Marketing, Consumer Behavior, and Garbage

History of Consumerism and Garbage

While initial forms of advertising appeared as matter-of-fact statements in newspapers, marketing became more sophisticated with the onset of the Industrial Revolution. By the 1800s, advertisers began to adopt the persuasive techniques that Westerners are accustomed to seeing: graphics, language, and statements of grandeur. In the late 1800s, commercialization brought convenience and, with it, challenges. In 1879, Frank Woolworth [Page 504]pioneered the idea of contemporary retail sales by openly displaying products on counters so that consumers could see and feel the merchandise, enticing them to purchase. Prior to direct access, customers looked at products from afar or required direct assistance. Woolworth's practice of hands-on salesmanship, novel and ingenious in its time, later made larger, antitheft packaging necessary.

Accompanying this higher demand for products was a call for convenience and affordability. This movement began in 1895 with Gillette's creation of the first razor with disposable blades, with the first fully disposable razors becoming available in the 1960s. Disposability meant that products became, in the short run, cheaper and less durable. The trend toward a disposable society grew exponentially in the early 1900s, as household products such as linens and mugs were replaced by paper towels, Kleenex, and paper cups. The creation of wax paper for cereal box liners and as bread wrappers meant that products could be manufactured and shipped for broader consumption. Over time, disposability became so rampant that only a century after its creation, the average U.S. worker used approximately 500 disposable cups per year.

Expanding on the hands-on, do-it-yourself merchandising success of Woolworth, Clarence Saunders opened the first supermarket in 1926. The introduction of prepackaged foods and self-service packaging increased food and product selection while decreasing the cost. Packaging was enhanced in 1928 when cellophane was invented, enabling protection of foods and other products, and in 1939 with the creation of precooked frozen foods. With the creation and widespread use of convenience foods and increasing consumerism came an increase in packaging. This packaging enhancement was both for product safety, so that foods would arrive to their destinations intact, and to increase product desirability. More than plain brown wrappings, the packaging became advertising in its own right, enticing consumers to purchase goods.

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