Testimonial Advertising in the American Marketplace [electronic resource] : Emulation, Identity, Community /
Moskowitz, M.author.
Schweitzer, Marlis.
Moskowitz, Marina,1968-
This book explores the history and practice of testimonial advertising in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day, addressing a surprising lack of scholarship on this enduring and pervasive marketing tool. Treating consumers as neither the victims nor the empowered foes of corporate practices, the authors gathered here contribute to new scholarship at the intersection of cultural and business history by examining how testimonials mediate negotiations between producers and consumers and shape modern cultural attitudes about social identity, advice, community, celebrity, and the consumption of brand-name goods and services.
Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Testimonials in silk : Juba  and the legitimization of American blackface minstrelsy in Britain -- The testifying subject : reliability in marketing, science, and law at the end of the age of Barnum -- "After a season of war" : sharing horticultural success in the reconstruction-era landscape -- "The ten year club" : artificial limbs and testimonials at the turn of the twentieth century -- "The mad search for beauty" : actresses, cosmetics, and the middle-class market -- "I am Kay and I prefer modern" : bridal testimonials and the rise of consumer rites, 1920s-1950s -- "Dear friend" : Charles Atlas, American masculinity, and the bodybuilding testimonial, 1894-1944 -- "For us, by us" : hip-hop fashion,, commodity blackness and the culture of emulation.
This book explores the history and practice of testimonial advertising in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day, addressing a surprising lack of scholarship on this enduring and pervasive marketing tool. Treating consumers as neither the victims nor the empowered foes of corporate practices, the authors gathered here contribute to new scholarship at the intersection of cultural and business history by examining how testimonials mediate negotiations between producers and consumers and shape modern cultural attitudes about social identity, advice, community, celebrity, and the consumption of brand-name goods and services.
America—History.
Economic history.
Marketing.
Civilization—History.
History, Modern.
United States—History.
History of the Americas.
Economic History.
Marketing.
Cultural History.
Modern History.
US History.