Consumer Society:
American Culture, New Generation, Ads!

Overview

Since the end of the 19th century, the second phase of industrialisation has stimulated manufacturing production, which was then slowed for a time by the economic crisis of the 1930s and the two world wars. In North America, the baby boom and post-war economic prosperity then propelled the consumption of goods and services as well as the pursuit of leisure activities, of which television was increasingly a part. Starting in 1952, Radio-Canada produced and broadcast bilingual programs, which encouraged the purchase of televisions in the province of Québec.

In addition to providing a market for manufactured goods, the baby boomers began to associate consumption with happiness, as it provided them with unprecedented material comfort. The rise of consumer society was supported by increased purchasing power and improved access to credit, which enabled many families to own property and move to the outskirts of cities.

Increasingly influenced by American culture and advertising, the Québec population also participated in this new consumer society, a society characterized by an increase in available goods, and in superfluous (unnecessary) needs.

Source: HISTOIRE DU QUÉBEC ET DU CANADA: QUEBEC'S POPULATION 4. THE RISE OF THE CONSUMER SOCIETY

Prosperity: Frugality of War to a TV-driven Consumer Culture

After the 2nd World War, women were encouraged to return home from their newly-found wartime duties, from the "firing line to the frying pan". The nuclear family unit was once again celebrated as the American norm. However, unlike the hard times before the war, and the frugal times during the war, these were now times of relative prosperity, and consequentially abundance. Goods no one could afford were now becoming more common. And what is more, new and exciting consumer products were entering the market.

Televisions were growing in popularity. A consumer item themselves, TVs represented a most effective way of bringing the advertising of other products, and of a certain lifestyle, into the home. From the bungalow in the suburbs to the shiny new automobile parked out front, from the latest electric washing machine to the most modern of refrigerators, Canadians saw what they wanted and wanted what they saw, at first on the American channels from the border stations, and then from around 1952 on local Canadian networks that quickly saturated the airwaves.

By 1957 there were forty-four TV stations in our country and three million TV sets in our living rooms. But apart from some locally-produced shows and Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday, the themes often conveyed an American, "Hollywood Dream" image of society. Shows for adults, like Bonanza and Ed Sullivan, brought American values and American songs into our lives, while younger children watched shows like the Friendly Giant or Leave it to Beaver. And if those programs didn't directly portray a comfortable, relatively affluent (and very white and homogenous) life in the suburbs, the commercials that ran through them certainly did. Life was good, ran the message, and the more consumable luxuries we had in our lives the better we all would be.

Text by Paul Rombough drawing from various sources in our main document collection here.

Leisure, as in travel too!

Cultural Influences: The Example of English-Language Radio!

Much like as with television, American radio signals had already been leaking their signals over Canadian cities (and markets) for many years. Fierce competition for our attention by American commercial stations pushed CBC to expand its network to reach all of English and French-speaking Canada by 1960. There was even a dedicated service for Indigenous people living in Canada’s north! Restrictions in the 1960s successfully restricted imported (US) programs to help promote Canadian music and musicians.

However, as concerns the music industry anyway, Canadian studios could not keep up. There were a few local record labels, but the major ones were all foreign-owned and mainly American, like RCA, CBC, Warner Brothers and Capital. Producers and publicists on the Canadian side of the border also preferred proven American hit artists and songs, "in the pursuit of amassing larger audiences".

Canada did finally produce its share of star acts. Paul Anka has a hit with "Diana", and some American acts like Ronnie Hawkins moved here to help spawn the carriers of Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm, who eventually became "The Band". But these arguably American sounds and styles were still pervasive, even as British bands become the most popular of the times, with groups like the Beatles, the Animals, the Dave Clark Five, and the Rolling Stones still combining elements of American rock with British soul. Canadian bands found it even harder to remain prominent and impact on our culture.

Text by Paul Rombough drawing from various sources in our main document collection here.