Mass Advertising: The Negative Impacts Of Advertising During The 20th Century

During the New Era to the Great Depression, mass advertising propelled fundamental changes throughout society and fueled the nation’s economic prosperity. Advertisements in the 1920s from businesses who promoted their products at the time would, “appeal to the consumer’s anxieties and personal needs” (Page 629). Material goods, such as cigarettes attracted the American dream and culture. Cigarettes promised to meet the spiritual and emotional needs of many Americans. Marketing of the tobacco industry was one of the most negative influences on American culture during the twentieth century. The propaganda used to sell cigarettes negatively affected society because it was unknowingly a pollutant and a harmful product to many Americans. On page

Gay men and lesbians had to conceal their identities to avoid ridicule and discrimination. Some of the strategies that the movement used were civil disobedience and direct action. When the government wanted to keep homosexuals out of the civil service, discrimination against homosexuals were called by gay activists who held signs saying, “as immoral as discrimination against Negroes and Jews” (Page 764). On the same page, it stated that it was not until ten years later that the Civil Service Commission formally ended its antigay policy. A common goal for this movement was social equality. In addition, a gay bar in New York City resisted a police raid in 1969, known as the Stonewall Riots sparked a critical moment in the Gay Civil Rights Movement. New groups began to form, such as the Gay Liberation Front and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Another tactic that the movement followed was legal action. Michigan passes the first antidiscrimination law and the first openly gay American elected won state office. Lastly, gay activists asked The American Psychiatric Association to remove, “homosexuality” from its’ list of mental