Why We Pay To Do Stuff Ourselves
Why do people love IKEA furniture, cake mixes, and apple-picking? Psychology.
The Invention of the Giveaway
The appeal of the free gift has always been, for the consumer, about the eternal dream of getting something for nothing.
The Complicated Politics of… Refrigerators
When American kitchens started getting high-tech in the 1950s, the refrigerator seemed to alienate and frustrate many men.
Player Pianos and the Commodification of Music
Half of all American homes had a piano or player piano a century ago, but very few do now. Whatever happened to the parlor piano?
How Consumerism Created Bigfoot
People have long told stories about wildmen, creatures who straddled the line between human and animal. But Bigfoot himself first appeared in the 1950s.
The Birth of Planned Obsolescence
Before WWII, American businesses began embracing “creative waste”—the idea that throwing things away and buying new ones could fuel a strong economy.
How Magazines Created a New Culture of Manhood
Middle-class American manhood changed in the mid-twentieth century. And the new ideal of masculine consumption was captured by men’s magazines.
A Brief History of the Credit Card
For now-ubiquitous consumer credit cards, bad early results had a hidden benefit.
The Businesswomen of Early Twentieth Century America
Women's roles in the business world partly depended on their status as consumers in the early twentieth century.
