most important aspects in creating jobs while benefitting big businesses is the creation of assembly lines. The assembly line was created to improve the efficiency of production by making products in mass groupings. Use of the assembly line ensures that the quality of the product would be exactly the same every time therefore resulting in a good quality product. Workers have become very skilled at one particular part of the assembly line. With the employment rate rapidly rising, there is evidence that people are starting to take their jobs for granted. Citizens can't wait any longer. They want to invest some of their hard earned money to get rich quick. Get rich quick advertisements have been created to encourage people to invest in ways to make money fast. Not all of the get rich fast ideas result in financial riches and some of these are schemes to hook people into very high risk investments. For example, the scheme Florida land boom let people buy land in Florida cheap. After people buy the land they would sell it for more money until the hurricane struck. All the land was ruined and the money washed away with the hurricane.

As consumers in a growing economy, beware, because businesses may use increased pressure through advertising into to buying products for more than they are worth. Replacing current goods with new goods can create waste. When Americans begin to throw out their old stuff, to have new items they may not need, it creates landfills, and as more and more landfills are created, this will continue polluting the earth. Although the assembly line has its perks there is also a downside. These machines also create waste which engulfs the earth's natural resources. While it is important to be consumers to keep the economy strong, the Earth is a beautiful place. Even if we all have jobs and thus want to buy everything in sight, we have to think about what we are giving up. Citizens have money for leisure and pleasure now. Lets not waste it. Be mindful and balanced in consumer decisions.

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Quickest cooking in town! Never in a rush to get dinner started... Only $1.60.

The Toaster Hannah Johnson

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The New Future of Entertainment Will Radios and movies give americans access to new information? By Maddy Ring

Movies and Radios help us on a day to day basis. Radios provide us with new information faster and movies help distract you from our own problems. Since the war has been happening, people are worried about family and friends fighting, causing lots of stress. Movies helped distract you from the real world and reduce stress. Radios will also give you new information on what is happening in the war and kept you updated. Radios and Movies are changing families for the better. Radios play bedtime stories for your kids to fall asleep to. Radios will give weather reports and give more accurate and faster information. Families can spend time together by going out and watching a movie or stay home and listening to their favorite radio shows. They will bring families together because you have more conversation to talk about, for example you can talk about the latest movie or newest radio show.

Although there are many good reasons that radios and movies will help us and give us new information, there are also some theories making them seem unhealthy. For example, people think that you are going to spend lots of your money by going out to the movies or buying radios. Another thing is that it might loosen up the rules of social behavior and could be a bad influence for young children. Even though it was a distraction for WWI, it might be too much of a distraction and could have harsh consequences in the long run. That being said, radios and movies have many great qualities too. They are bringing families closer together to listen to their favorite radio shows. They affect society in the ways that people interact with one another. Furthermore, a lot of the information from radios is about gossip and other news. Over half of American households had radios in them. The radio gives many more jobs to American citizens too. There are over 600 radio stations in America so there are many jobs that need filling! If you love talking to the world over the radio or acting out you favorite scene from a movie, maybe this is the business for you!

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Not Worth the “Talk” Will radio and movie access make americans into lazy, mindless zombies? By Lexi Janik

Access to radios and movies made Americans into lazy, mindless zombies. Although there are some ways that it helps, to many Americans it is a waste of money and resources. The evolution of the radio and movies has made a significant impact on our culture and society.

As a result, few people actually hear the voices and music because of the poorness of radio receivers. There are numerous radio stations, and multiple times programs that are getting interrupted due to overlapping. The radio is not only failing to work, but also failing to be of good influence on society and culture.

Radios are turning us into mindless zombies and are interfering with our daily lives and tasks. They are devouring us with their mind games that draw us in and make us deranged addicts. This new technology is fascinating, but it makes us forget about the important things and if it keeps improving we will be consumed into a virtual world. America is becoming obsessed of the radio. During ongoing programs people have ignored their phones just so that they can continue to listen to the program. This has become a big problem for America. Work is much slower because many people are slacking never the less, not even showing up.

Society and culture is substantially changing from the growth of the radio. The radio has instituted the start of popular culture. Americans are becoming preoccupied over celebrities. People are trying to act and be like celebrities. Thus, beginning the evolution of an unrealistic society. A large consequence of this is American women changing their appearance. They’re worried about not having the right body or being pretty enough to fit into the qualifications of a perfect woman.

The radio is a new technology, and it doesn’t work to its full potential yet. Many people are wasting money that they don’t have on it. Furthermore, the radio industry is making millions of dollars off of America's citizens. This is the reason for the government being hesitant to pass laws for the radio. They question who is really gaining the most from this because of the high amount of money being made from Americans purchasing the radio. Movies are a waste of not only money, but time. Movies last for great period of time and keep people from doing more important things. Moreover, the technology is fairly new and there are a lot of complications.

A big result of the radio and movies has been a social decrease. Americans have distinctively lost interest in many activities and relationships between each other. Instead, people are spending their free time at the movies or listening to the radio. Less and less interaction between people is happening. Most movies were extremely long and could last for up to 6 hours long. This is also adds to how much money and time people are wasting. They are spending money on radios and movies that are unneeded and derogate the reality of what is actually happening around them. Take a minute to consider how your children and grandchildren will grow up. Do you really want them to live like mindless zombies constantly ruining their brains?

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Briefing By Lexi Janik

Most movies were extremely long and could last for up to 6 hours long By 1929 yearly sales from the radio had reached $842.5 million

By the end of 1920s there were over 100 million radios used by americans The typical amount of a radio set is $150

Large urban theaters could seat 1-2,000 guests at a time

70% of radios were purchased from credit

The average movie ticket cost between 5 and 30 cents

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Buying On Credit? Is It Bad For America? “Is buying on credit good or bad for America?” By: Elizabeth Wilkins

Buying on credit has become the “New thing” for modern day Americans it lets people buy now and pay later. Let’s say you wanted a new dishwasher for your kitchen but you don’t have enough money to buy it. Now, with credit you can buy that dishwasher on loan and make small payments on it every month until it’s paid off. This may sound like a great idea that has many benefits but like most things, it comes with its downsides. Yes, it can make something expensive much more affordable but it also makes some people believe they can afford a lot more than just that one simple dishwasher. Buying on credit no doubt can make a product more affordable but say you didn’t just buy one dishwasher and instead you bought a dishwasher a baby bed and a few other things to go with it. Well, that’s exactly what a mechanic in Texas did.

This mechanic planned on paying off all the items he had bought with a monthly payment. However, due to how much he bought the monthly payment ended up being more than his total monthly wage. This caused him to have to cut down on the things he needed just so he would be able to pay for what he didn’t need. Buying on credit may be good in some cases but as you can see it also poses big problems for others. Yes, buying on credit is very easy in fact, I don’t think there really hasn’t been another time where American homes had as much junk in them as there is today. Another bad thing about buying on credit is that if the buyer stops making payments on the products before it’s paid off the seller can reclaim the product. Now, buying on credit may have its pros but as you may have noticed it has way more cons that we need to stay aware of. 10


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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Works Cited Hannah Bower, Bert, and Jim Lobdell. History Alive! N.p.: Teachers' Curriculum Institute, 2005. Print. "Mass Production." Study.com. Study.com, n.d. Web

Works Cited Maddy Bower, Bert, and Jim Lobdell. History Alive! N.p.: Teachers' Curriculum Institute, 2005. Print. Document A Feinstien, Stephan. The 1920s. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

Works Cited Lizzie Bower, Bert, and Jim Lobdell. History Alive! N.p.: Teachers' Curriculum Institute, 2005. Print. Documents A, B, C, and D. Works Cited Hailey Bower, Bert, and Jim Lobdell. History Alive! N.p.: Teachers' Curriculum Institute, 2005. Print. Document A, B

Works cited by lexi http://americainclass.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Radio-Blessing-or-Curse-1929-Text-for-Lesson.pdf Goff, Brent. “History Alive!: Pursuing American Ideals, Author: Brent Goff.” STUDYBLUE, 24 Sept. 2013, www.studyblue.com/notes/b/history-alive-pursuing-american-ideals/29557/0. Document A Document B


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